A woman who has led a charity’s ten-year commitment to improve lives in Bradford is to take up a new post as chief executive of the Muslim Women’s Council.

Bana Gora, who was programme manager for The Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s work in the city, will help roll out the work of the Muslim Women’s Council nationally, making sure the voices of Muslim women are heard and taken into account.

She said she believes the time has come for women to become “active change agents”, helping reform and reshape strategies and policies, including those at government level.

And she believes it can all start from Bradford, where the Muslim Women’s Council was first founded as the Bradford Muslim Women’s Council.

“Basically we have dropped the Bradford at the beginning so we can roll this out nationally and have one in Leeds, Leicester, London and other places. It’s been something I’ve been working on four years. It’s a big vision but it can happen,” said Ms Gora.

The group’s headquarters will be at the Carlisle Business Centre in Manningham and it already has a director and ten officers working for it.

As well as providing a platform for Muslim women to network, the organisation will be working to promote greater understanding and confidence between Muslims and the wider society. Although it is women-only, it’s membership is not confined to Muslims.

“We did not want to leave any women out of this, We believe women are an effective force for social change,” said Ms Gora.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) is nearing the end of its decade-long work, which included helping communities tackle loneliness and supporting the next generation of young leaders. The foundation’s chief executive, Julia Unwin, paid tribute to Ms Gora, saying her passion for Bradford as the Foundation’s programme manager has shone through her work.

And Lord Patel of Bradford has described her as a woman “of vast talent”, saying her work with the Foundation had given a voice “to previously unheard voices in Bradford in a manner that has neither been patronising nor tokenistic”.

He added: “She has been brave in fronting JRF and its Bradford programme in what, for JRF, was uncharted waters with great humility, empathy and astuteness around the complexities of working in a city like Bradford.”