The Project
Detailed planning will refine and develop the way in which the project is delivered, but it will be organised around five threads of activity which will fertilise each other. Each thread is necessary to the project as a whole: different methodologies and delivery vehicles must not obscure the fact that Our Shared Europe is concerned with the earning and giving of trust between Muslim and other Europeans, and that these threads are interdependent and essential to each other.
Mirroring their different foci, the five strands each have different – albeit overlapping – target audiences, ranging from ‘leaders’ such as authoritative thinkers or governments representatives, via ‘influencers’ (e.g. academics, education professionals, artists, community workers or the media) and ‘aspirants’ (e.g. young professionals, students and youth activists) to much wider audiences such as Europe’s school pupils or its newspaper reader.
Although for each audience, Our Shared Europe’s strands propose different ways of engagement, they all will work towards the same overarching three objectives:
- To create a shared understanding among all Europeans of Islam’s past and present contribution to European societies and identities
- To generate awareness that Judaeo-Christian and Islamic intellectual and cultural roots have together created Europe’s unique character and that this profile is one of its biggest strengths today
- To encourage both Muslim and non-Muslim Europeans to take ownership of this aspect of our common identity; to help reshape it for the 21st century; and to acknowledge the role of Muslim Europeans in the building of European civilisation
The five threads obviously offer diverse opportunities for partnerships, e.g. with the Alliance of Civilizations, the Council of Europe or the BBC, and for funding, e.g. from the European Commission’s Comenius, Culture or Youth in Action programmes.
The form each thread eventually takes will be worked out in detail with external and internal partners. The pages on each strand contain a basic outline which provides concrete suggestions for a one-year pilot. During this trial phase, a small range of targeted project activities will be carried out in each strand to test – and if need be, to adapt – the concept. Positive results provided, the pilot should be followed by a full roll-out of Our Shared Europe for an initial phase of five years.
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