About Us

Mission
We teach children and adults to replace prejudice, largely religious and cultural, with mutual respect and cooperation.

Motivation
In our diverse society differences of belief (including beliefs that are non-religious), culture, race and experiences of injustice, both real and perceived, often divide us.

Together for Humanity looks to address these divisions through fostering positive experiences of diversity.

With a diverse team made up Muslims, Christians, Jews, Agnostics, Atheists, Aboriginals and Pacific Islanders, our focus is on the values shared between our traditions and all Australians. We are actively contributing to the development of a society where everyone feels that they belong and are valued.

Our Core Activities
Changing the way we think of others. In our school and corporate workshops, participants encounter, often for the first time, a team that might include an Arabic Australian Imam with a great sense of humour, an Indigenous Elder, a Christian Pacific Islander Social worker, a Jewish storyteller, an agnostic or an African migrant counsellor. In some programs schools with students from different backgrounds are brought together and overcome their suspicions of each other. Participants develop empathy, freely explore assumptions and commonalities, and discover new ways to respond to differences. Our pioneering, free online educational resource for students and teachers, commissioned and funded by the Commonwealth Government, is aligned to the National Curriculum and will be used in schools across Australia from July 2012.

Changing the way we think of ourselves. We work with disadvantaged youth who might otherwise feel alienated. Helping them feel a sense of belonging and encouraging them to believe that they can participate and contribute to Australian society.

Changing the bigger picture. We collaborate with likeminded organisations to promote more effective responses to diversity at the communal, regional, systemic, and national level. Examples of this activity include representing Australia at regional interfaith forums, training staff from the QLD police, and advocacy relating to Education policy.

How we operate
We are an independent Non-Profit Public company with DGR (Deductible Gift Recipients) status. Primarily based in NSW we also have staff in QLD, some activity scheduled for WA in 2010 and periodic activity in NT and VIC.

We are funded mostly by community donations (and it is the contributions of people just like you who keep us going). We have also had some contributions from the states of NSW and QLD and the Commonwealth has supported us at a high level in the past and may do so again in 2010-2011.

What we do (in schools)
Our main focus is in facilitating Together for Humanity workshops, which we present in schools all over NSW and Australia. Schools are visited by a team consisting of three or four role models from different faith backgrounds, typically a Christian, a Jew and a Muslim, and sometimes an Indigenous person.

Amongst our programs and workshops are:

Outside the Box Provides an opportunity for students to learn about diversity, commonality and question assumptions about identity with engaging, diverse presenters. For grades 3 - 12.
Inter-school Program - Cross Cultural Competence and Service: Offers more in-depth experience. Our diverse facilitators challenge and support your students to work with their peers from other schools with backgrounds different from their own. Two or more schools for 2 full days, over a period of at least one term, with ongoing support from TFH. For grades 5 - high school.
Working it Out-Strategies for transforming conflict: Unpacks the challenges of living with diversity, and teaches strategies for dealing with entrenched differences and areas of conflict: cultural, political and social.
Standing your Ground-Belonging and Identity This program has been created for students from marginalised, disadvantage and low Socio-Economic status communities, to address the needs of students who experience social and peer pressures, traumatic backgrounds, immigration, being a minority and discrimination.

We can also tailor design programs to meet the unique requirements of each school or community group. (Enrichment programs and Diversity Education Workshops are also available for teachers.) For more details regarding these programs visit our teachers section.

The programmes provide learning experiences that promote careful thinking about people of different backgrounds and challenge students to reassess the simplistic and divisive assumptions sometimes made about people of difference, especially of faiths and backgrounds, in the light of the common values that all people share.

The programs also offer strategies and techniques with regards to dealing with conflict, bullying, and the challenges of living in a diverse and changing society. Guided by the principle that working towards a common goal is a powerful way to bring people together, there is a strong communal service element in the programs which has proved very effective.

The experiential nature of the programme, the non-didactic tone, and the informality of the presenters, enables students and adults to self reflect in a safe environment, and develop empathy with people of other faiths and backgrounds while having fun.

Are we right for your school?
Together for Humanity programs are for any school or group seeking to foster a harmonious environment based on mutual understanding and kindness. The courses have positive ramifications for reducing bullying, relaxing insular attitudes, and reducing conflict in the forms of racial or cultural, prejudice and difference.

In the Community
We also conduct awareness raising workshops for adults designed to foster harmony between diverse religious/cultural community groups. We are happy working together with councils and community groups, presenting at conferences relating to education, community relations and combating prejudice. We also participate in awareness-raising activities such as 'move together for humanity' with members invited to participate in the city to surf.

What we believe in
Together for Humanity is not about comparative religion, persuasion, or advocacy of religion. The common values we are focussed upon both developing and reflecting are:

Dignity. Respect, Equality.
Inclusion. Enabling, fostering belonging.
Integrity. Authenticity, affirms loyalty to one's own heritage.
Diversity, Openness. Flexibility, Accommodation.
Self Awareness/Reflection
Understanding (Emotional & Cognitive).
Community, Contribution, Compassion, Service.
Quality. Results oriented, Substantial, Temperate.
Accountability. Transparency.

Our future is bright...
In the near future we hope to achieve the following:

Deliver a variety of high quality educational services directly to 25,000 students by June 2013.
Ensure that Together For Humanity methods, messages and activities become part of the National Curriculum.
Develop teacher training programs and materials.
Have a broader impact on 100,000 others through on-line materials and community activities.

If you would like to help us make these worthy goals a reality there are a number of ways you can help.