Introduction
A Common Word Among the Youth is a global youth movement which brings together young people from a multitude of backgrounds to increase understanding of different cultures and faiths, promote peace and coexistence, by delivering local community activities.
The ACWAY approach consists of:
- Selection and training of young people from around the world representing different religions and cultures to become advocates of co-existence and religious harmony
- Several international forums to provide opportunities for the young people to network and present their projects and activities to the international community
- Grass-root activities delivered by the young people on co-existence and inter-faith relations
- An online social media platform for the young people to interact and showcase their projects and activities.
History
We believe in the role young people can play in initiating change and translating international issues into local community activities. Of these key issues that continue to shape our relations and societies is that of coexistence and religious harmony.
There are several initiatives that tackle the issue of inter-faith dialogue, the majority of which involve senior faith scholars and leaders.
One of the most successful and notable initiatives is that of ‘A Common Word’. This initiative was a historic agreement that gave the right keynote for relations between different religions in the 21st century. It has received numerous awards, has been the basis for government resolutions and peace initiatives, and gave birth to the UN World Interfaith Harmony Week acommonword.com
We wanted to take this initiative further by:
- Involving more religions and those of no religion (At least 5 of the worlds’ major religions)
- Involving young people (18-35 age criterion) to be the agents of change through
- Civic action as the tangible outcome for the community
And so ‘A Common Word Among the Youth’ was born.
With ‘A Common Word Among the Youth’, the aim is to develop an international network of active youth who will deliver grass-root activities such that they become the agents of change for the coming generations.