Shared Stories, Safe Spaces

This report examines the quality and sustainable outcomes of the Shared Stories, Safe Spaces’ Project, developing a policy position paper using case study evaluation. Delivered by the North West Migrants Forum (based in Derry~Londonderry), the programme’s aim was to strengthen social cohesion and inclusion by improving attitudes between young people (YP) from BME communities and YP from the two largest communities in Northern Ireland, Protestant, Unionist, Loyalist (PUL) and Catholic Nationalist Republic (CNR). The project engaged and supported YP from diverse backgrounds to explore the life stories of migrants - which also relate to their own experiences. This included a consideration of a range of both contemporary and historical stories about those who have left N.I to live elsewhere and also contemporary stories about people who have come to live here. Central to the project was the current question of immigration internationally and how societies deal with cultural diversity.