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Climate Change Project Final Report CCF3434

Al-Meezan Ltd

1 Rowan Road

Glasgow

G41 5DL

www.almeezan.co.uk

0141 427 7001

Starting Point

The original idea for the project came when Asghar Mohammed (board director) attended a CCF/KSB seminar at Glasgow Central Mosque on 29th September 2013. Subsequently he attended 2-day events organised by CEMVO/KSB where the idea of increasing climate change awareness within the Asian community and specifically targeting Muslim women in addition to having a more energy efficient building made logical sense. Our project community are mainly Al-Meezan users which can be over 600 people every week ranging from the very young (e.g. Mother and Toddler group) to the very old (e.g. Sakina Group) with groups and classes running most days of week throughout the day to meet needs of a wide target audience. A small development grant was obtained and utilized to engage with over a 100 of Al-Meezan users, allowing them to become involved right from the very beginning, as well as to find out their awareness levels of climate change. The project revealed a number of unmet needs for different groups within the community and also gave a baseline climate change awareness information. The following outcomes ensued from this preliminary work:

CO2e Outcome(s) – Al-Meezan House (AMH)

1) Decrease CO2e at Al-Meezan by 152 tonnes of CO2e over 7 years by implementing recommended energy efficiency measure – namely:

Upgrade boiler (for new nursery)

Upgrade controls to control nursery independently

Upgrade nursery and kitchen lighting

Install lighting controls

Upgrade roof insulation to old building

Upgrade floor insulation to old building

Install double glazed windows and insulated doors to old building

Changes to be monitored through regular meter readings.

CO2e Outcome(s) – Homes Project

2) Overall reduce Co2e emissions of 180 Al-Meezans user homes by 1032 tonnes by reducing 10% of energy usage over 5 years through use of energy monitors

A significant target community of 180 users were chosen to become more energy efficient in their homes with their families through home visits, advice and use of energy monitors. Since the majority of Al-Meezan users control their home budgets we have a great opportunity for them to be able to impact this directly. Measurements to be taken before and after energy monitors are given out and annual readings to be recorded from bills.

Community Outcome(s)

3) Increase the awareness of Climate Change – Primary School children

Using methods that came out of research project such as animated book/comic or DVD as well as competitions (with energy efficient prizes such as bikes and helmets) to increase awareness. Events to be held every 3 months.

4) Increase the awareness of Climate Change - Secondary School children and adults

Secondary school children and adult will be engaged via informative leaflet (in English and Urdu) as well as hold monthly talks and seminars to increase awareness. Events to be held every 3 months.

5) Increase the awareness of Climate Change - local wider community

The wider community – i.e. anyone who visits AMH and local residents will be engaged through a permanent climate change stand in the reception foyer. Open the building to local groups, as well as hold 2 seminars on climate change for local community to take care of our area as an initiative and look at ways to improve it. Events to be held every 3 months.

6) Increase the use of sustainable forms of transport to and from AMH

The Dumbreck Community Council was consulted in November 2013 and shared a perceived issue with parking at AMH and was looking for improvements. This was to be resolved through car share, public transport initiative, encourage walking and through raising awareness of implications of current levels of continued use through monthly talks and seminars. Investigate use of mini-bus and install a bike stand encouraging users to decrease car use to facilities. Transport to and from AMH was to be monitored. Our legacy plans were to be through:

1) Our energy efficient building (including upgraded nursery boiler) will be a lasting legacy for future Al-

Meezan users as an ongoing permanent reduction in carbon emissions

2) Increase our community involvement in carbon reduction measures by changing hearts and minds

with the 180 families who directly participated in the campaign through the energy monitors

(significant proportion of Al-Meezan users). We would hope that they see the impact on their usage

and as a result of project remain more energy efficient than before as well as being positive

advocates to friends and family. Furthermore we intend to loan out energy monitors after project

completion in order to encourage other users to make changes in their homes and environments

and carry on work

3) Permanent climate change stand in reception to build awareness amongst future users through

building of a constant dialogue on this subject

4) More holistic approach in day to day running (e.g. sourcing recyclable material, reviewing wastage,

being overall more energy efficient, photocopying and printing, switch off lights when not in use) of

Al-Meezan through involvement with project over the 18 plus months of staff, volunteers and board

particularly

5) To open our building to other local community groups encouraging dialogue with others on this topic

6) The proposed nursery will imbed the knowledge of climate at a pre-school level and we will

endeavour to achieve green flag status

7) Annual climate awareness seminar as part of regular Al- Meezan activity to carry on energy

efficiency awareness ethos as part of core activities

Headline achievements

9,409.81 tonnes of Co2e saved In excess of 76 training sessions held where energy efficiency and cycling skills In excess of 58 events held on largescale ( i.e. few hundred attendance at each event) 88 staff, volunteers and users achieved qualifications through the project – e.g. City & Guilds Energy

Awareness, Ride Leader etc. In excess of 2434 interactions with users in workshop and events Heart and minds of countless users changed…… Lives lost along the way…several (almost!)

Outputs

The whole project was in 3 phases.

Phase 1: Planning and Preparation (May to June 2014)

Recruitment – The project started by advertising of new posts via Al-Meezan website, internal noticeboards

and social media following which Project Manager (PM) and 2 project Champions (1 FT and 1 PT) were

recruited.

PGV’s - checks were carried out for all new staff. Al-Meezan has a good robust policy of ensuring all

volunteers have PGV checks so we were only required to organise for the new team.

Project Planning and Research - This involved scoping out project activities and extensive background

research, as all staff were new to climate change. A fantastic resource was purchased, a book called “199

Ways to Please God” which was instrumental in link change to faith with users. This resource proved so

invaluable that it was later given out as resource to key people (board members, team, key volunteers

organising curriculum for adult and children classes and some project volunteers). Various films were

recommended and watched for research (Zaky: The Earth has a fever, Ice Age, An Inconvenient Truth,

Transition Scotland, Are you listening?).

Purchasing of IT equipment such as 4 laptops, a printer, anti-virus and Microsoft software and 3 phones) as

well as office equipment (desk and 3 chairs) and stationary all took place early on in Phase 1.

Training - The team and volunteers to prepare themselves for upcoming activities attended sessions – some

were in Phase 1 but most in Phase 2.

o City and Guilds Energy – by PM only due to costs and in liaison with Lillian Delaney from Home

Energy Scotland delivered free of charge to all Project Champions and volunteer (5 people)

o CASP – All team (5)

o Bill reading workshop – All (4)

o Outcomes – PM

o Valuing Volunteers – PM and Champion (2)

o Social Enterprise workshops (Punjabi Junction) – All (4)

o Climate Resilience (Amina) – PM

o Social Media – PM

o Climate Justice – PM and Champions (3)

o Communicating Climate Change to non-receptive audiences training – PM and Champions (3)

o Play on Pedals Instructors – All team plus volunteers (6)

o Ride Leaders – Most team plus volunteers (11)

o Bike Maintenance – Most team plus volunteers (9)

o Bike Servicing - Team plus volunteers (6)

o Play on Pedals Bike Maintenance - PM

o 1st Aid – All team plus Al-Meezan staff and volunteers (20 plus)

o Cycle Trainer – PM and volunteers (3)

o Report writing workshop (2)

o CASP Legacy event – Sustainable Transport - PM

Phase 2: Active Community Engagement Phase (July 2014 to March 2016)

In-service weekend – the workshop plan was launched to the 50 plus volunteers network at Al-Meezan prior

to actual launch. Support was gained and volunteers were involved when they were in the midst of planning

out their whole year of classes at Al-Meezan.

