96 UK Young People Meet for Tolerance and Peace

For the last three years the Encompass 'Same Difference' programme has been bringing together young people from diverse communities, cultures and religions. This unique two-day programme combines workshops on identity, stereotype and community with confidence and team building activities.

Since 2012 we have run nine UK programmes at youth centres in London, Slough, Berkshire, Bristol and Manchester. Around 24 young people have taken part each time.

The aims of the programme is to equip young people with tools that enable them to understand one another’s communities better and to work together to build intercommunity projects and networks based on mutual cooperation and trust. Outcomes are judged on the following criterias:

Young people from marginalised groups:

• Have more self-confidence
• Have more prospects
• Have a stronger voice
• Are more connected with mainstream society
• Are interacting more with different communities, cultures and religions
• Are becoming involved in interfaith and inter-community tolerance building activities
• Are less vulnerable to radical influences from within their communities and externally

Why do we believe this programme is so important?

Encompass believes that by offering marginalised young people a voice, prospects, and by challenging negative views that they may hold about themselves and others, we can bring them in to the mainstream of society, act as an early intervention against radicalisation/hate crime and essentially give them hope. With a rise in race and religious hate crime, radicalisation and recruitment, the need for this work is even more important.

Same Difference really works

Jalnum felt that the way she interacted with people from other backgrounds, religions and cultures had changed as a result of participating in the Same Difference programme. In particular she felt that the programme impacted on her view of community.

"I interact more now with people from different backgrounds...I volunteer...and the open day was to interact with the wider community and invite like whether you're Muslim, or you're Christian, or you're Jewish, or Atheist or Agnostic, or whatever you are, just to come and see and interact with each other and understand that what we all have in common is that we're human and we want what's best for humanity."

In order to recruit young people from such diverse communities on to our programmes we need the help of like-minded youth organisations. It's through their knowledge of their communities that we can gain goood insight in to who would benefit from our programmes. We really value youth workers input.

“I’m pretty sure they said they liked the debate, ‘Where Do You Stand?’; I think that was a debate they really enjoyed…the thing with that workshop is it makes it a neutral ground…from working with young people for quite a while I know that sometimes they can’t really voice their opinions. One, because they don’t really feel they have a voice that counts, and two they feel like there isn’t a safe space for them to share their opinions without being judged and that’s why I think they really enjoyed it because they did emphasise that part.” Youth worker

Same Difference has now come to an end, but the work has really only just started! Due to an ever increasing need, please welcome Same Difference 2! (working title). We have streamlined Same Difference 1 and made it even stronger thanks to the result of careful monitoring and evaluation. We feel that there is real need to take this programme to young people in some of the most muti-cultural yet divided communities in the UK. Look out Luton, Birmingham, Bradford, Lincolnshire, London. Same Difference 2 in coming your way!

Please support our project. It is really vital that we tackle the cause of hatred and mistrust between communities and who better to work with than the next generation.