The Aasha Project has a track record spanning 10 years in dealing with hard to reach and difficult to engage young people. The word ‘Aasha’ is a Bengali word meaning ‘hope’. It is a word that captures the sentiments and aspirations of the very first group of young people who set up the project with the aim of reducing and preventing gang conflicts in the Borough.
The Aasha Project is geared towards cutting crime, reducing the fear of crime, promoting citizenship and bridging the gap between communities. It focuses pre-dominantly on young people from the ethnic minority community aged between 16-21, who are at risk of becoming socially excluded or engaging in youth conflict, crime and drugs or anti-social behaviour.
The project employs a two pronged strategy to achieve its aim:
Conflict mediation and intervention – utilizing experienced Aasha staff and the projects wide network of informal youth contacts in the Borough to respond to conflicts as they happen with a view to interrupting, mediating and/or resolving the conflicts.
Conflict prevention – designing interventions and projects to engage hard to reach young people and steer them away from the gang culture and gangster lifestyle.