Launch - The project was launched to the users with a weeklong series of launch events where the team

visited and delivered an overview of upcoming project to each class at Al-Meezan, which is no means feat as

there are circa 600 users attending regularly. The week ended in a community wide launch where the

Glasgow wide community were invited, as well as prestigious personalities such as local MP’s and MSP’s,

other projects, volunteers, staff and board members. This was also initiation of recruitment for home energy

visits, volunteers, to take part in FuelGood driving efficiency lessons and cycling. Home Energy Scotland and

Transport Scotland representatives supported this launch. See table below for attendance. [See Appendix 1:

Launch Presentation].

Project Launch 23rd to 29th August 14

YB1 –YB3: Primary School aged 203

YB4: Secondary School aged 52

Adults 190

Community 21

Ramadan – Dua – this was quite a big event with 400-450 people attending and is normally the last

community event before Eid and before Al-Meezan closes for few weeks. Team was on hand to sign up users

to workshops, tell them about project.

Sign Ups – the users collected during launch week were then followed up over an 18 month period and the

team started home energy visits, booking driving efficiency sessions, getting volunteers involved and

organising cycling sessions.

Energy Visits – Team started these by initially researching how to do them by contacting other projects,

training, shadowing Home Energy Scotland staff and PM and purchasing energy monitors (were given 3 free

by HES and 17 purchased). Team started home visits with users they already knew or saw regularly e.g. each

other, team, staff, regular daily volunteers before going though larger volunteer list. This area took up the vast

majority of efforts and staff time. Overall aim was to visit 20 homes each month – 1st month to do initial visit

and leave them with an energy monitor and then following month do a follow up visit and take back energy

monitor and leave them with a user pledge so they had a physical record of tips given and 10% reduction

pledge. [See Appendix 2: Home Energy Visit process and Appendix 3: Energy Tips and Appendix 4

User pledge].

After a few visits staff expressed concern at bill reading as there were so many different types and a bill

reading workshop was designed and delivered by HES to train all staff.

A lot of the users expressed interest in green homes and renewable energy thus when invited to the ‘Green

Home Open Day’, the whole team attended a session and visited a green home which was a fabulous and

eye opening experience and we could take away that learning and advise user on home visits what

technologies or facilities were available and where from.

Building Efficiency Works – was a key area for energy efficiency at AMH and took place between January

and March 2015 by McLaughlin Construction who won the tender. The works carried out were:

Boiler upgrade (to control new nursery)

Upgrade controls to control nursery independently

Upgrade nursery and kitchen lighting

Install lighting controls

Upgrade roof insulation to old building

Upgrade floor insulation to old building

Install double glazed windows and insulated doors to old building

Marketing and promotional material - Marketing was carried out most often by social media (FB and

WhatsApp where extensive staff, user and volunteer groups already existed), Al-Meezan website and using

internal noticeboard to display posters leaflets and upcoming events. Where community events were held, A5

leaflets were produced and door dropped around the local community thus extending the reach.

Lots of resources were provided by Home Energy Scotland so it was felt that to do another leaflet was not

worthwhile. However, since a lot of the communities were bilingual and some were not English speakers at all,

one of the HES a leaflet was translated into Urdu, developed and printed (See Urdu HES leaflet below). The

majority language highlighted in the initial climate change market research was Urdu [See Appendix 5:

Climate Change Research Project Baseline].

We were also given an appliance costing sheet by another CCF funded project(CARCAP) which was updated

and developed for use by Al-Meezan [See Appliance Costing Sheet image below].

Alongside this as the market research showed that young users would like to receive more information by a

comic, one was designed and developed [See Comic image below] which proved very popular with the

youngsters.

Hello and Assalam-u-alaikum !

I am Daisy, and I come from nature, representing beauty,

innocence, purity and loyal love. Earth is my home as it is

yours. I love and cherish. it with all my heart

You want to know why I am sad?

Various leaflets were also produced to invite the local wider community to events (see images below). Around

500 were distributed for each event.

A general leaflet was also designed to show the activities available for users and communities to get involved

with. [See Energy & Transport leaflet image below].

Adaptable cycling posters were created that could be interchangeably used to promote our longer rides to

community – [See image below].

Most marketing and promotional materials were designed by external agencies and some were created in

house.

A newsletter was designed by a volunteer and printed in house which housed latest updated and upcoming

events for project – [See image below: October newsletter].

First Full Day Ride (16 miles)

Saturday 28th

November

10am to

4pm

Al-Meezan House to

Bowling Basin

Please text Mahnoor on 07813307823 latest by 25th November to book your place.

Join us for our first full day ride. Ladies & children. Children 10 -16 years must be accompanied by a parent. No under 10s please. Ride is for

Intermediate to advanced riders.

We will be cycling 12 miles from Al-Meezan House to Bowling Basin mostly on cycle tracks & some bits on quiet roads. Train to Central Station & cycle 4

miles back to Al-Meezan.

Bring with you a bottle of water, packed lunch, waterproofs, £4 for the train ticket back & a good sense of fun!

[email protected] 07557679995 www.almeezan.co.uk Please volunteer – you will be invaluable no matter what skill set Al-Meezan House, 1 Rowan Road,

Office located on 1st floor (turn left at reception) Glasgow, G41 5DL

Left: The Sakina and Quran Tafsir groups gather for our weekly outdoor gardening session

Right: The hardy Saturday teens sowing seeds in the rain in one if the beds.

“Allah’s servants ar e those who are neither wasteful nor niggardly when they spend, but k

eep to a just balance” –Qur’an 25:67.

Al-Meezan

Grow & Recycle Project Update

Growing

The gardens around Al-Meezan have developed nicely

since May involving over 800 people in workshops

about growing and local food. We now have raised

beds outside the house, looked after by the Sakina and

the Qur’an Tafseer groups and more at the far side of

the car park making a garden and learning walkway to

the new nursery. If your group would like to look after

a bed please see Luci or call.

We have been busy planning our workshops over the

summer and now they have begun with a bang!

We held the first fest on Saturday September 12th and

it was (themed) "Grow, Sow and Compost" various

sessions were held on "how not to kill a plant",

"Creative Composting" and "Growing what you love to

eat" and is still on in the multi-purpose room.

