Jade Briant, Senior Parent Programme Manager
We have been delivering Strengthening Families, Strengthening Communities (SFSC) in partnership with Start for Life / Best Start since April 2023. Our aim has been to expand the delivery of SFSC across Barking and Dagenham while building the capacity and infrastructure of the voluntary, community and faith sectors to deliver high-quality, evidence-based parenting support.
At the heart of this work is prevention and early intervention – supporting children and families to get the very best start in life. We train community members, volunteers and staff from voluntary, community and faith organisations to become accredited SFSC facilitators, enabling trusted local services to deliver parenting support within their own communities.
We have worked carefully to identify organisations and individuals that reflect the diversity of the borough, ensuring coverage across different geographical areas and priority groups. This includes ethnically diverse communities, families with different language needs, young parents, fathers and parents with lived experience.
SFSC programmes run for 13 weeks, with three-hour weekly sessions. Since 2023, we have delivered 20 programmes in a wide range of accessible community settings, including community centres, family hubs, churches, mosques, schools and libraries. We are particularly proud to have delivered three Bangla programmes, two Albanian-speaking programmes and one Ukrainian-speaking programme, helping to reduce barriers to access for many families.
To date, 14 facilitators have been accredited, including three facilitators already working within the borough who have delivered as part of this project. This has helped to build a strong, skilled local workforce to support sustainable delivery of SFSC across Barking and Dagenham.
To further support parents’ engagement, we provide a crèche for all programmes, recognising how important this support is for parents of children under five and how it enables families to attend and fully engage. Wherever possible, we also employ local staff to work as part of the SFSC team, strengthening community capacity and creating local opportunities. If you are interested in working with us, we encourage you to get in touch with the team.
“Training as an SFSC facilitator has been one of the most rewarding parts of my journey. Delivering the programme in 2024 and 2025 showed me just how powerful it can be when families are given space, tools, and confidence to grow together. Each cohort brought its own strengths, challenges, and stories, and watching participants support one another was genuinely inspiring. The experience has deepened my belief in community-led change and reminded me how transformative it can be when people feel heard, valued, and empowered.”
Asma Haq BEM
Marks Gate Relief Project
Through this work, we have met many inspiring parents who have shown strong leadership qualities and a passion for giving back to their communities. Barking and Dagenham Council invested further in this by commissioning a bespoke Community Leadership course, developed and delivered in partnership with Dan Firth (@wecanwin). This programme supports parents and community members to build confidence, leadership skills and practical tools to take on active roles within their communities.
As a result, we have established a Family Connectors Team, made up of parents who first joined SFSC as participants and have since trained as facilitators and community leaders. The team is now arranging a range of family events across the borough. This work is led by Zahra, who attended SFSC as a parent, trained as a facilitator, delivered three programmes and now leads this initiative.
Alongside this, we have created a bespoke community leadership pathway to support parents to be in a strong position to run and manage community venues and activities. Valda who attended SFSC as a parent and foster carer and has since delivered two programmes, is now working on this programme alongside Dan.
My role is to coordinate, support and oversee the delivery of SFSC and the wider connected projects. This includes offering regular supervision and structured peer support to facilitators, ensuring reflective practice, quality assurance and ongoing development. We recently held our quarterly peer support session at Barking Town Hall, bringing together facilitators who delivered in the first term alongside those currently running programmes – creating a valuable space for shared learning and mutual support.
We run two SFSC programmes per term, with our next programmes starting just after the Easter break in April. If you live in Barking and Dagenham (or your child attends a nursery or school in the borough), have a child under five and would like to take part, please do get in touch. You can also follow this link for more information https://ourhubsbd.london/sfsc-parenting-programme/.
