The Mosaic Network is a
charitable
The practice of charity is the voluntary giving of help to those in need, as a humanitarian act, unmotivated by self-interest. There are a number of philosophies about charity, often associated with religion.
Etymology
The word ''charity'' or ...
initiative founded by
Charles, Prince of Wales
Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to a ...
in 2007 as part of 'The Prince's Programmes' at his charity "
Business in the Community
Business in the Community (BITC) is a British business-community outreach charity promoting responsible business, CSR, corporate responsibility, and is one of the Prince's Charities of King Charles III (formerly the Prince of Wales).
BITC work ...
". The catalyst was a memorandum from The Prince of Wales to
Julia Cleverdon, who was the chief executive officer of BITC, and
John O'Brien MBE, who was the director of personal programmes. Although it sat well outside the normal focus of BITC, Cleverdon gave O'Brien a free remit to see what he could create. The initiative very quickly became formed a multiple set of initiatives which included, The Mosaic Schools Network, chaired by
Princess Badiya bint El Hassan of Jordon, The Mosaic Speakers Bureau with individuals including
Pinky Lilani,
Asad Ahmad
Asad Ahmad is a BBC journalist and news presenter.
Education
Ahmad was educated at The John Roan School on Maze Hill in Blackheath, south-east London, followed by the University of Bristol, where he studied law.
Early life
Ahmad was born i ...
and many others. It also consisted of a media network launched at
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
.
The name Mosaic was settled upon between Cleverdon and O'Brien in a meeting at BITC, where, after approval via Clarence House from The Prince of Wales, this was presented to initial supporters. O'Brien also engaged the Marketing company
M&C Saatchi
M&C Saatchi Group () is an international communications network headquartered in London, formed in May 1995. With more than 2,400 staff, the network spans 23 countries with major hubs in the UK, Europe, US, Middle East & Africa, Asia and Austral ...
, to create an engaging identity and succinct message and identity. The original logo was a mosaic type form and the lasting message "The Power of Positive Thinking" was crafted. This message was particularly apposite at this time, when so much negative thinking was pertaining to those from a Muslim background.
The Original Funders of the initiative were identified by O'Brien through his personal networks and invited to meet with the Prince of Wales at
Clarence House
Clarence House is a royal residence on The Mall in the City of Westminster, London. It was built in 1825–1827, adjacent to St James's Palace, for the Duke of Clarence, the future king William IV.
Over the years, it has undergone much exten ...
in 2007. At that meeting
Rumi Verjee
Rumi Verjee, Baron Verjee (born 1957) is a British businessman, philanthropist and Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords. Born in Uganda, Rumi moved to the UK as a child before studying at Downing College, Cambridge.
Early life
Rumi V ...
(now Lord Verjee);
Naguib Kheraj a senior Banker; Malik Karim, founder of Fenchurch Advisory Partners and Khawar Mann of SX2 Ventures agreed to follow up with O'Brien and their original donations initiated a pilot project in the
London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The programme, specifically crafted by O'Brien & Mann proved so successful that with subsequent funding from the UK Government, could be rolled out further. The initial uk Government funding was as a result of O'Brien meeting with Minister
Hazel Blears
Hazel Anne Blears (born 14 May 1956) is a former British Labour Party politician, who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Salford and Eccles, previously Salford, from 1997 to 2015.
One of 101 female Labour MPs elected at the 1997 g ...
, then Labour Secretary of State at The Department For Communities and Local Government (Now
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), formerly the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for housing, communities, local government i ...
). At this time Jonathan Freeman who was later to be seconded into Mosaic, was a senior civil servant in charge of such grant assessments and Muslim community engagement. O'Brien met with Freeman and that started an association which proved useful for the further development of the programme. Some two years later Freeman joined to become O'Brien's deputy running the UK schools programme.
O'Brien is universally credited as being the creative and entrepreneurial force behind the early years of Mosaic with him personally creating the Enterprise Challenge, The Media network, the speakers bureau and then the Mosaic International Leadership School, which he presented to the Prince of Wales as a 60th Birthday present in 2008 at a major gala dinner held at London's Natural History Museum.