We are looking for keen volunteers or groups (no

experience necessary) to look after the new beds and

help build this beautiful resource (learning through

doing).

Recycling

Recycling bins have arrived and are all labelled so

please put rubbish in the correct bin. Baji Taj will

be holding tours very shortly to show you where

they are and also more importantly what goes in

what. Better still if you know why don't you tell us?

Important Upcoming Dates...

Mini Climate Change Festival Months

Sunday October 18th - Launch of Love Food Hate Waste Month

Saturday 21st November - Launch of Swap, Swish and Share Month

Sunday 13th December - Launch of Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Repair & Recycle Month

Saturday 9th January - theme TBC

Sunday 14th February - theme TBC

Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th March - Launch of Celebration Month

NEW Course!

22nd October and every Thursday for 8 weeks - Grow Your Own Course

12-2pm: Suitable for beginners and people with some knowledge.

Please see Luci to register your place.

Above: Flowers & salads for our first tasty salad bowl.

[email protected] 07557679995 www.almeezan.co.uk Please volunteer – you will be invaluable no matter what skill set Al-Meezan House, 1 Rowan Road,

Office located on 1st floor (turn left at reception) Glasgow, G41 5DL

“The average carbon footprint is 10 t

onnes pe r person in S cotland”

- Keep Scotland Beautiful. Al-Meezan

Energy & Sustainable Transport Project Update

Energy Efficiency Building works to make Al-Meezan House more energy efficient are now complete. Still a lot of work to be done by ALL users to switch things off when not being used (reminders all over the building so no excuse!). We have also carried out over 140 home energy visits (that's almost 80% of our target) where our trained Champions have been going out to you to offer assistance and advice to help you reduce your energy bills. If you have not had yours yet or would like one, contact us ASAP. New visits will be carried out till the end of this year so hurry!

Transport

Reduce your fuel bills by going on FuelGood driver

training delivered Transport Scotland driving

instructors. Sign up for your 50 minute lesson now.

The Fuel Good app can be downloaded from www.fuelgood.co.uk. You put in your car details and GPS so it can track your journeys. It’s designed to help monitor your fuel efficiency and provide hints and tips on how to adapt and improve your driving style. Those that can get the app can challenge their friends or other users and find out who is saving the most and driving fuel efficiently.

Work is underway to plan a Green Driving Day

sometime in the next few weeks… watch this space.

Cycling

A fun filled cycling themed weekend was held at Al-

Meezan with support from Bike Station, Sustrans, Soul

Riders, Glasgow Life and South West Community

Cycles. There was also a pedal powered smoothie bike

on hand which was loved by all! (See picture).

Don't worry if you missed it you can still get in on the

fun. Complete beginner? Or haven't been out on a bike

for years? Sign up with our team for lots of fun cycling

activity coming up.

We have been hosting 4 week cycling sessions with

the Senior (boys) and Intermediate (girls) from

Friendship Club and are planning offsite rides with

them in the October mid-term break. If your keen in

volunteering or becoming a ride leader, we would love

to hear from you.

Radio:

Various slots of Radio Scotland and Radio Ramadan were attended where session focussed on role of faith in

action on climate change.

Networking -

The First network joined was the Ethnic Minority Network and 1st meeting was held at Al-Meezan. This group

consisted of CCF funded projects who met once a month in each other’s community buildings and it was

pulled together and support by Zarina Ahmad at CEMVO. This group was instrumental in sharing resources,

learning and promoting each other’s events, visiting each other’s sites and generally talking to likeminded

people.

Glasgow and Clyde Meetings were similar but for all CCF projects (all ethnicities) in geographical area.

They met every few months and content covered was similar but not as rich and diverse at EM Network

meetings partciaurly as they did not meet as regularly.

Mayhill CCF gathering – annual gathering which also proved to be a fantastic networking opportunity to talk

and interact with project from all over the country. Al-Meezan attended 2, 1 prior to onset of project getting key

contacts and 1 a year later with a stall showcasing work.

SCAN Conference – held in Perth in September 2015 and was attended by some of team and volunteers.

This was a great networking and training opportunity, which allowed a deeper integration of climate change

work to be incorporated into people’s busy lives.

Climate March – was held in Edinburgh on 28th November 2015 and was attended by some of the team

where more networking contacts were made.

Collaborative and partnership working - the project could not have been delivered without the help of key

organisations, people and other projects listed below:

AiA Marketing – designing and producing marketing material ( community leaflets, comic, business

cards)

Bike Station – delivering lessons to users, training to team as well upcycled bikes for feet and all

support and servicing needs

Canny Cycling – Ileene Mulholland for delivering training through Cycling Scotland

Carcap – providing guidance and support on visits and workshops as well as resources such as

Appliance costing leaflet

CEMVO – for on hand advice, assistance with recruitment, development of project and so much

more

Cycling Scotland – delivering training such as Ride Leader, Cycle Trainor

Energy Saving Trust - carrying out visits around fuel poverty

Gheat – carrying out visits around fuel poverty

Home Energy Scotland – for assisting with team training, support for visits, attendance at open days

and events and general advice and guidance

Play on Pedals – providing training for people to become instructors, providing bikes and equipment

for Al-Meezan to become a Hero organization and general support and guidance

Richard Andrews – for designing and producing awareness raising leaflets showing all services

offered

Saghir Ahmed – translating HES leaflet into Urdu

Transport Scotland – for providing FuelGood Driving efficiency lessons

Tuprint – design and print for Urdu HES leaflet

Young Scot – for delivering climate change workshops to users

Environmental Strategy – was developed (See Appendix 6 – Al-Meezan Environmental Strategy) using the

board approved the Community Action for Sustainable Scotland document, and the implementation of which

is a work in progress and will carry on as part of legacy elements.

Workshops- these were developed in 4 broad themes and were carried out in 3 monthly blocks (Month 1

deliver workshops to Primary school aged children; Month 2 with secondary school aged and adults. Month 3

would be focused on community wide engagement. Team met for quarterly offsite meetings to develop and

brainstorm the workshops in the broad themes.

