The reactions to the terrorist attacks and to the arrival of refugees in Europe in 2015/16 suggested that OWW needed to draw on our tradition of seeking to bring people together to hear each other’s perspectives and share common values. The situation called for us to redouble our efforts to pursue this agenda by encouraging groups to work together locally to inspire citizens and each other to build a culture of inclusion. The reactions to the terrorist attacks and to the arrival of refugees in Europe in 2015/16 suggested that OWW needed to draw on our tradition of seeking to bring people together to hear each other’s perspectives and share common values. The situation called for us to redouble our efforts to pursue this agenda by encouraging groups to work together locally to inspire citizens and each other to build a culture of inclusion.
The theme title emerged from the fact that everyone was affected by issues around migration and refugees, diversity and inclusion, including extremism and Islamophobia. Locally and globally, our society needed to address these issues to enable us all to live together in peace.
We produced a booklet (8 pp) with suggestions for interpreting the theme. You can download it here (pdf version)
Many organisers set up meetings which brought together local people and organisations to discuss what they could do to help refugees. Contact was made with refugee support organisations some of which had not been involved in OWW before. Another type of event involved celebrating diversity with a big gathering, making welcome families from different communities in the local area and involving refugees in providing food based on their traditional recipes. One group received a Lottery fund grant to pay for it.