Saba Ahmed is one of 22 bold and generous leaders selected to be part of Acumen’s inaugural UK-wide Fellowship. Fellows have been selected based on their commitment to bridging societal divides and tackling injustice across the UK.
Ahmed works as a Community Development Worker at the Kuumba Imani Millenium Centre, located in Liverpool’s L8. Her role allows her to work with and build up a network of organisations, groups and individuals with the L8 area. She acts as a support for this network to promote social action within their neighbourhoods and offers training to empower community activists.
Ahmed, of Yemeni descent, was born and brought up in Liverpool. After completing an Active Citizen Facilitator course at the British Council, she co-developed and delivered bespoke activist programmes – the first of its kind for Merseyside residents. There were 31 graduates from the programme and Ahmed, as part of an initiative named ‘L8 A Better Place’, empowers these graduates to mobilise positive social change within their communities.
The UK Acumen Fellowship equips Fellows with the knowledge, skills and community to accelerate and sustain their impact tackling poverty and injustice. The Fellowship begins with a year-long immersive leadership programme, where Ahmed will take part in a series of residentials and virtual seminars connected by group practice. The programme is designed to increase her capacity to lead through complexity, walk across lines of difference, and mobilise action in order to solve long-standing problems of injustice. The Fellowship is grounded in 20 years of Acumen’s work tackling poverty across the world. For the first time in 2020, a UK cohort will join Acumen’s growing global community of social innovators and builders accompanying each other to create a world based on dignity.
Ahmed said:
“I am honoured to be representing Liverpool as an Acumen Fellow. The Fellowship will arm me with the leadership needed to help people change their lives, not just for themselves but for the generations that follow them. It’s with the power of people and networks that change can happen, and my mission is to give communities the confidence and skills they need to change their circumstances for the better. Only by collectively sharing our knowledge and working with others can we achieve real lasting change.”
Alongside her community development work, Saba is an active board member for two organisations, one which focuses on access to quality housing for the BAME community and another that works creatively to tackle food poverty. She is also a Scout Leader and a spokesperson and campaigner for Liverpool Friends of Yemen.
The Programme Lead of Acumen Academy UK, Benjamin Lane, said:
“Fellows such as Saba Ahmed are redefining how we measure success across the UK; they are building bold solutions, connecting our communities, empowering our youth, standing with our vulnerable, protecting our environment, and serving us all. The Fellows understand that the challenges they are committed to solving are far too large and complex to be dealt with by any one individual, therefore are invested in solving these challenges collectively.”
As part of Acumen’s commitment to invest in the global ecosystem of social leaders, they have taken many elements of the Fellowship programme and made them available online and for free, through Acumen Academy – the online school for social change. More information on Acumen’s online courses can be found at https://www.acumenacademy.org/learn/.
To find out more about Acumen Academy in the UK and the Fellows Programme, visit https://www.acumenacademy.org/fellowship/uk and read more about the UK 2020 Fellows at https://acumenacademy.org/blog/united-kingdom-2020-fellows. Sign up to keep updated on the Fellows and Acumen’s leadership work at https://bit.ly/ukfellows
