Meet the Team - Saqib Amin, Community Engagement Officer

Describe your role and responsibilities as Community Engagement Officer

I'm Active Black Country's eyes, ears (and occasional translator) on the ground across Dudley and Walsall. My job is to get out into the communities themselves — faith networks, health settings, civic forums, shopping centres, parks, you name it…..and properly listen: what's stopping people being active, what's working, and what people actually want rather than what we assume they want. That intelligence then feeds directly into how ABC shapes its partnership work. It's a job that's taught me to make every day count.

How is Active Black Country making a difference in getting people active across Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton?

We don't parachute in with a one-size-fits-all plan — we build from the ground up, with the people who live in the Black Country. Whether that's working alongside places of worship such as mosques, temples, and churches, or with community centres, local charities, health partners or grassroot groups and community organisations, the approach is always the same: turn lived experience into action — and make sure the people who are least active get the most support, not the least attention.

What do you like most about the Black Country?

The honesty. People here will tell you exactly what they think, no filter, no spin, which is a gift when your whole job is trying to understand real barriers rather than polite ones. There's also a warmth and community spirit that runs deep, particularly across our faith and cultural communities, and that mix of bluntness and big-heartedness is very Black Country. I genuinely love that you can go from a packed mosque event to a quiet canal towpath in about ten minutes flat.

In your work, what has been your biggest personal achievement recently?

Presenting "Voices of Dudley" at the Sport England/LGA Place Leadership Programme, bringing real community stories from our fieldwork into a room full of local leaders and watching it land. It wasn't really my achievement though, if I'm honest, it belonged to the people who trusted me enough to share their experiences in the first place. I just had the privilege of being the messenger.

Describe yourself in three words?

Curious. Humble. Relentless

Describe what physical activity means to you and how it benefits your physical and mental wellbeing?

For me, it's boxing — and it's as much about the mind as the body. There's something about hitting pads that clears out a week's worth of noise in a way no amount of talking can. It builds discipline, humility (the bag always wins eventually) and a level of focus that spills over into everything else I do. Mentally, it's my reset button; physically it keeps me honest. And if I can find that lift from being active, I want everyone across Dudley and Walsall to have the same chance to find theirs.