1) What is Climate Change? (Sep 2014 to Jan 2015)

The workshops were adapted for each groups and consisted of a variety of activities such as:

Children - Charades/M&M ice breaker, Problem and solution country flashcards, quizzes,Children -

Zaky’s Adventures – The Earth has a Fever- DVD viewing and Young Scot delivered a session which

consisted of attitudes on climate change, with pizza food, mile game and practical solutions users

could take

Adults - Climate change graphical representation, cartoon video, Bay of Bengal video, Food pictures

round the world discussion, Nature at stake video and solutions workshops

Community – “An inconvenient truth” movie showing

What is Climate Change

YB1-3 Primary School aged (Oct 14) 160

YB4 and QR – Secondary School aged (Oct 14)

117

Adults (Oct 14) 14

Community (10th Jan 15) 14

NB QR= Quranic Reflections and YB= Young Believers

(See Appendix 7 – Workshop Activity Template Oct to Dec 14 and Appendix 8 – Young Scot

Introductory Session Plan)

2) Islam and Climate Change (Jan 2015 to March 2015)

The workshops consisted of a variety of activities such as:

o Children - Discussion about verses of Quran and hadith ( Sayings of the Prophet Muhammed ) on

climate change followed by caliigraphy sessions where users were able to decorate a verse of Quran

talking about waste and take away. [See image below]

o Adults - Green Muslim videos

o Community – A “Role of Faith in Action on Climate Change” event was held under Islam Awareness

Week banner and included representatives of various faith and non-faith groups coming together to

discuss. [See image below]

Islam & Climate Change

YB1 to 3 Primary School aged ( 7th and 8th Feb 2015)

122

YB4 and QR – secondary School aged 21st and 22nd Feb 2015)

108

Adults ( 9th and 10th May 15) 47

Community 29

[See Appendix 9 Workshop Activity Template Jan to Mar 15]

3) Energy Efficiency (April 2015 to Aug 2015)

The workshops consisted of a variety of activities such as:

o Children - trips to Glasgow Science Centre

o Adults – block of 4 climate change workshops (up to 10 staff and volunteers) and trip to Whitelees

windfarm

Energy Efficiency

YB1 to YB3 – Primary School Aged (9th and 10th May 2015)

153

Adults ( Volunteers 9th and 10th May 2015) 52

YB4 – Secondary School aged 9th and 10th May 2015

83

Adults and community (25th Aug 2015) 19

4) Sustainable Transport (Aug 2014 to March 2016)

The workshops on this area were over a much longer period and were adhoc developing with the needs of the

users – the progression and development has been detailed below:

Cycling:

o This is where the bulk of activity took place

o Activity started by staff and core cycling enthusiast volunteers received cycling training from Bike

Station over various sessions to improve cycling skills and confidence

o 8 of them were trained by Cycling Scotland (and supported by Bike Station) to become Ride leaders

where they received skills to be able to safely take a group of cyclists out on rides

o 6 adults (staff and volunteers) also received Play on Pedals training which allowed them to deliver 3

blocks (5 children each) of cycling activity incorporating M check, helmet safety, balancing, steering,

braking, mounting and dismounting (all on balance bikes) progressing onto pedal bikes where a

number of youngsters were then able to cycle on their own. See Play on Pedals images below

o All the users who had expressed an interest were contacted to gauge their level. 3 groups were

formed:

o Beginners group who were primarily trained by Bike Station via Al-Meezan at Bellahouston

Park. A number of them are now very competent cyclists and make up some of our ride

leaders

o The intermediate group were developed through regular (mostly weekly led rides) to

become confident cyclists and some of them are now going on and being trained as ride

leaders – see regular weekly ride image

o The most enthusiastic and able were put forward and underwent further Cycle Trainer

training incorporating Bikeability Levels 1-3 and are utilising these skills within the

community.1 volunteer developed their bike maintenance skills through “Fix your own”

sessions at Bike Station and then started delivering bike maintenance sessions for Friendship

Club children and for adult ride leaders. A further course was delivered at Bike Station where

volunteers learned how to service bikes

o Wider community – a Cycling open day was held where various cycling organisations participated

(Bike Station, Glasgow Life, Sustrans, Soulriders) offering advice, information and support. A

smoothie bike was also on site which allowed great user interaction and allowed some user to come

out of their shell and engage with participants. This allowed lots of interest to be generated and more

volunteers and enthusiastic cyclist or wannabe cyclists to come on board. [See image below of

cycling poster below]

o Various 4 weeks blocks were booked with each of the Friendship Club section (Juniors, Intermediate

and Seniors). They included covering theory such as name of parts, benefits of cycling, barriers to

cycling, M check, cleaning and maintenance, road and pathways cycling rules, risk assessments and

keeping safe, helmet fitting, puncture repair. Followed by practical in Bellahouston Park covering

balance, speed, agility, steering and gear work. At the end of each 4 week block a long ride was

organized e.g. Lochwinnoch (10 miles round trip) and Glasgow Green to Riverside Museum (12 miles

round trip) to challenge the children. [See images below of Lochwinnoch and River Side museum]

o Fundraising Cycling Event was held on 24th May 2015 to allow enthusiasts to cycle for fun round

Bellahouston Park and raise funds for Al-Meezan cycling activity (around £80 was raised)

o Cycle to work Scheme was implemented allowing employees the opportunity to purchase a new

bike through salary sacrifice scheme. So far 1 person has taken up a bike through the scheme

o Various forms and files were designed and created to facilitate activity such as database of all users

interested in cycling plus their level, a database capturing all rides or lessons that had taken place,

forms (booking and medical form, risk assessment) as well as cycling information forms for users and

ride leaders (See Appendix 10 – Al-Meezan Cycling Club info and Appendix 11 – Booking and

Medical form)

o iCycle – a challenge entered to take some of the advanced riders up a notch whereby cyclists rode to

5 mosques for 5 prayers in 1 day:

o Start at Glasgow Central Mosque at 4.45am

o Cycle to Paisley Road West Mosque for Fajr (pre-dawn) prayer

o Cycle to Cumbernauld Mosque for Duhr (midday) prayer

o Cycle to Masjid Al-Furqan for Asr (mid-afternoon) prayer

o Cycle to Tanatallon Road Mosque in Shawlands for Maghrib (post sunset) prayer

o Finally cycle to Glasgow Central Mosque for Isha (late evening) prayer

o 47 miles covered – great achievement – 7 riders from Al-Meezan out of approx. 25 cyclists –

[See before and after images below]

o Extreme Mountain Biking – next challenge – testing out for future Friendship Club rides for

youngsters who want more excitement in their cycling activity

o Al-Meezan were lucky to receive the “Best Community Engagement” Award in 2015 from Bike

Station award – [See images]

o Resources such as 6 upcycled bikes, a 10 bike stand and cycling (and garden) shed were purchased

to facilitate the cycling activity. See images above.

Green Driving -

o Encouraging people to car share through adhoc and regular interaction. Link people up who live close

to one another

o Recruit people to take part in 50 minutes FuelGood lesson by Transport Scotland which allowed them

to sit with a qualified driver instructor and drive normally through the 1st lap, then after giving fuel

efficiency tips, drive same lap again and then again a 3rd time to try and beat their fuel efficiency. 4 full

day session were held and 28 participants taking part in these sessions in total

6 monthly transport surveys were held to find out how people travelled to Al-Meezan, whether they would

consider car sharing and more sustainable forms of transport and track these changes. They were carried out

in June 2014, Dec 2014, and then again at same time in 2015. For successive surveys the same week day

and weekend day was chosen in order to keep the results as consistent as possible. (See Appendix 12 –

Measuring transport questionnaire).

The results of the market research while application was being worked on were taken as baseline measures

using a questionnaires asking key questions about knowledge of climate knowledge. (See Appendix 13 –

CCF Questionnaire). This questionnaire was then repeated at the end of the 2 year project to chart changes

overall that workshops had made.

Youth Group- comprising of half a dozen teen girls who would meet once a week and a different climate

change session was facilitated by the Champion to incorporate her climate change work with her degree study

requirements.

Pledge – After the project had been up and running for quite a few months and environmental strategy

devised and discussed, it was agreed by board that Al-Meezan should sign and commit to the Scotland’s

Climate Change Pledge for Communities. This was signed by the chair in presence of team, board members

and KSB staff. [See signing pledge image].

Phase 3: Completion Phase (Jan to Mar 2016)

Video – was filmed to show a glimpse of activities that took pace as well as invaluable feedback from users

about they had progressed through this journey. (See Appendix 14 Energy and Transport video)

Tree of Change – was designed and developed by a volunteer and staff to show the change the project had

made to the Al-Meezan community. The roots of the tree were the links to faith and the branches were the

project activities and leaves were the change from all the effort. All areas of Al-Meezan were involved in this

finale project. Little Stars, Fitrah and Nursery helped design and create the base and users were encouraged

to leave feedback and changes on leaves. This will be left as a legacy item for years for people to realise and

see the importance of climate change and also effectiveness and positive impact of the project work. (See

image on front cover)

Celebration week – The project ended with a week-long series of events focusing on cycling rides training for

iCycle and culminating in finale with Interschool Competition.

Interschool Competition – Annual event where children from various Muslim organisations take part in the

competition with some Quranic recitation, signing a nasheed and also preparing a speech. The topic this year

‘Role of Islam in Climate Change’ was well received. It was attended by 100-150 youngsters and

accompanying adults. We provided support guidance and facilitated discussion session on the day as well as

being a judge on the panel.

Glasgow Climate Festival

The culmination of the EM Network work led to a joint effort by all groups in organising and hosting Glasgow

Climate Festival. This consisted of a formal session at Glasgow City Chambers in the morning which would

have speeches by Patrick Harvie (MSP), Humza Yousaf (MSP), Bailee Mohammed Razaq, Frank McAveety

(GCC), Fraser Christie (KSB), Zarina Ahmed (CEMVO), video showcasing involved projects and

performances by Ruminate and June Imrie (Poet).

The afternoon was exciting and family friendly event at George Square with various activities;

Workshops (bird feeding (Andalus), Tetra pack wallet making (Al-Meezan), making birds out of bottles

(Al-Meezan), Rug weaving (WSREC) plus many more....

Music and dance Performances –Various

Faith and Climate Change tips - Al-Meezan

Dr Bike, cycling games and maintenance, advice and support – Soulriders

Play On Pedals (toddler) drop in cycling session with Al-Meezan and Lambhill Stables

Bike powered smoothie machine - Lambhill Stables

Quran recitation and nasheeds by local talent - Al-Meezan

Stalls – Various

Seeking ideas and consultation - At each stage where relevant decisions needed to be made, the board,

volunteers and wider community were asked about their ideas or consulted on proposals and any decisions

made from this. By the end of each stage the project had gained and expanded on the support of the

community through these open and involved approaches.

Outcomes

CO2e Outcome(s) – Al-Meezan House

1) Decrease CO2e emissions at Al-Meezan by 152 tonnes of CO2e over 7 years by implementing recommended energy efficiency measures – partially achieved

Various measures were carried out to make AMH more energy efficient, namely:

Upgraded boiler (to control new nursery)

Upgraded controls to control nursery independently

Upgraded nursery and kitchen lighting

Installed lighting controls

Upgraded roof insulation to old building

Upgraded floor insulation to old building

Installed double glazed windows and insulated doors to old building

This made a significant impact to Al-Meezan. User would be talking about these measures and how commenting on how much warmer the building was and helped decrease emissions. (See Appendix 15: Calculations).

Decreased CO2e emissions at Al-Meezan by 35.17 tonnes of CO2e over 7 years by implementing recommended energy efficiency measure

CO2e Outcome(s) – Homes Project

2) Overall reduce CO2e emissions of 180 Al-Meezans user homes by 1032 tonnes by reducing 10% of energy usage over 5 years through use of energy monitors

180 home energy visits were carried out. However, there was a handful that pulled out as we attempted to do a first home visit as they had changed their mind, or they perceived that they were too busy and this was going to take too long or some were for some unknown reason not interested anymore. Several users were in fuel poverty and intervention of Project staff helped them massively to make improvements and changes in their life. (See Appendix 16: Home energy visit case study). As gas format was not recorded ( I.e. if it was a empirical metre or an metric meter) and since the majority are metric meters, an assumption was made that all gas data was read through metric meter and appropriate calculation to calculate KWH was carried out Of these 180 visits there were 96 users where we had all the correct data required to report changes to energy consumption.( See Appendix 15 Calculations – Outcome 2 Raw Data Original tab). The remainder could not be used for number of reasons:

Due to time and staff shortages we were unable to do final visits and get meter readings

They did not return calls or messages when attempts were made to book home visits

They had been unable to get a bill for Champions so that baseline annual usage could be recorded

They did not allow access to meters for readings at all visits

The readings were taken and at analysis stage they did not make sense (e.g. meter reading had gone down rather than up)

A number of these may have been as gas readings were recorded in electric reading column and vice versa

When the calculations were being done for the final report, the data was analysed on a number of occasions by different but it wasn’t making sense. In the end the conclusion was reached that there was errors in data. This was the reason that the final calculation was based on readings and not bills. This still does not seem right. However without going back and redoing so many visits, this is the best conclusion that can be drawn.

Reduced CO2e emissions of 180 Al-Meezans user homes by 9373.91 tonnes by reducing 93% of energy usage over 5 years through use of energy monitors

Community Outcome(s)

3) Increase the awareness of climate change - primary school children - exceeded

4) Increase the awareness of climate change - secondary school and adults - exceeded

5) Increase the awareness of climate change - local wider community - exceeded

In terms of workshops and users per session the below table shows the vast amount of users we interacted with and age group makes up that audience.

Workshops POP Toddlers

Primary aged

Secondary Aged

Adults

Community Training Total

Launch events

203 52 190 21

466

Climate Change

160 117 14 14 20 325

Islam and Climate Change

122 108 47 29

306

Energy Efficiency

153 52 83 19 10 317 Sustainable Transport 42 195

189 9 58 493

Celebration events

90 37 400

527

Total 42 833 419 560 492 88 2434

At the beginning and end of the project market research was carried out on a sample of users in order to see change of awareness levels with respect to above outcomes. (See Appendix 17: Climate Change Research Post Project). Here are the key findings:

Compared to only 21% of those surveyed before the project, a staggering 98% said they knew what Climate Change was

Compared to those who perceived Climate Change as something to do with our weather, many more participants are aware that it is indeed something to do with the environment, CO2 emissions, and Global Warming. 45% of the participants now have knowledge on the matter, and 30% know that they must do something about it, compared to only 21% who were aware of Climate Change

The majority of people are aware of carbon emissions , ( pre project was nil), leaving a 16% of those who are completely unaware of what carbon emissions are

Almost half of those who have been surveyed are aware of what causes harm to the earth’s atmosphere and are able to identify causal factors of damage to our environment. Awareness leads to action

The vast majority of people realise that some of the biggest causes of CO2 emissions are caused by the way we live our lives, our daily habits, and the way we can change eating and travelling. By switching to travelling by bus, train, or bicycle, we use less fuels emitted by cars and planes etc. By eating less meat and layering up instead of having the heating on, we use less electricity

37% of people are completely unaware of whether their Carbon Emissions are high or not. Being unaware leads to inaction, and harmful, long-term effects to our earth – this is similar to rep level so unfortunately n change here

37% of those surveyed however, are very knowledgeable about their personal Carbon Emissions which is hugely positive in preserving what we have available to us

The majority of people are aware of energy efficiency whereas only 14% knew pre project

Overall post project there was a massive increase in those knowing what climate change, energy efficiency, carbon emissions showing that the vast amount of people we worked with in workshops have had a steep learning curve after 2 years of workshops

6) Increase the use of sustainable forms of transport to and from AMH – partially achieved A 6 monthly transport survey was carried out in order to see who people travelled to AMH. Below are some highlights of the survey:

Average mileage per survey (over last 2 years) was 400 miles for average survey sample size of 88 people

Travelling by Car:-

Overall 93% arrived by car which saw slight fluctuations but no major change

High degree of car sharing with 1/2 of sample doing so and bringing an average of 3 people which increased from baseline

Of those that did not car share nearly ½ would consider it

Of those that said they would not car share reasons such as: Getting lift Nobody comes to AMH from near them Young kids Don’t know anyone else coming in from that area Lack of time Health reasons

Walking:

When asked if they would consider walking a distance of 1 (or 2 miles) instead of car, vast majority (63 %) said yes and this was a slight increase from initial baseline levels

Of the 1/3 that said no, the reasons given were: Distance too much Health Lack of time Inability to walk Couldn’t be bothered

Too early to walk Young children Old age Weather Fitness

Cycling:

Willingness to cycle to Al-Meezan was 16% on average and although low showed a slow increase from baseline levels

Of the majority that said no the greatest reason given was inability to cycle which is a positive as with training, lessons and increasing confidence, willingness to cycle as mode of transport is likely to increase. A lot of sample indicated that if they knew how to they would love to

Other reasons given were: Weather Feeling funny or uncomfortable about it Young children Not being a confident cyclist Clothing See cycling as mode of relaxation and for pleasure Ill health/pregnant Not liking it Lack of time Lives too far Never considered it Old age Cultural reasons

Public Transport:

When asked if they would consider public transport, almost ½ expressed an interest in using this mode rather than the car but this decreased over the sample period

For those that said no, a number of reasons were cited: Timing No need to Too time consuming Not find it comfortable Live too far out Difficult with kids Have a car/easier to take a car Live nearby and can walk Don’t know how to use public transport Never used it and don’t see any buses coming this way Don’t know what public transport comes in direction

When asked about awareness of other modes of transport available to site, almost just under 1/2 said they were aware and same numbers said they were unaware

[See Appendix 18 – 2 Year Transport Summary at Al-Meezan for complete report].

Unexpected Outcomes:

Furthermore, the 28 people that went through the Fuel Good driving efficiency lessons achieved significant

fuel and CO2e emission savings which had not been factored in and were additional achievements:

MPG improvements of between 12.2 and 32.8%

8.4 tonnes of CO2e emissions (Kg) reduction

This equates to a saving of £5,961 in fuel costs per year if this reduction is maintained

Increased the use of sustainable forms of transport to and from AMH

Grand total x tonnes of Co2e decreased

Legacy: Before - Our energy efficient building (including upgraded nursery boiler) will be a lasting legacy for future

Al-Meezan users as an ongoing permanent reduction in carbon emissions

After - building efficient works all carried out. People always commenting about how much warmer the

building is now

Before - Increase our community involvement in carbon reduction measures by changing hearts and minds

with the 180 families who directly participated in the campaign through the energy monitors (significant

proportion of Al-Meezan users). We would hope that they see the impact on their usage and as a result of

project remain more energy efficient than before as well as being positive advocates to friends and family.

Furthermore we intend to loan out energy monitors after project completion in order to encourage other

users to make changes in their homes and environments and carry on work

After - Staff in the office and kitchen on all days are much more aware as are so many of the user who we worked with of the need to save energy at home and at Al-Meezan. Often we get stopped by a user to tell us proudly a change they have made or a new revelation about how Climate Friendly living has come into their lives. Sustainable transport still require more work though

Before - Permanent climate change stand in reception to build awareness amongst future users through

building of a constant dialogue on this subject

After – Achieved through the “Tree of Change” plaque

Before - More holistic approach in day to day running (e.g. sourcing recyclable material, reviewing

wastage, being overall more energy efficient, photocopying and printing, switch off lights when not in use)

of Al-Meezan through involvement with project over the 18 plus months of staff, volunteers and board

particularly

After – this is work in progress still

Before - To open our building to other local community groups encouraging dialogue with others on this

topic

After – Achieved, various other community groups, projects and organisations visited Al-Meezan

Before - The proposed nursery will imbed the knowledge of climate at a pre-school level and we will

endeavour to achieve green flag status

After – This has been achieved with both the Green Flag status gained and monthly growing, composting and upcycling sessions occurring with the children and staff

Before - Annual climate awareness seminar as part of regular Al- Meezan activity to carry on energy

efficiency awareness ethos as part of core activities

After – Achieved through Interschool Competition event

Learning & Reflection

The biggest learning and area of reflection that could be summarized here is that we wanted to achieve so

much in a short space of time with limited amount of resources. Lack of time was the biggest barrier and

cropped up again and again. The barriers as well as learnings and reflections have been categorised:

Ramdaan and Eid:

Project started at end of May 2014 by the time staff was on board. In June Ramadan was upon us which has serious implication for initially the launch and then everything afterward, most importantly the home energy visits. The normal hub of activity dies down in Ramdaan at Al-Meezan whilst everybody focusses on this very spiritual and special month. It meant we couldn’t hold our launch till after Ramadaan and Eid or start visits prior to launch

Post Ramdaan there is the Eid festival and Al-Meezan closes for a few weeks while everybody takes a break and celebrates with their families or goes away on holiday

Launch had originally been planned for July and had to be put back to August to take this into account. This had a knock-on effect on the monthly awareness raising events which were overcome by workshops for 2 different target groups being held in the same month (September) to make up for lost time

The home energy visits could not be started until after the launch so they were delayed by a month or 2

Staff There was a number of issues concerning staff:

Initial barrier experienced was resignation of a team member as she felt this project was not right for her. This happened quite early on, leaving only 2 in the team (the Champion that resigning had 2 Champions hours so was effectively half the team). Activity had to be paused momentarily in order to recruit replacement and a lot of time and effort was directed in this area which had not been factored in

It was also decided that some time should be set aside for team building/brainstorming at an offsite to allow team to begin to work around new members and to allow new members to fit in and ask openly any questions about the project. This worked very well and allowed team to gel together very quickly

There were some security issues due to a number of incidents at Al-Meezan and in user homes. Some team members were not comfortable doing user visits on their own or where males were also present in the home. After discussion with team and board, a compromise was agreed, whereby Champions would carry out home visits to only those users whom they knew and the remainder were to be done in pairs. Secondly when booking visits users were requested to indicate time when males would not in the house so Champion feel comfortable

This issue of carrying home energy visits as a pair did not fully resolve. There was not enough time to allow all visits to be done in pairs. Champions felt their safety was compromised. This led to staff grievance and 1 Champion resigning which resulted in further time delays. At first a resolve was reached by remainder 2 Champions working overtime to compensate but this was short lived as their personal circumstances changed and they could not always work overtime. Another round of recruitment, induction and training was then carried out

Lastly 1 Champion left in January due to other work and university commitments – 1 month prior to the end of the contract. This did not leave sufficient time to recruit before project end. Those hours were offered to existing Champions but they were unable to work them. This caused a number of 3rd and final home visits not to be carried out

Lastly Champions contracts ended in February leaving PM on own to finish off project IT problems This was a major area of concern and led to considerable time being lost:

Initially due to lack of funds 3 laptops were purchased and being shared between 4 members of the team and although everyone was not in every day but there’s significant overlap in the team. This was overcome by borrowing IT equipment from Al-Meezan but a few times we were unable to so members were either bringing in their own or were doing a task not requiring a laptop which was not ideal. We then investigated and purchased another laptop to prevent future issues and also as

Champions were spend more and more time out of office on home visits and need to be able to record findings

There were general laptop issues with them being slow, files would go missing or viruses and had to be checked over by IT specialist and were away for days and sometimes weeks causing delays

At one point the mouse on one of the laptops stopped working and the whole hard drive was wiped. Trying to rectify the problem caused loss of a few days recovering everything, causing a backlog as everything had to be reloaded

Home measurement sheet which were shared by champions each having their own tab caused problems, sometimes not being able to open, other times several copies made and data regularly going missing from the sheet and had to be put back in

IT problems or issues were such a big concern at one point that help was sought from a local contact who carried out some work free (in return for publicity and promotion) but this was a worry as it took time to get IT issues resolved and we didn’t have any budget to pay for anyone

One of the Champions suggested Google Drive instead of OneDrive allowing all members of team to see the most up to date files. This improved some of the IT issues quite considerably

Wireless internet connection at Al-Meezan was regularly weak or down so we could not do much work. A booster was installed which aided some of the issues. Broadband supplier was changed but instead of a better signal this caused more networking problems and is still ongoing to date

Time:

Generally the length of time taken for administration and paperwork was quite significant and meant that we could not be as creative as we wanted

Some resolve was found by doing the management fee claims every 3 months instead of monthly to overcome the length of time taking to process expenses

PM time was taken up considerably by shadowing Champions on home visits and then after grievance issues this got worse rather than better. It had been anticipated that shadowing would only be required on the first 2 or 3 home visits but it was considerably more than that. All of which had not been allowed for

Chair of Al-Meezan was in and out of hospital meaning paperwork took considerably longer where approval and signatures were required

PGV:

there were no funds to pay for them which was resolved by taking funds from another area

Forms took so long and when chased they could not be found and were then redone

All in all, a simple paperwork item took months to resolve

AMH Energy Efficiency

Due to all the time issues above – the intention always was to take regular meter readings but there

was always more urgent priorities and this area lacked as a result. Regular usage was monitored

through bills

Home Energy Visits

User issues

Users forgetting about home visits

Increasing time wasted as users not at home when team arrived at their home at a pre-arranged time despite reminders and or not being in or unable to provide time due to last minute changes (These were then rebooked). After discussion with DO, these visits were now included in home visits target as they were taking up a considerable amount of resource

Champions had to constantly chase up some people for booking 2nd visits and felt some people were now avoiding them

No bills at visits despite team asking them to have it ready repeatedly (Baseline measurements taken but since previous history not ascertained, visits had to be rebooked)

Lot of issues with husbands having online access and the wife knowing nothing about it or even knowing where the meters were!

Due to the increasing number of CCF projects and the communities overlapping, many of original signups were getting house visits from other organisations, or did not want to do them anymore as they were put off by cold callers about energy!

During Ramadan and school holidays users were busier than normal and the number of visits being

done in these times would always drop despite best of intentions Equipment issues:

Unable to leave energy monitors with a few homes due to inability to clip the sensor onto the correct wire coming from electricity meter. We had to work round this by taking baseline measurements, carrying out rest of visit as per process except energy monitor part and then following this up with a final visit at the end of the project to get a final reading so savings can be calculated. It meant that user would not be able to see their actual usage, however savings could still be noted from advice and tips given

Issues with faulty monitor which then went away under warranty resulting in a number of weeks when they could not be used

Lost energy monitor – a user misplaced one the free energy monitors given by HES causing a few weeks delay. They gave money towards a replacement monitor being purchased

Some monitors seemed faulty as the cost kept going up and not coming back down or the cost per hour was extremely high so Champions needed to go back and bring these monitors back and replace them

A number of users had pre-paid meters which didn’t allow them to obtain a meter reading, therefore needed to chase up people to get a bill sent with energy usage info

Sometimes meters were hidden behind shelves and freezers and Champions were unable to gain access to them to clip energy monitor sensor onto

Time issues:

Any backlogs from any number of issues were attempted to be diminished by the Champions working as much overtime as was possible

Staff were absent due to sickness (sometimes few weeks at a time) or bereavement causing delay

Some users were in fuel poverty or had issues with energy suppliers or heating systems and this took up considerable amount of time with some homes getting 7 or 8 visits (which were not planned). These visits should normally have been referred to Gheat to follow up but they in turn had such a backlog that they were finding it really difficult to do the follow up visits. As it was only a handful of users and the Champions had some knowledge as to how to do a follow up visit, they did these themselves where Gheat were unavailable

Some users had changed their mind after either signing up or after having had a visit as they perceived it as being too much hassle

Length of time it could take to do some home visits had not been factored in. Some Champions were able to do them in an hour whilst others taken up to 3 hours to do them. Team were encouraged to shadow each other in order to learn from each other and become more efficient but this had a negative impact as they then wanted to do all home visit as pairs or as a team

