Birmingham Care Group

Mahatma Gandhi said:

I am Fiona Ramdeen, and I come from a background of caring for some of the most vulnerable people in my community. In May 2012 I established the Birmingham Care Group, a registered charity (1149682). It has been supporting older adults with a range of conditions such as dementia and younger adults with conditions such as learning disabilities and autism.

We provide person centred day opportunities for members of our local community who are being cared for by their loved ones. The aim of our service is to support our beneficiaries to engage in a range of activities bespoke to their needs and preferences to provide opportunities for their self-development and achievement of outcomes which have a true meaning for them.

Our centre Manager Sharon BholaHarris alongside Roshan and Rani has created an environment where they feel safe and have built a good rapport and understanding of their needs.

Our service also provides the added value for informal carers to have break from their caring role. Our focus as a service is to promote and encourage a healthier, active lifestyle whilst forming companionship within an informal but safe setting for our users.

There is an increasing demand for our services particularly from our aging population. Thus, services, have become more limited (stretched) within the local area because of the increase in more service users attending our centre. Many of them do not meet the criteria for their day care service to be funded by the Council, increasing the burden on informal carers to look after for their loved ones.

As a small community organisation, we have limited resources available. We need to expand our services to meet the increasing demand for our

service particularly those who do not meet the funding criteria of the Council. These people have limited resources to fund their own day care opportunity. Many of our beneficiaries have very little to no contact with their families and rely on our services to socialise and integrate with others in the community.

Aims and Objectives: • To provide person centered day care opportunities for older adults and younger adults with a range of disabilities where they can interact, participate and integrate with the local community. • To support service users with their

health and well-being through activity workshops/exercise of their choice and social interaction with other people • Support the social cohesion within our community by maintaining and developing social capital • To support service users and with their service providers within the care sector. • To work with the relevant authorities to promote the views, needs, rights and aspirations of the voluntary sector in providing a day opportunity service.

We have a Quality Assurance Framework which monitors the quality and safety of our service for example we capture the customer experience of our beneficiaries through the deployment of evaluation forms where we ask them to complete regularly. Outcomes from such surveys feed into service improvements such changes in the content of activities.

Our service is bespoke to the needs and preferences of our service users and so we provide a range of therapeutic activities to maintain a nd improve the physical and mental wellbeing of our beneficiaries whilst providing a welcome break from the caring role of their loved ones.

As a charity all proceeds from the day care service is invested back into the organisation so that we can continue to deliver a high quality service for our beneficaries.

We closed our facilities in March 2020 due to COVID-19 which saw many of our service users isolated and alone with no little to no contact from family or friends.

Our dedicated team of volunteers maintained contact with our service users whilst adhering to the social distancing guidelines. We repurposed our premises and opened an emergency food bank that enabled us to provide food parcels to the whole community and deliver to those who were vulnerable and shielding.

We have become one of the largest food banks in Birmingham, catering predominantly for the BAME Community, providing culturally sensitive foods that supports their health and wellbeing. We have several funders who have supported the food bank, in particular the National Lottery Community Fund to help with running costs and a minivan, Errol Drummond owner of Sunrise Bakery, Kathleen Harris the Community Champion from Morrisons (Edgbaston) and Tropical Sun Foods with Caribbean produce.

We have been fortunate to have partnered with Wes Sinclair and Marco Guerreiro from Colourway Printing who are providing items of clothing and blankets for our families suffering hardship and our homeless citizens.

We welcome donations to continue our charitable work in serving our community through this global pandemic. ◆

Founder & Chair, Birmingham Care Group

By Lisa Gable

of chronic diseases, the alignment of our food consumption with individual medical needs could result in a significant health transformation creating a positive future for our patients. Emerging innovations in culinary medicine, medically tailored meals and lifestyle medicine provide hope for a new level of personalized solutions.

Today, there is growing acceptance of non-clinical interventions that may ease the suffering of patients and have a direct positive health impact on individuals. The gathering and sharing of health data that includes dietary data—avoidance and consumption— could be among the most impactful public private initiatives both within the U.S. and through multinational collaborations. Through multi-sectoral data sharing and analysis, innovators in the field could deliver solutions that meet the needs of each patient. Medically tailored meals, individually customized recipes, and the ability to identify barriers to access for diverse populations are opportunities being discussed for diseases like cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and food allergies.