Mosaic delivers
mentoring
Mentorship is the influence, guidance, or direction given by a mentor. A mentor is someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person. In an organizational setting, a mentor influences the personal and p ...
programmes in
primary and
secondary schools and in
prison
A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, corre ...
s. The mentoring programmes are designed to help those from disadvantaged communities to realise their potential with the support of
volunteer
Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve ...
mentors. Mosaic operates in five regions of the
UK:
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, North West, South East,
West Midlands and
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...
. In 2010 O'Brien left Business in the Community, to become a private representative of some of The Prince of Wales's interests, including many of the Mosaic connections on amongst other things The Prince's Pakistan Flood Recovery Initiative in 2011. This combined Mosaic network support with that of The Prince's
British Asian Trust
The British Asian Trust was founded in 2007 by Charles III, King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and a group of pre-eminent British Asian business leaders. The Trust works to tackle the widespread poverty and hardship in South Asia to which mil ...
with a gala dinner and speech by The Prince of Wales.
On O'Brien'
departure the BITC Prince's Programmes were broken up as a group and the Mosaic was led by the National Director, Jonathan Freeman, formerly a senior UK civil servant. Freeman was awarded a prestigious
Muslim News Award in 2016, an award previously declined by O'Brien in 2009. Freeman is credited as having taken the network and activities to a new level of depth, in particular focusing on acquiring accreditation and creating a more formalized programmatic feel. Some initial funders and supporters moved away at this time and the number of component parts of Mosaic were reduced, but the over-arching effect was that the school programme gained increased recognition and achieved many awards.
Statistics
In the academic year 2012/13, Mosaic supported 5,000 young people in 140 schools and other institutions, supported by over 900 volunteers. 83% of UK beneficiaries were drawn from the 20% most deprived areas of the country. Mosaic also operates internationally through its International Leadership Programme and delivery of its Enterprise Challenge competition with local partners in
Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
and
Qatar
Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it ...
. Mosaic’s International Leadership Programme supports 80 young leaders from 20 countries.
Accreditation
Mosaic’s schools programmes have received independent accreditation through the Approved Provider Standard of the Mentoring & Befriending Foundation. In addition, Mosaic’s programmes have been independently evaluated by
Demos, the leading research organisation, which described its programmes as "very well run and both the mentors and mentees reported significant benefits in taking part". In 2013, Mosaic received the Prime Minister's
Big Society Award. As stated Mosaic was originally an initiative of
Business in the Community
Business in the Community (BITC) is a British business-community outreach charity promoting responsible business, CSR, corporate responsibility, and is one of the Prince's Charities of King Charles III (formerly the Prince of Wales).
BITC work ...
(BITC). As such, Mosaic was part of
The Prince's Charities
The Prince's Charities is a non-profit organisation that has associations with King Charles III. The Prince's Charities, supported by The Prince's Charities Foundation, is based in the United Kingdom and comprises 19 organisations of which Charl ...
.
in 2009 it was the subject of a move from Business in the Community to
The Princes Trust, maintaining its connection with The Prince of wales. It is widely recognised that at this time the programme was subsumed and although nominally remains, is seen as being a smaller component of a much larger Princes Trust programme. The international leadership Programme was divided from the UK schools mentoring programme and placed in a then new Princes Trust International.
Mosaic is overseen by a national Advisory Board: Mosaic's Founder Chairman (after O'Brien) was
Princess Badiya bint El Hassan of Jordan.
Apax Mosaic Enterprise Challenge
The Apax-Mosaic Enterprise challenge was an innovative computer based game originally developed by O'Brien with subsequent co-chair (post Princess Badiya) Khawar Mann OBE, whose co-chair was Yasmin Waljee OBE, who hosted the challenge finals at law firm
Hogan Lovells
Hogan Lovells is an American-British law firm co-headquartered in London and Washington, DC. The firm was formed in 2010 by the merger of the American law firm Hogan & Hartson and the British law firm Lovells. It employs about 2,400 lawyers a ...
which she was head of Pro-bono support. It remains a national competition for secondary school students across the UK, designed to develop and encourage their entrepreneurial skills.
Awards and nominations
In January 2015, Mosaic was nominated for the Spirit of Britain award at the
British Muslim Awards
The British Muslim Awards are an annual award ceremony that honours the success and achievements of British Muslim individuals, groups and businesses. It was established in 2013.
Overview
The British Muslim Awards was founded by Oceanic Consult ...
.
References
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Alternative education