Intro

During their tenure, civic mayors have traditionally personally chosen one or two special charities’ work to support. Cllr Bilqees Mauthoor, Civic Mayor of Watford Borough 2021-2022, has taken a somewhat different route. Fired by the potential of what her time as mayor could achieve, she’s keen to use her position as a platform to launch a bold Watford-wide initiative from the grassroots up and to elevate the impact through a collective effort. The initiative: deleting violence against women and girls (VAWG) in Watford borough. Meet #Delete.

Issue

Bilqees had a clear vision of how she intended to use her time as civic mayor. It was important to her that others didn’t experience the same domestic violence that she had survived. Her lived experience combined with her determination to seize the moment were a powerful combination to help her achieve her goal of being relevant to everyone in Watford: when folk recognise her as ‘our Mayor’ rather than some distant figurehead who left no useful mark on their daily lives.

Keen to start the ball rolling, Bilqees had already done much groundwork, sounding out her ideas and getting buy-in from potential partners. She’d received encouraging feedback from all quarters. Knowing that #Delete’s launch was scheduled to coincide with her mayoral inauguration, she felt that, as a starting point, she needed help to articulate her vision in a briefing document that would be her go-to reference for the launch and afterwards.

Bilqees learned about Be The Difference via personal recommendation and felt that we’d be a good fit.

Solution

Be The Difference’s Annie Moon and Susie Steyn provided a rich source of expertise which underpinned and added depth to the #Delete vision as it took shape. Working as a sounding board, extended team and more, these are some of the ways in which we helped:

• Why it’s needed – our research was able to create a strong, evidence base and data-backed argument in support of Bilqees’ assertion of why #Delete was needed.

• Partnership building – Bilqees always planned for a flexible consortium structure steered by key local partners from the VAWG space to deliver the programme. Be The Difference helped map out what the partnership could look like and how it could function.

• Structuring and outlining the programme – Bilqees already had a high-level view for the intentionally challenging programme – to co-ordinate existing education to stop VAWG and to identify and plug any gaps with the aim of ‘resetting mindsets’. As well as positioning #Delete in its wider context such as contributing towards various UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), notably SDG 5 – Gender Equality, Be The Difference assisted in framing the programme as being action-orientated and education focused and building it out further.

• Communications – We produced a comms pack consisting of a series of templates which Bilqees could use when engaging with different audiences.

Impact

• We offered Bilqees an extended team experience, including a sounding board, hive mind and collective intelligence, alongside access to our varied expertise and networks. During this process, we moved from Bilqees’ original vision (honouring her story and why, in her words, she was ‘moving from pain to purpose’). This meant that #Delete was ready to launch at Bilqees’s civic mayoral inauguration with her being both well prepared and confident in delivering the announcement, as well as being clear on the next steps and direction of travel.

• Interactions with potential partners in the process of creating the briefing document forged closer links with key people. In turn, this promoted a growing sense of ownership from the outset with multiple stakeholders. This is important as it will contribute to the long-term success and sustainability of #Delete.

• Bilqees has had the opportunity to road test the experience of collaborating with Be The Difference as a taster on a time-limited, first step of a wider project.

Learning & Challenges

• The need to apply a robust filter in the research to ensure that every snippet of info included was justified on the basis of its relevance for contributing to the clarion call to address VAWG in Watford.

• As non-Watford residents, we relied on Bilqees’ insights to understand the intricacies of the local picture. This knowledge and learning was then integrated into the overall strategy.

Ecosystem Building

#Delete will be piloted during Bilqees’ mayorship as a Watford-wide initiative. The ecosystem will be strengthened locally by creating a co-ordinated response to addressing VAWG, leveraging key local voluntary sector players whose collective effort can achieve even more. The work, supported across the board by the private, public and voluntary sector alike, will be amplified through the mayoral platform and comms and marketing. It will be sustainable as it’s built from the grassroots up with top-down support. There’s an element of user-led involvement with young people being invited to play a key role in its design and delivery.

There’s scope for raising #Delete’s work at a national level. Indeed, Bilqees is already reaching out to leading campaigners in the field and has plans to connect with other high-profile figures.

There may also be later iterations of #Delete as it evolves, depending on the outcome of the pilot.

More Info

To follow #Delete’s progress, keep in touch via the website at https://thedeleteconsortium.org.uk

Bilqees has also authored a fictional story, ‘Dear Sheba’, about Belle who writes in her Diary called Sheba about her life starting from when she was a young girl affluent but naive who wanted to get married and live happily ever after. But as she grew up life took a turning to when she was finally married she became a victim of domestic abuse. Her life turned into something unexpected. Belle grew strong and believed there was more to life and embarked on an incredible journey.