Food allergy researchers continue to be at the forefront of these conversations. Here is what we know. First, through avoiding proteins that can trigger an allergic reaction, patients can eliminate the risk of anaphylaxis. Second, the LEAP and EAT studies, funded in part by FARE, showed that early introduction of peanut and egg to babies can decrease their risk of developing food allergies when parents comply with the recommended feeding regime; these foods can also increase nutrient density in the diets of young children. Third, oral immunotherapy treatments that include the incremental introduction of allergen to a foodallergic child under the supervision of a medical professional are showing levels of desensitization and a reduction in anaphylactic reactions. Palforzia, the first FDA-approved therapy in market to be based on this concept, is made by Aimmune, a company recently purchased by Nestle. As noted by Dr. Kari Nadeau in her book, The End of Food Allergies, “Immunotherapy is at the heart of this new world. This powerful technique trains the immune system to stop treating a given food as an enemy.”

Life-threatening food allergies, celiac disease and irritable bowel syndrome share a commonality that they are diseases triggered by the consumption

of food. In partnership with industry and thought leaders, FARE is elevating the impact of food-related diseases. Recent research sponsored by FARE in collaboration with McKinsey, Northwestern University and Global Strategies Group showed that food allergies and intolerance impact the purchasing decision of one in four Americans—85M people—and an estimated nearly one-half billion people worldwide. The study estimated that this is a $19B market that could be captured through a more informed management of our food supply.

FARE is working towards a future free of food allergies and intolerances. FARE’s overarching approach to achieving this vision will be realized through four distinct areas of focus: Access to Care, Biomarker Research, Gut Health and Prevention. Prevention is an essential piece of the overall food allergy puzzle. Collaboration across disease groups, governments and industries in data gathering and data analytics will be part of that breakthrough. Making modest, incremental gains in this area has the potential to have great impact. By addressing food allergies at their root causes, we can develop a practical path for the elimination of food allergies for future generations. Two prevention strategies that align with Food As Medicine conversations and policies include early introduction of potentially allergenic proteins and probiotic introduction.

Working in partnership with governments, it will be incumbent on disease advocates to help design regulatory systems that encourage and support the rapid innovation and introduction of foods with medical benefits. With advancements in artificial intelligence, data gathering and analytics as well as the potential for just-in-time meal delivery, creating an infrastructure to support and maintain non-clinical interventions may be on the horizon. Collaboration across sectors is required. ◆

About the Author Lisa Gable is the Chief Executive Officer of Food Allergy Research and Education (FARE), a former U.S. Ambassador and senior advisor to four U.S. presidents.

of universities spanning six continents and representing all of the G7 nations as well as 10 other nations, are committed to working with the G7 to recognize the key role that universities play as primary global actors that can support the G7’s efforts to tackle climate change and preserve the planet’s biodiversity, lead the global recovery from the coronavirus while strengthening resilience against future pandemics, and champion shared values. The U7+ Alliance and its member universities are eager to work with the G7 leaders to prioritize the interests and rights of youth and future generations as they implement their commitments in Cornwall and in the lead up to the COP26 in Glasgow.

In particular, we are committed to working with the G7 and leaders across the public and private sectors to create new opportunities for mutual understanding and equitable resource sharing across generations. As an alliance of universities, we sit at the crossroads of generations—in a space where knowledge is generated and new, bolder visions for the future are imagined—and have committed to serving as platforms for open intergenerational dialogue.

The U7+ wishes to highlight priority areas in terms of opportunities to collaborate with G7 leaders to actively take responsibility for and foster intergenerational dialogue on issues of importance to this year’s multilateral agenda

1. Leading the global recovery from the coronavirus while strengthening resilience against future pandemics: Resilience depends on the education of our citizens. As G7 leaders reflect on how to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and strengthen resilience against future pandemics, the preparation of the next generation of leaders must be a paramount concern, and we recognize our universities have a distinctive responsibility to train and nurture responsible, active citizens who will contribute to society, at the local and global levels.

2. Tackling climate change and preserving the planet’s biodiversity: We recognize that our universities have a major role to play in addressing environmental issues and challenges to sustainability and are committed to promoting access to courses related to climate, biodiversity and sustainability for all of our students. We have also begun facilitating and we encourage G7 leaders to join us in promoting intergenerational dialogue on climate change and environmental degradation. Moreover, leaders from 21 U7+ Alliance universities have developed a framework for taking inventory of how higher education institutions are doing their part to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We are actively working to reduce our own greenhouse gas emissions from 2018 levels by 2030–while leveraging technologies to provide solutions to complex issues.

