Baba receives community award for its efforts in strengthening fatherhood

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Baba is a not-for-profit organisation based in Copenhagen that works with a local group of volunteers to help fathers from ethnic minority backgrounds play more active roles in their children’s lives. Research suggests that children who are raised by engaged fathers have a stronger sense of wellbeing and are less likely to get involved in crime or to develop addictive habits[1].

The organisation enrols fathers to participate in a nine-month programme where fathers come together to develop practical action plans to become more active and engaged in their children’s lives. When the course ends, fathers often take on leadership roles in their communities to help other fathers.

“When I started the project three years ago, it was not easy,” said Asim Latif, the executive director of Baba. “Since there had been many failed attempts at developing fatherhood courses in the past in Denmark, I spent four months speaking with 1,286 fathers to find out where to start.” Asim learned a lot in this process, which has helped him recruit participants. “Although recruitment has been the biggest challenge, we have made an impact and it has become easier as the word spreads,” he said.

His hard work has not gone unnoticed, as Baba recently won the community prize “Fællesskabsprisen”. The award is given to small, yet important, organisations that make a huge effort to achieve a difference in society.

Baba is an initiative created through the Fonden for Socialt Ansvar, an umbrella organisation that runs a number of voluntary social initiatives, all of which respond to some of society’s challenges. Baba is supported by Oak Foundation Denmark, under its goal to provide innovative solutions to improve the lives of socially vulnerable and marginalised groups at the community level. You can read more about the programme strategy here.

[1] Homeless World Cup Foundation, Global Homelessness Statistics, https://homelessworldcup.org/homelessness-statistics/, (accessed 29 January 2018)