Our principles
Who we work with
Our focus on collaboration recognises the importance of dialogue that leads to action. Change can only be leveraged through partnerships that address deficits in the factors that deliver peace and social cohesion.
UK Parliament and community groups on resilience and social cohesion policy
The recommendations of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry pointed to the need for improvement in how local authorities engage with community and faith groups in the face of emergencies. These relationships and the important role of faith communities in social cohesion were also highlighted in the Covid-19 Inquiry. Partnership between government and community is a key aspect of both the government's Resilience Action Plan and the The Independent Commission on Community and Cohesion. In-Difference is supporting MPs, the Cabinet Office, the Ministry for Housing, Communities, and Local Government (MHCLG) and the Faith and Belief Policy Collective on policy orientated dialogue on these overlapping issues.
Faith & belief communities to improve understanding and engagement
We work to support the Faith & Belief Forum (F&BF) and the Council on Faith of the Greater London Lieutenancy (GLL) in bringing together Londoners from different faith communities each year at the annual Dangoor Awards. These awards recognise the important and varied contributions of faith communities to the social fabric of London. In addition, we work with several faith-based organisations and youth work providers such as Here for Youth, Islamic Relief, Aziz Foundation, and Oasis Trust to understand the increasing importance of religion and belief to intersectional identities and rapidly diversifying communities. This helps us to grasp the significance of religion and belief in our contemporary society in a more nuanced and better informed way.
Disenfranchised groups, supporting local grassroots organisations to facilitate difficult conversations.
We work with Who is Your Neighbour? (WiYN?) and other small charities to create the spaces to have conversations about subjects that might be diffiuclt, like race, immigration and class. This work addresses community unrest and grievances surfaced in the UK during the summers of 2024 and 2025 and is part of the wider goal of managing fast paced demographic change. Immigration acts as a lightening-rod for the anger and frustration of disenfranchised communities, whilst also revealing the need to address chronic Islamophobia and other forms of racism.
International partners, supporting peacebuilding and lesson sharing
In-Difference works in partnership with Climate Conflict Action Asia (CCAA) to integrate restorative approaches to the practice of the Bureau of Jail Management in the Philippines (BJMP) and to the integration of ex-ISIS fighters in Marawi. As is the case in many countries, including the UK, prisons in the Philippines are full to bursting. From 2015 to 2021, persons deprived of liberty in the corrections system ballooned from 94,691 to 165,528, an almost 75% rise. With more than 60% of all indictments by Philippine prosecutors being made on drug cases, often minor ones, courts get overwhelmed, detention facilities become overfilled, and public safety is put at risk. Restorative approaches offer some potential solutions. Meanwhile, ex-ISIS fighters involved in the Marawi siege of 2017 are now in the process of community re-integration, along with heir families. With thousands of victims displaced by the siege still homeless and seeking compensation, the task of repairing relationships is daunting. The sharing of restorative approaches and practices can help deepen understanding of what works in handling the impacts of extremism and violent conflict
(Photo credit: Najib Alyhar Zacaria)