3. Championing global shared values: Universities have a distinctive and leading role to play in confronting differences and divisions in society, and in working for equality and inclusiveness. The U7+ Alliance will host an intergenerational roundtable discussion on the global gender gap and encourages G7 leaders to actively foster intergenerational dialogue on this and other issues of inclusiveness and equality. We are committed to working with the G7 to promote and facilitate routes to higher education for youth from underrepresented groups, support their success and insist that freedom of speech, academic freedom and open and respectful dialogue are critical to a well-functioning democracy. ◆

By U7+ Alliance of World Universities Student Leaders Board

young people, this pandemic has felt very much like being locked in a box with the walls closing in. One’s university years are depicted as the time when students are meant to be at their freest, a period of endless wonder and wandering, a time to explore both what the world has to offer as well as to discover what/who we want to become. Yet, as each country closed its doors to the outside world, it dawned on most that their time in the sun would be spent indoors.

Some may point out that we should be lucky that we have the technology around to be able to communicate with one another electronically. Yet, the sedentary life, lived behind the tepid glow of a computer screen, is, while better than nothing, unsatisfying.

With clouds of uncertainty, negative energy reached its peak over the course of the pandemic.

Under these conditions, Northwestern University hosted 85 students from 22 universities in 12 countries for the U7+ Worldwide Student Forum as a precursor for the 2020 U7+ Alliance of World Universities Summit. Originally convened in 2019 by French President Emmanuel Macron, the U7+ Alliance of World Universities was created as a network for university presidents to derive concrete action plans collectively, to address global challenges in coordination with government leaders in G7 countries and beyond.

During this forum, students from all corners of the world were able to connect with one another, share their own experiences related to the pandemic, reflect on how their universities were meeting global challenges, and prepare video messages for their institutions’ leaders. With recommendations on U7+ Alliance Commitments, Principles and Actions, these messages were compiled by the team at Northwestern and presented at the November summit of U7+ Presidential Delegates.

These messages gave students a platform by which to inform university leadership of the issues they faced, ranging from a call for more mental health support to improving digital learning pedagogy. Yet, to many of the students at the forum, the brief threeweek conference and 5-minute videos seemed too limited to keep university leaders accountable to their commitments.

A cadre of highly motivated individuals from four continents formed the U7+ Student Leaders Board to bring student voices to the decision-

making table. The objective was to advocate profusely for more student representation and participation within the U7+ Alliance framework.

To accomplish these goals, the U7+ Student Leaders Board worked handin-hand with Northwestern to organize and host a series of three Intergenerational Roundtables. These events started with two keynote presentations, jointly presented by a faculty member and student activist, which gave participants an overview of the topic. After the initial presentations, students joined faculty members and university administrators from around the world, in candid conversations moderated by a select number of 2020 Forum alumni, on how universities could better respond to the pressing issues in the current climate. Finally, all participants gathered to share a summary of the discussions.

The first Intergenerational Roundtable in May focused on one of the significantly pressing challenges to participants of the 2020 Student Forum: “Climate Change, Inequities and Intergenerational Justice.” The event was co-hosted by Georgetown University and the University of Cape Town, in which the presence of University of Cape Town was especially significant. On the 18th of April 2021, a massive wildfire engulfed the area of Cape Town, namely the beloved university library. This event and many others across the globe were a clear indication to our 80+ students, faculty, and staff, that the issue of climate change and environmental sustainability must not be taken lightly. As Professor Joanna Lewis (Georgetown University) pertinently stated during the first presentation: “2020-30 is the pivotal decade to tackle climate change” and that requires an intergenerational, action-oriented approach to identifying solutions.

In line with the U7+ Alliance’s goal in championing global objectives, the second Intergenerational Roundtable on June 16th was co-hosted by Sciences Po and Université Mohammed VI Polytechnique and focused on how the social sciences could be leveraged to tackle the global gender gap. The roundtable began with a fascinating speech on gender inequality and gender rights during the COVID-19 pandemic from special guest speaker Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, a preeminent political figure and former minister of women’s rights in France. Discussion questions centred on the roles of education, the market economy and international organisations to purposefully achieve gender equality. Students and faculty members also discussed the ways in which we as a community can build a women’s leadership narrative, prioritizing the crucial role of higher education decision-makers. Throughout the presentations and conversations, intersectionality appeared to be a recurring theme.

