Summary of "Face to Face and Side by Side"
This is a summary of Face to Face and Side by Side: a framework for partnership in our multi faith society, which we hope you find useful.
You can download the document in full here.
This document, launched by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Rt Hon Hazel Blears MP, aims to:
- Encourage inter faith dialogue which builds understanding and celebrates the values held in common such as integrity in public life, care, compassion and respect
- Increase the level of collaborative social action involving different faith communities and wider civil society where people work together to bring about real and positive change within their local communities
- Maintain and encourage the further development of good relations between faith communities and between faith communities and wider civil society
- Overcome barriers which may be faced by young people and women in participating in dialogue and social action
It is underpinned by three core principles:
1. Partnership - together we are stronger. We want to help build strong and positive relationships between people from different backgrounds.
2. Empowerment - We want to create more opportunities for more people to get involved.
3. Choice - Government's role in developing this Framework is not to set out rigidly what needs to be done, but rather to ask questions, listen to answers and use this information to develop a Framework which encourages people to take part and inspires local solutions to local issues.
The Framework builds on other policy documents including the Empowerment White Paper, Communities in Control, launched earlier in July (download here) and other research and policy statements, notably the Commission on Integration and Cohesion's report Our Shared Future, and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation report Faith as Social Capital: connecting or dividing? and the Faith Based Regeneration Network UK research on the role of Regional Faith Forums and the scale and scope of faith based social action (see below).
The Framework uses many of the responses to the consultation process as well as case studies to add depth and a touch of reality. There is also a careful and considered appreciation of the long history of inter faith activity and faith based social action in England, and of the role of faith institutions in this.
The Framework gets its title from a distinction made by the Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks:
- Face to Face dialogue leads to people developing a better understanding of one another, including celebrating the values held in common as well as acknowledging distinctiveness
- Side by Side collaborative social action involves people working together to achieve real and positive change within their local community
Both face to face dialogue and side by side collaborative social action can help to build cohesive, active and empowered communities. The Framework is structured around four building blocks and CLG aims to encourage opportunities for dialogue and social action by focusing on strengthening each of them:
- Building Block 1 Confidence and skills to bridge and link
- Building Block 2 Shared spaces for interaction
- Building Block 3 Structures and processes which support dialogue and social action
- Building Block 4 Opportunities for learning which build understanding