Meet the Team
Central Office
Rabbi Natan Levy
Rabbi Natan is also a lecturer at Leo Baeck College in Rabbinical Literature. He was the environmental liaison to the former Chief Rabbi, Lord Sacks, the former interfaith consultant to the Board of Deputies of British Jews, and a University Chaplain to Bristol University.
Natan is the co-author of “Sharing Eden: Green Teachings from Jews, Christians and Muslims.” He is pursuing a doctorate in environmental theology at Bristol University.
Naka Alkhzraji
Project Manager
Since February 2016 Naka has managed the Strengthening Faith Institutions financial budget, organised the stand together campaign and managed the annual accounts. Naka has a BA in Media and Sociology and am Master in Research Politics.
Mustafa Field OBE
Community Engagement Lead
Mustafa Field OBE has been the Director of Faith Forum for London since 2013, he was awarded an MBE in 2012 for his efforts in strengthening integration and social cohesion and awarded an OBE in 2019. He is a Fellow for the John Smith Trust and is involved in strengthening the rule of law and countering sectarianism. He has good knowledge of faith and the different communities and practices with particular concerns around community relations in the UK.
Jeevun Rohilla
London Regional Coordinator
Jeeves is one of the London Regional Coordinators, he has recently been working with Places of Worship to carry carry out Covid-19 risk assessments to ensure that places of worship are compliant with the latest Government guidelines.
He is also the Chair of Faiths United Youth Network, a consortium of younger representatives between the ages of 18-30 from all faiths and beliefs, working on campaigns that focus on issues of social injustice that matter to the youth.
Maurice Ostro OBE KFO
Chairman, Ostro Fayre Share Foundation
Maurice Samuel Ostro, OBE, KFO is a British entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is Vice Chair of the Council of Christians and Jews and Founding Patron of Faiths Forum for London. He has served previous Governments in a number of roles: for Tony Blair, he sat on the National Employment Panel Employers’ Expert Group for the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit report on disabled people, and on the National Employment Panel’s SME Board; for David Cameron, he was a member of the Holocaust Commission. His foundation supports economic development and interfaith initiatives internationally working collaboratively with other foundations and charities. SFI is delivered by multiple partners some of whom were hosted in Collaboration House – his Foundations shared workspace for interfaith organisations.
Specialist Consultants
Farooq Mulla
Leicester Regional Consultant
Farooq Mulla is a UK based trained Hafiz and Imam and has developed himself by understanding and working with different cultures. He was appointed as a Chaplain since 1995 in the Rampton hospital and is a consultant advisor for a number of organisations on issues related to Muslim community in the UK and abroad.
Currently Farooq is actively involved in developing materials and training of Muslim supplementary school teachers.
Muzahid Khan
Manchester and Yorkshire Regional Consultant
Muzahid has had extensive experience in the public sector working in Regeneration, Housing, Social Services. After leaving the public sector he has gained experience working the third sector as a programme director of Involve Yorkshire & Humber the regional body for the third sector.
In the recent past, Muzahid has been called by Government to be a Neighbourhood Renewal Advisor and also task force member of the preventing violent extremism together. He was the chair of Oldham Interfaith forum and still serves on the board as well as serving on the board of the Oldham Mosques Council.
He was awarded by:
- HM Queen Elizabeth II (1998) recognised as an young achiever and;
- British Prime Minister (2000) for his outstanding contribution to the community
Fakrul Choudhury MBE
Manchester Regional Consultant
Fakrul has held several posts in a range of diverse employment sectors. He has over 20 years’ experience working with young people from different socio-economical, ethnic, religious and ability backgrounds and also has extensive experience working within local authorities (in Equality Policy Development) as well as the third sector.
He is an experienced trainer and has expertise in equality, diversity and community and cultural activity development. He also has post graduate qualifications in Equality and Islamic Studies.
He was an awarded an MBE in 2018.
Sarvat Mulla
Leicester Regional Consultant
Sarvat has a Master’s degree in Islamic Studies and a PGCert in Islamic Education. Her research has led her to be involved with Muslim supplementary schools commonly known as ‘Madrasahs’ in the capacity of a teacher and course coordinator. Sarvat has been trained as a trainer by the National Resource Centre for Supplementary Education (NRCSE) to teach the ‘Effective Teaching Skills’ course and has successfully trained over 150 Madrasah teachers.
Dawood Masood
Luton Regional Consultant
A media commentator, blogger, teacher of Islamic Studies, inter-faith advisor, humanitarian and community activist. He has been serving at Al-Hira Cultural and Educational Centre, Luton since 2011 as the Head of Educational and Youth Services. He has hosted and presented a series of programmes for Islam Channel and British Muslim TV such as iGeneration and Living The Life amongst others.
He continues to work strenuously with both the Muslim and non-Muslim communities across different faiths and cultures. Through his initiative at Al Hira Centre the organisation has received many awards for its outreach work and for planning initiatives that actively engage with youth, women and different community groups.
Shakil Ahmad Khan
Birmingham Regional Consultant
Born and bred in Pakistan, Shakil started his working life as a lecturer, moving on to community development and youth work later in Scotland. A self-confessed factotum, Shakil has been a manager, school governor, commissioner, volunteer driver and editor, among other things. Working now as a linguist, he is married with three grown-up children and is now a doting granddad too. He enjoys cycling, reading and volunteering for community projects in and outside Birmingham.