The role of intersectionality was also crucial for the third intergenerational roundtable focused on “Science and Technology Innovation for a Sustainable Future,” hosted by Ecole Polytechnique and Osaka University. The aim of the roundtable was to highlight the importance of technological innovation for environmental stability and ways students must be prepared for the technological transition, especially when entering the workforce. As Shayan Khan, a panelist representing Ecole Polytechnique and a member of the U7+ Student Leadership Board noted, “The starting point for growth is students. Social and environmental implications have become a prominent talking point when leveraging technology and students will play a leading role to combine these critical topics to further global development.” Discussion questions revolved around the type of society we should aim to build to allow for the growth of new forms of science and technology and collectively survive the planetary crisis.

At the close of the third roundtable, the world looked much different than it had when the initial U7+ Worldwide Student Forum first convened in 2020. Vaccines, created by the best and brightest scientists and doctors, had been developed and rolled out. The world had started to awaken from its slumber and business had started returning to a certain level of normalcy.

Yet COVID-19 has unquestionably atomized entire sections of existence, and underscored the urgent need for intergenerational dialogue.

With faculty and students presenting science-based perspectives on global issues, the U7+ intergenerational roundtables provide a model for discussing the shared beliefs and responsibilities that are the bedrock for robust prosperity and expert-driven leadership. They can also help reinforce the enduring ideals of the G7 by highlighting the power of democracy, freedom, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights with a diverse set of stakeholders.

The roundtables are a mere drop in the bucket when it comes to protecting future generations from the impacts of climate change, for example. Yet by including different levels of stakeholders—from starry-eyed youth to seasoned scientists—they can contribute to a culture of empathetic listening and collaboration that helps us better respond to crises.

Intergenerational collaboration is our only way forward. The pandemic has forced us to reevaluate our siloed problem-tackling mindset and reconsider the links among current global issues—together and with science at the center. ◆

U7+ Student Leaders Board Valeria Dimitrova, Shivona Fernandes-Köhler, Shayan Khan, Rachel Leistra, Oliver Ngong, Justin Potisit, and Marco Rupp

in its current form was set up to coordinate an international response to the 2008/2009 global financial crisis. The Covid-19 pandemic and its health, employment and social impacts challenged the G20 and its members even more than the crisis 12 years before. It has posed new challenges to policy makers and business and at the same time has aggravated many existing gaps in policy frameworks, such as informality, insufficient social protection floors, rigid labor markets and skill-building systems that do not reflect labor market needs. The G20 has tackled many of these issues in the last 12 years, developed policy priorities and created commitments, targets and goals.

Findings from a joint International Organisation of Employers (IOE)Deloitte-B20 monitoring report1 in 2018, however, highlighted that the G20 in its first ten years did not fully realize its potential. The report suggested that it would be critical to strengthen the implementation of G20 commitments at the national level to evolve and modernize labor markets, skills and education systems, and actions that enable a better environment for business.

Even before the Covid-19 crisis, G20 countries were not on track to reach the targets of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8 of the Agenda 2030 (Promote sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all). In 2019, an IOE-Deloitte-United States Council for International Business SDG monitoring report2 stressed that “the rate of global progress has, so far, not kept pace with the ambitions of the 2030 Agenda.

In the latest 2021 monitoring report, the impact of Covid-19 has drastically highlighted the need for bold and ambitious reforms. The performance of labor markets during the crisis were the result of policy choices. A swift and sustainable recovery will depend on proper labor market and education frameworks. This is even more important as many employees are in danger of losing their jobs permanently to rapid automation, digitization, and structural changes accelerated by the pandemic.

There is no need to re-invent the wheel. In many ways, “building back better” means to undertake the actions already identified long before the onset of the pandemic.

The G20 has agreed in the past on important policies, such as the G20 Entrepreneurship Action Plan, the G20 Structural Reform Agenda and the G20 Skills Strategy. These commitments need to be turned into concrete actions in all G20 countries. The impact of the G20 at the national level has been noticeable in the last three years (6.8 out of 10 points). This is progress, but this monitoring report highlights that the G20 is not a driver of reform for job creation and economic growth.

Looking ahead, as the world recovers from the employment and economic impact of Covid-19, the G20 must fully exploit its potential by setting out more ambitious and relevant commitments and strengthening follow-up at the national level. If this is successfully done, the G20 could undoubtedly have its most impactful decade to date. ◆

Read the full report here on: