Skip navigation

Sharing Voices Bradford has received £91,000 to support fathers and male care givers of 0-3’s, with its Resilient Dads’ Programme, through Better Start Bradford’s Innovation Fund.

Resilient Dads is a holistic personal development and parenting skills programme which aims to develop the skills and competence of fathers to support their toddlers social, emotional, and cognitive development from ages 0-3.  

The programme has been developed to support fathers and male carers, who have experienced adversity, which may impact on their own parenting. Resilient Dads is tailored to each individual’s level of comfort and uses a flexible approach to learning. The programme uses methods such as sport and team building to help participants to engage with the programme.

Ishtiaq Ahmed, Strategic Business Manager, Sharing Voices said: “Resilient Dads has been developed from two successful tried and tested support programmes, that have been combined to enable us to provide a holistic approach to dads in the Better Start Bradford community.”

“By providing this approach, we are not only improving parenting skills, but we are also empowering participants with a range of skills to ensure they develop greater levels of emotional intelligence and resilience. We want to help them so the adverse experiences that they may have experienced in childhood do not continue to impact on their parenting.”

Gill Thornton, Head of Programme at Better Start Bradford, said: “We are really pleased to be working with Sharing Voices Bradford, who have a track record in improving the mental well-being of the men in our diverse communities. We know that negative childhood experiences can hugely impact on adults and in turn their children, but we also know that with help the cycle can stop.”

In 2019, Better Start Bradford’s Innovation Fund invited organisations to apply for funding to run innovative and creative projects which focus on parenting and the first years of life in Bowling and Barkerend, Bradford Moor and Little Horton. Five organisations were successful in sharing over £405,000, the remaining four organisations are:

  • Womenzone who received £99,400 to build a play gym and healthy eating café.
  • Leeds University who received £109,000 for their Enhancing the HABIT project for improved oral health in 0-3’s.
  • Horton Community Farm and Grow to School received £30,200 for its Growing Together Bradford project.
  • ChildsSide received £75,700 to run Older Yet Wiser grandparenting workshops.

Better Start Bradford is part of A Better Start, a programme set up by The National Lottery Community Fund , the largest funder of community activity in the UK.