Kaneez is a passionate champion for education, learning and communities and a significant community leader in her own right of some considerable standing within neighbourhoods and communities in Leeds. She tackles intractable issues and challenges with gusto and drive, never hesitating to deploy her networks to work together to solve problems. Her knowledge of communities and how they work made her a go to person in my time as Chief Officer Communities at Leeds City Council. Kaneez identified concerns at the inequality of outcomes for young boys from racially minoritised backgrounds in some schools in Leeds, and Kaneez championed the cause and worked with the local authority and its children’s services at senior management level to acknowledge the issue and to put in place important steps to take the problem seriously and to tackle it. Kaneez has played an important and leading role in helping the local authority to tackle community unrest and strife helping quietly to inform the local authority of simmering tension and its causes and supported the local authority to help resolve conflict and manage tensions. Kaneez has also worked with the local authority on bringing the Near Neighbours project to Leeds and supported the Council’s worth with the NHS on Covid-19 vaccination.
Dr Shaid Mahmood MBE, former Chief Officer Communities, Leeds City Council