Talk Together is ...

A project to bring together 15-20 young people from either side of a divided situation.

There are three aspects of the project, the first of which is commonly done well in many other areas, but the second and third of which we believe are unique to Talk Together.

  1. Using their own experiences, as well as balanced input from objective experts, we will teach the participants about the different understandings of the situation, about the background to the situation. We will teach them about each other, and we hope also to teach them to like and respect each other.
  2. But then we will also teach the participants lateral thinking and problem solving, negotiation and deal making, and challenge them with coming up with new possible solutions to the political divide. These new possible solutions will be presented by the participants to the political leadership, and general public on all sides.
  3. And finally, we will film the process via an empathetic reality TV show, to engage a wider population in the issues, people who wouldn't engage with serious documentaries, but who might engage with issues through identification with the personalities who are wrestling with them.

These three aspects of the project reflect the three principles which are at the heart of the Talk Together project:

  1. It is always important to keep talking, to keep learning, to keep trying to understand.
  2. Young people are the future, and they may have interesting new ideas for the future.
  3. It is important to share knowledge and new ideas with as many people as possible – even wider communicatioon and sharing of new ideas may lead to even greater understanding, and perhaps a better shared future for everyone.

We hope that this project will have many iterations, addressing different situations around the world - because, sadly, there are many areas where people live which are divided, over various issues.

We are very flexible about how to address issues, how to approach the whole programme, and we will adapt to the needs and situations of each course. The only tenet which we regard as fixed is that it is always good to communicate - to talk together.

We hope that the first iteration will address the case of the case of the people living in Tindouf and Layounne, involving students from those areas, as well as from cities such as Rabat, Casablanca, and so on..