This project is designed to initially promote intra-faith cooperation, collaboration and partnership so as to bring different faith groups together to support the whole Turkish Speaking and other minority Muslim communities in the North East of England and enable us to promote social justice and equal opportunity for all. 

Activities may address a broad range of issues such as human rights, including freedom of religion and freedom of expression, gender issues, the fight against all types of discrimination, as well as cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue, religious diversity and both intra-faith and inter-faith dialogue.

The project seeks to contribute to the strengthening of civil society in the North East.  We wish to bring faith groups together to support I Can in the North East’s activities, in partnership and with the community, to benefit people from all faiths to work together towards total community cohesion and to promote good relations between people of different faiths.

The project will support and encourage different groups’ participation in Community programmes. I Can in the North East will help counteract the negative perceptions that exist in certain segments of different community groups.

I Can in the North East currently participates in a number of innovative Community Projects and of particular relevance for the intra-faith dialogue leading to inter-faith dialogue are the Social, Education, Welfare and Youth programmes, which enjoy a high rate of interest.

We believe that the main areas of intervention are social development and social cohesion and the project’s three specific objectives are:

(1) Intra-faith and inter-faith support to partnership for social and economic development based on common resources,

(2) Networking resources and competencies for effective communication and collaboration between different faith groups,

(3) Cultural and educational initiatives for the establishment of a common social and cultural environment for the whole community.

In order to achieve this, I Can in the North East aims to become the catalyst to supporting community cohesion by helping migrants understand local customs and make a positive contribution to local life, and breaking down the misconceptions that can cause anxiety in a settled community.

We also wish to ensure stakeholder engagement as communication is crucial to sharing local best practice and establishing strategic actions that need to be taken.

Bridging the understanding, information and skills gaps between people from different faiths is important and our project will make a significant contribution to the success of this initiative.