MYIP – Voices of the next generation

An external evaluator, Ruth Joyce, was appointed at the outset of the project.

Central to the brief was the need to gather data directly from the young members of the project as well as from the adults that supported them. As part of the project plan the evaluator agreed with the project manager how and when the data should be collected. The data collection included:

• surveys (in the relevant language),
• one to one interviews and
• focus groups with the young Muslims taking part and with their youth and community leaders.

Key messages:

The evaluator identified a number of key messages from the young people:

To Muslim leaders: They particularly expressed their own desires to integrate more into the whole community and felt this should be made clear to Muslim leaders in particular. They also wanted Muslim leaders to actively address the issue of drug and alcohol by members of their own community and to support drug education and prevention for all Muslims, particularly activities such as this programme.

To parents: They wanted parents to recognise that drug prevention programmes were an important way to keep them away from drug misuse and that they needed more opportunities to socialise and integrate within and between communities. They wanted parents to encourage their children to take part in programmes such as theirs, particularly the girls in the families. They suggested that parents needed good information and a long period of notice about what this and other programmes could achieve to ensure that they let their children join in.

To young people: The message was clear – ‘Come along and learn about drugs - this way is fun and free and will open new doors for you and you will learn a lot about yourself and others.’

Key Recommendations:

The evaluation makes the following recommendations:

• There is a clear need for voluntary non-school based events - (via religious / non government organisations) - to take place as part of drug prevention activities.
• Creating an equal gender balance of participants is important although this can be hard in Muslim communities. Early engagement of parents and older siblings via recognised and trusted local youth clubs is a useful way to achieve this.
• There is a need to develop effective ways to share the experience of this and other similar programmes with Imam’s (including Mosques and Madrassas ) and seek their active support.

Download the full MYIP External Evaluation Report