Multicultural Champion

Manal Tahir

Manal is being nominated for contribution she has made to local communities and her leadership.

In February 2019, Manal joined the first session for the Multicultural Women’s and Families Pilot Group at Link Health and Community in Clayton to support and connect mothers and children from African and other communities in Monash.

Manal stepped up as a voluntary community leader to encourage other mothers to attend, organise activities for the children and attend every session herself with her son.

This pilot group then joined the Victoria Immigrant and Refugee Women’s Coalition Clayton Active Mums Playgroup, which had stalled without a coordinator.

Manal then applied for this role and was employed as the Multicultural Playgroup Team Leader.

This playgroup provides mothers (and sometimes fathers and grandparents) and their children the opportunity to make meaningful connections. Some mothers are quite isolated and with the positive encouragement from Manal they feel welcomed and confident to make new friends.