About Us
Raham Project is a grassroots organisation that began in July 2020 and registered as a Community Interest Company in August 2021.
We are passionate about raising the voice of ethnic communities in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough and across the UK
I’m Faiza Rehman; born and raised in the UK in a tight-knit South Asian family. I am a mother of two young children and a qualified midwife.
In 2020 Raham Project started as a community group; my aim was to support families from diverse ethnic backgrounds. By August 2021 we formally registered as a Community Interest Company.
Raham Project started because of my personal experiences and frustrations as a midwife and then as a new mother. I worked in a system that did not allow me to practice and develop myself in a meaningful way. I could not truly support families, witnessing first-hand disparities and unconscious biases towards people from diverse communities. This affected both service users and colleagues from ethnic communities.
There was an added layer when I became a mother and experienced maternity care myself. I suddenly felt this switch flick…
I could not continue on a conveyor belt and felt I must do something to support our communities and raise these seldom heard voices. And so, Raham Project was born.
Now we are a diverse team of mothers and birth workers who have a shared passion to stamp out inequality. We work in partnership with our Local Maternity and Neonatal Services (LMNS) and Bardnardos. We are always developing strong relationships with organisations that have a shared vision, and work tirelessly to listen and support ethnic families not only in Peterborough and Cambridgeshire, but across the UK.
We are always ready to engage in conversations with families and organisations, so please reach out and contact us
Our team
Our passionate team of staff, contractors, and volunteers brings diverse skills to the table: midwifery, community outreach, volunteer coordination, finances, digital content, and leadership. With over 14 passionate individuals on our team, guided by our steering group, we make a real difference.
Our aims and vison
and how we achieve them
Safe Space
To create a safe and non-judgemental space for mothers and partners from ethnic communities.
Representation
We create digital media content around the perinatal period using key messages and imagery of people representative of ethnic communities.
Support Network
We provide a maternity support network for ethnic mothers and their partners.
Awareness
We raise awareness of the perinatal period, including a focus on maternal mental wellbeing. We provide cultural awareness training for healthcare professionals.
Inform
We help shape local services for the future, based on people's experiences and feedback.
Advocacy
We provide a platform that links families back to their maternity care providers so their care needs are being recognised.
Our achievements
Families that have contacted us about their poor care experiences have been supported through active listening, supported in raising their concerns to their local maternity care provider or linked to other unbiased organisations. Our advocacy has acted as a bridge to allow them to receive the support they require.
We have developed informative and eye-catching digital resources in English and languages such as Mirpuri/Urdu. These infographics have been created using various digital tools. A key focus has been using imagery representative of ethnic people.
This forum is run by mums from ethnic backgrounds for mums of ethnic backgrounds. This is a way to get direct engagement from service users. The group was created in August 2021 and it is growing daily. One of the activities created by mothers in this group is a monthly online “Chai, chat and chill” session where they speak about all aspects of motherhood, sharing their experiences and encouraging other mothers to join in the conversation.
We offer a consistent monthly online session to mothers that wish to join and share their maternity care experiences in a safe and non-judgmental space. Stories are collected with consent anonymously to share with our local Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Integrated Care System as well as to raise the seldom heard voices via our platforms.
Our impact
‘how your money helps’
hearing the voices of black and brown families.
providing clear and representative information
trained in cultural awareness
our face-to-face peer support events
information/advocacy through direct enquiries
Who we work with
We work closely with local and national organisations to raise the voice of ethnic families in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. We want to celebrate the partnerships we have created and the organisations that are working tirelessly to make a difference for black and brown families going through their pregnancy and parenting journey.
Working in partnership with the Local Maternity and Neonatal System (LMNS), we receive funding from the Integrated Care Service (ICS) to gather feedback from diverse communities which directly shapes maternity services at North West Anglia Foundation Trust. Our work aligns closely with the Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnerships at Peterborough City, Hinchingbrooke and The Rosie (Cambridge) Hospitals.
We have developed a partnership with Barnardos and CPSL Mind to connect with ethnic communities and co-produce a service that provides support and information through the perinatal period, which will enhance existing midwifery care offered by NWAFT and the ICS.
The funding we receive is short term but we believe that our work is and will continue to significantly reduce health inequalities. Therefore, it is longer term funding that will make our services sustainable.