When we finished the launch phase of the campaign and were about to start home visits in that we did not have a process in place. A weeks’ worth of home visits had been booked these had to be postponed in order for team to discuss and brainstorm the actual process and document this. Also after speaking to development officer, suggestions and contacts were given to speak to various other CCF funded projects focussing on home energy visits, particularly those that had been up and running for a number of months prior to ours. Furthermore, shadowing of HES and other CCF funded projects also added time delays

Technology and geography was another issue as Champions were travelling all over Glasgow and central belt to do various visits, with time wasted with flat phone batteries and getting lost etc. This effect can be reduced by checking route online beforehand and ensuring enough spacing between visits so Champion are not late for next visit when 1st visit in the day takes longer than anticipated. Also ensure phone fully charged and have back up charger just in case

1 Champion finished on Jan 15 as was finding university and another job as well as project too much. As it was so late in the day, there was no point in recruiting. Overtime was offered to existing staff but they declined due to other commitments. This impacted on the number of final 3rd visits we are able to do

Remaining Champion finished at end of February so all home energy visits activity stopped. PM did few more to get more data readings but this then impacted on other work

All above led to this outcome only being partly delivered as full focus and efforts could not be given to it

Workshops

When carrying out the workshops a number of issues were encountered, such as resources being

double booked, lack of availability of large space to accommodate additional requirements at certain peak times, technology not working, and some staff reluctance to allow access to their class/users, not enough notice given, perceived lack of time given. These were highlighted to board after first set of workshops and after their intervention did get better as more people engaged and took the project on board

Asian timekeeping is not the best and users would regularly walk in 30-45mins into the session which caused disruption and they didn’t really get the gist of the workshop

Teachers sometimes pushed us to cut down our time for the workshop which made us rush the workshop as they had loads to go through with the users

Sustainable Transport

This was the toughest area to work on.

This was a soft outcome whereas the energy ones were otherwise. They took up 95 % of

Champions time which meant PM was solely working on this as well as managing all the other

areas. This has had the least amount of progression and feels lacking. The cycling has been a real

success but lack of resources prevented it taking off on a much bigger level

There was also a specific issue such as the Dumbreck community aggrieved resident, where a

local resident wanted to meet and find out about Al-Meezan’s Climate Change Project, after which

the person reported inaccurate information from the meeting to other residents and local

MP’s/MSP’s. When this information was clarified by email to all, the resident because abusive and

has threatened to take things further legally due to perceived defamation of character. This

aggrieved resident cropped up time and time again at key events and caused increase in tensions

all round

Working with other CCF projects was most rewarding other than in 1 case where the PM was

struggling to fully deliver an outcome and approached another CCF project to come and deliver

some cycling workshops for the Friendship Club. After a meeting and several email conversations

when the PM was sense checking everything was good to go, she could not get hold of other

project staff and on the day they said they could not deliver on what had been agreed. This was a

real blow to the morale but with substantial help from volunteers the sessions were delivered and

were a big success. This did mean that there was a reluctance to carry out further work with this

particular organisation due to this massive let down

Bike stand took quite a lot of time first of trying to decide where it would be best situated that would

provide safety for the cyclists as well as not upset the day to day running of Al-Meezan too much. It

was finally situated in the area that had been set aside for community garden as this could no

longer be used for that purpose. The new nursery had opened which meant the side gate was

being used and would accommodate cyclist thus saving them from using same car park entrance

as vehicles

In summary next time we would allocate lot more resources to each area and really focus on a few core

things that will make the biggest difference rather than trying to achieve everything.

We would also get external paid sessional workers to deliver some sessions to relieve the pressure on

team.

Finance & Administration

PM had received training on project management and was used to managing staff, budget and resources in

previous roles. The greatest area of learning for her was around recruiting and engaging volunteers - which

is a much more difficult task. Various training sessions were undertaken to equip the team to have these

skills.

The only issues was that volunteers are just that - if they have time then its brilliant but then when their own

personal lives take over it meant another avenue had to be explored and a new set of volunteers were then

sought. It was realised that it was best to engage with as many as possible and they could dip in and out as

per normal daily lifestyles.

The area with most engagement of volunteers was the cycling and it just grew arms and legs.

The budget changed quite a lot. The building energy efficiency works were considerably higher in costs

than had been anticipated and quoted. Underspend from other areas (particularly salaries due to gaps

when staff were being recruited) were diverted to other areas that were costing more.

Working closely with DO and also a number of other projects meant we were rarely going about in the dark-

whenever this was an issue, concern or problem a solution was delivered by somebody in the network.

Name of report authors and date it was finalised:

Shgufta Anwar, Taj Ahmed, Luci Ransome, Mahnoor Campbell, Habeeba Asghar, Asgher Mohammed, Ken Fisher and every single user, staff, board member and volunteer who helped be a part of the project.

Finalised on 3rd June 2016

Output Grid – Please fill in only those outputs which relate to your project. More information about

all of these outputs can be provided in other sections of the report – these figures will enable us to

collate some overall impacts of the CCF.

How many advice/information centres – regular drop-in centre, advice surgery etc. - is your

project running?

NA

How many training sessions where skills and/or information were passed on – e.g.

composting training, cooking workshops, etc. – has your project has held.

76

How many events did your project hold, e.g. information fairs, open days, etc.? Do not include

events held by other organisations which you have attended.

58

How many staff, volunteers or community members have achieved qualifications through the

project – e.g. City & Guilds Energy Awareness, Trail Cycle Leader, etc.

88

How many people were directly employed by your project. Tell us the full-time equivalent (FTE)

number of employees (e.g. 3 days per week = 0.6 FTE).

2

Is the project is supporting the development of any long-term jobs which are not dependent of NA

CCF Funding? How many?

How many people are actively involved in your project – attending groups & workshops, using the

project facilities etc.?

2434

How many people volunteer their time and energy to keeping the project going – don’t forget the

members of your management committee or board.

25-

30

How many schools are involved in your project? 1

How many community-owned buildings have been refurbished? 1

How many Home Energy Checks or similar energy efficiency reports have been carried out by

your project?

180

How many households have been referred on to other agencies or providers (e.g. HES, Green

Deal assessor) for further action?

15-

20

How many households installed energy efficiency measures – loft, wall or floor insulation, draft-

proofing, double glazing etc. – as a result of your project?

2

How many households installed green energy generation measures – photovoltaic panels, solar

thermal panels, air or ground source heat pumps, wood fuelled heating systems etc – as a result of

your project?

0

How many miles of car journeys have been reduced through the activities of your project? NA

How many square metres (m2) of community growing space (allotments, poly-tunnels, raised

beds, community gardens) has your project brought into use?

NA

How many tonnes of waste have been diverted from landfill because of the activities of your

project?

NA

How many kWh of energy has been reduced because of the activities of your project? 9409

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