The Shared Future Project is a programme that brings young people from different communities in Oldham together to learn about each other and build relationships across diverse communities. It is a partnership initiative between Oldham City Council and the Spirit of Enniskillen Trust, which grew out of a visit by members of the Council to Northern Ireland in 2002.

The project involves groups of secondary school students from across Oldham in workshops and discussions in which participants can explore thoughts and opinions on living in a shared society and contribute to cross-community dialogue and understanding.

The project also aims to train a core group of the participants to become facilitators of workshops themselves, and go back into the community and get involved in projects that address issues of division between communities. Thus it is working towards being youth driven and youth led, with young people training other young people to contribute to a pluralistic society.

Shared Future involves young people between the ages of 15-18 from secondary schools in Oldham, selected from initial workshops run by the Spirit of Enniskillen at schools that want to get involved. The group size varies each year, but is usually between 16-25, and predominantly made up of Muslim and Christian students, though young people of all faiths and none are encouraged to participate.

Project type

• Conflict resolution
• Youth groups

Region

• Oldham