Dr. Javed Bashir
Safeguarding Consultant, Bradford
Javed Bashir is the Founder and CEO of the Professional Muslims Institute, Safeguarding Consultant for the Strengthening Faith Institution and has played a pivotal role in promoting better understanding, integration and community cohesion in the City for many years.
During the Covid-19 lockdown, Javed teamed up with different faith communities to set up the Volunteering Interfaith Partnership in collaboration with Age UK Bradford & District and SFI. Together they responded to the urgent needs of elderly, vulnerable and isolated people by providing hot meals, welfare packs, help with shopping and collecting prescriptions and provided food to the NHS working on the frontline.
Javed Bashir was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Bradford for his service to the community during the Covid-19 pandemic and his unstinting support to the University of Bradford.
More recently, Javed was included in Hall of Fame by the Telegraph and Argus for his commitment to promoting a positive image of Bradford, British Pakistanis and Muslims in the UK at an international level and was awarded the Unsung Hero award by Keighley MP Robbie Moore for his innovative work in helping and supporting elderly, vulnerable and isolated people during difficult times of Covid-19.
Advisory Team
A diverse advisory team ensures that Strengthening Faith Institutions is guided by experts in faith, business, law, and third sector governance.
Leonie Lewis FRSA, is Director of the Jewish Volunteering Network. She has a Masters in Sociology of Education and has an MBA in Educational Leadership. She is particularly interested in faith, young people and community development issues and holds several voluntary positions including, co Vice Chair of the Faiths Forum for London,
Trustee of the Faith Based Regeneration Network (FBRN), Vice President of the United Synagogue, and Advisor to the Children’s Aid Committee.
Leonie is newly appointed to the Queens Award for Voluntary Service Assessment Committee.
Our Kickstarters
Kickstarters: SFI is collaborating with the Department of Works and Pension to employ young people in diverse third sector opportunities.
Rhianna Jude
Rhianna Jude is a kickstart Junior graphic designer, has a BTEC diploma in art and design. Currently, working on producing graphic materials consistent with the SFI brand. She also volunteers with the Many Sisters Community Project which aims to support BAME women. She loves to read fiction, particularly graphic novels.
Meghan Taylor
Meghan Taylor is a kickstart Project Officer working on various projects with Strengthening Faith Institutions and Faiths Forum for London. She predominately assists with maintaining the Customer Relationship Management database and social media scheduling. She holds an LLM in International Law from The University of Edinburgh and a BA (Hons) in International Relations from King’s College London.
Hebah Bin Huraib
Hebah Bin Huraib is one of our kickstart graphic designers that works on multiple projects we work on, creating graphics for our various social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. She is also working on re branding a number of our organisations.
Eleanor Chapman
After graduating university with a degree in Politics and International Relations, Eleanor joined Faiths Forum for London in March 2021 as a kickstart campaigns officer. She is dedicated to a wide range of social justice issues, and enjoys working in the charity sector as a way to bring about meaningful and long-lasting change’.
Juliette Hagg
Juliette Hagg graduated from Chelsea College of Art, University of Arts London in 2019 with a First Class Honours Degree in BA Fine Art. Originally from South Wales, now residing in London. I have a passion for Art, Social Justice and Culture, and am interested in the ways in which all areas intertwine and relate. With a strong focus on video content development as well as podcast development I am keen to explore the stories of others and document the world we live in.
She is working as a kickstarter video editor.
Eloise Hunte-Wood
Eloise Hunte-Wood is a recent Communications and Media graduate from Bournemouth University. Having joined the team in February, she has been working on a series of videos looking to counter false information being spread online about the Covid-19 vaccines. She has a keen interest in research and is particularly passionate about gender and race issues.
She is working as a kickstarter Junior Researcher
Nash Gohil
Nash Gohil is a 22 year old video editor based in London, England. He has been editing for 3 years now and his favourite software to use is Premiere Pro. He has always been keen on producing videos and was always a hobby of his growing up.
He says he is “Now I’m lucky enough to be able to do it as a career… Long may it continue. A goal of mine is to one day be able to teach others because that’s the day I’ll be able to say I’ve made it.”
He is working as a kickstarter video editor.
Mahdi Abedi
Mahdi Abedi is a kickstarter video editor and has been editing since the age of 12 and has edited and produced many different kinds of videos and clips. It has always been a passion of his and will always be a huge part of his life and a hobby and interest that he says he will never let go off. He particularly enjoys using premiere pro as he has 7+ years in using it.
He is working as a kickstarter video editor.
Aari Volf Gustave
Aari is a kickstarter video editor, in the past he has worked with different content creators, podcasts and highlight reels. Outside of video editing, he enjoys horror creative writing which has always been a passion of his as it gives him the chance to be creative and make up his own worlds in the process.
Dan Wheatley
Dan Wheatley is a kickstarter video editor/camera operator. He started as a Videographer filming local events and creating short films in his spare time; it started off as a fun hobby but after doing it for fun for a few years he became a lot more passionate about it and wanted to take it more seriously, he then moved onto pursue working for people independently.
He really enjoys coming up with creative ideas for videos whether it’s for a personal project or promotional. His long term goal is to have his own creative agency specialising in advertising.
Max Blindell
Max Blindell the graduated from Roehampton University 2020 with a degree in creative writing.
Based in London his interests are script writing, cinema, history, and culture. Max now works as a kickstart grant writing assistant for Faiths Forum where he hopes to use his creative talents to inspire projects that might benefit the community.