Groundswell Project is the brainchild of Hadiya Masieh - a very unique woman who saw the good in everyone. She dedicated her life to strengthening communities, challenging hate and building bridges where there was division. She chose love as a force for change and believed in the capacity of all people to do the same. 

Hadiya spent much of her early career helping people to leave extremist groups and rebuild their lives. During this time, she noticed that the people sowing the seeds of hate were very well organised; they knew how to reach the most vulnerable at the grassroots level and how to make them feel part of something bigger. She also noticed that existing interventions were too down-stream, they were reacting to a problem that had already occurred rather than preventing it from occurring in the first place. 

Hadiya decided it was time to do something differently. She decided to be as organised for love as some others were for hate. She decided to flood the digital space with messages of love and kindness to drown out the messages of division. She decided to repair the social fabric of communities so that fear and extremism could not take hold. With this bold realisation and the sheer strength of personality - Groundswell was born. 

Our motto is FIND - CONNECT - AMPLIFY. We work with over 500 grassroots organisations across the UK to identify early signs of vulnerability and create community-led responses that support the most vulnerable. We work with - sports clubs offering peer mentoring, community groups who support minority women, cultural festivals that celebrate diversity and projects that strengthen connection and resilience. We train teachers, parents and frontline workers so that they are more aware of current risks and safeguarding best practice. We amplify grassroots initiatives so that they fill digital and physical spaces with the most powerful alternative of all: community, care, and togetherness.

On 22 January 2026, Hadiya’s energy, light and radiance were taken from this world, as she tragically passed away following a sudden illness. Her legacy lives on in every life she touched, every partnership formed, and every act of kindness inspired by her vision. Her last words remain with us today and continue to inspire the work of Groundswell. She said:

“It doesn’t matter what you do. Just do it with love.”

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