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Parliament celebrates new generation of student leaders


Three Faiths Forum (3FF) - one of the UK’s leading interfaith organisations, is celebrating the achievements of 50 young leaders of different faiths and beliefs graduating from their UN award-winning ParliaMentors programme today. Teams of university students across the country have acted as beacons of activism, hope and inspiration while carrying out social action projects throughout the year in the face of challenging political times.

The graduating ParliaMentors will be celebrated in the Houses of Parliament this afternoon (11 July). The event will reward the ten teams of students for their innovative projects; ranging from the intersectional ‘Behind Closed Doors’ campaign and conference by the SOAS team which aimed to address the problems of domestic violence, to ‘Pension Pals’, launched by the Nottingham group to improve issues of loneliness amongst the older generation through having a pen pal.

The programme is in its 10th anniversary year and has empowered over 400 young leaders through expert training and being mentored by MPs, including Sadiq Khan, Keir Starmer and Hilary Benn.

Mentor Stephen Timms has praised the programme. He said: “Young, emerging leaders like these play an absolutely vital role in building connections between people from different backgrounds. I have no doubt they will continue making a real difference in their communities in the future.”

India Atkin, one of the ParliaMentors students, said: “The programme has been a huge step forward for me in learning about politics and getting the connections I need to forge a career in politics.”

Many alumni of the programme have gone on to become leaders in many different sectors, from becoming published authors to holding office, as well as organising the annual Interfaith Summit, a conference involving workshops, discussions and music promoting dialogue and interfaith engagements.

3FF, the Three Faiths Forum, has worked to build good relations between people of different faiths, beliefs and identities for more than twenty years. 3FF creates safe spaces in schools, universities, and the wider community where people can engage with questions of belief and identity and meet people different from themselves.

ParliaMentors equips the next generation of leaders with the skills, experience and networks they need to advance their careers. Students from different backgrounds work together to create social action projects with support from leading NGOs and are mentored by MPs and Peers. The programme has won the UN Award for Intercultural Innovation, and is a partner of the British Council’s Active Citizens programme. It is supported by Pears Foundation and Dulverton Trust.

For more information see: www.3ff.org.uk

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