The Multi Faith Centre

At the University of Derby

 Press Release

 July 29, 2010

 Forum Forges Friendships Between Faiths

MPs, makeovers and football matches have all featured in the activities of Derby’s first ever youth inter-faith group.  

The Derby Inter-faith Youth Forum was established in September 2009 to bring young people from different backgrounds together to learn about other faiths and cultures through volunteering.

Since its foundation, the Forum has attracted over 50 young people from across the city and involved them in a wide range of activities. They ran two football tournaments, held a health and beauty day and took part in social activities, such as bowling trips. The group also received leadership and religious diversity training as part of the project.

In March (2010), the Forum visited the Houses of Parliament as part of a London trip aimed at improving young people’s awareness and understanding of politics and governance. The volunteers have also taken on an intergenerational activity within the local community, which will see the group, aged between 16 and 25, carry out activities with older people.  

The group showcased their achievements over their first year at the Surtal South Asian Arts Festival on Sunday 25 July, where they hosted a marquee. Given the rich cultural aspect of the festival, and the fact that many of the Forum’s members are of South Asian descent, the event proved the perfect stage for the group’s celebration.

The festival provided a great opportunity for the group to share its work, activities and successes with the 5,000 visitors to the event, and to raise awareness about youth volunteering and encourage new volunteers.

Members of the Forum also carried out very important research for Surtal and Derby City Council by gathering survey data from visitors to the festival. This information will play a key role in the development of future projects and reflects how the volunteers continue to contribute to culturally significant community work.

Dr Phil Henry, Director of the Multi Faith Centre at the University of Derby and facilitator of the Forum, said: “The potential to deliver quality experiences for young people, from which they can develop personal learning and skills through volunteering, is a significant area of interest among faith communities.

“There is an untapped capacity of young people from faith backgrounds who should be encouraged to engage in the process, and their contributions should be valued. The Derby Inter-faith Youth Forum is a great way of realising these aims, and the volunteers should be very proud of what they’ve achieved”.

The Forum, managed by the Multi Faith Centre, holds monthly core meetings to plan activities and to offer opportunities to discuss and debate faith-related issues. For example, in January 2010 the group held a debate entitled ‘Outing the Ouches’, which tackled the differences between faiths and the potential to offend if difference is not acknowledged or indeed understood.

Namiya, one of the volunteers, said of the Forum: “It’s a fantastic idea. I think it’s really great how we can all be together as a group to talk about different things and have fun”.

Jasdeep, another Forum member, summed up the ethos of the group when he said: “It’s about bringing people together, and that’s a really good thing”.

In addition to the Multi Faith Centre Derby, five other faith-based projects (Shifa Trust, Jewish Volunteering Network, UK Islamic Mission, The Volunteer Centre Network Newham and Passion) are also striving to improve young people's leadership and volunteering skills across the UK. The Multi Faith Centre is the lead on these pilot projects, supported by V, the young people’s volunteer organisation, Capacitybuilders and Volunteering England (VE).

Leaders from all the projects are coming together throughout the process in learning workshops and networks, facilitated by Dare to Change. They are also being provided with training and consultancy on Impact Assessment by the Institute for Volunteering Research, which is supporting them to collect and demonstrate evidence of their successes.

This work is part of the Modernising Volunteering Workstream, led by Volunteering England and funded by V and Capacitybuilders’ National Support Services programme.

For more information please visit www.improvingsupport.org.uk/volunteering and www.multifaithcentre.org

For more information about this Press Release, including requests for photos, please contact Luke Foddy, Project Support Officer, on 01332 591950 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it