Pathways into Politics, Review Workshop - 29th October 2020
On 29th October 2020, Forward Thinking held a Pathways into Politics workshop with the current group of participants. Pathways into Politics is a programme that aims to develop the ambition of young Muslims to engage with politics and their ability to do so.The aim of the session was to give anopportunity for participants to provide feedback on the programme to date, to give input on the design of the next cohort of the programme, and to discuss their engagement with the programme moving forward.Participants spoke about the skills they had gained through the programme, including confidence, public speaking, time management, campaigning and political literacy. They shared that the programme had enabled them to learn about numerous different ways of becoming politically active, including showing ‘politics beyond Parliament’.One participant said that ‘I have gained confidence in myself and learnt that I have a chance of going into what I want to go into. A lack of representation and connections can make you feel disheartened…however being able to meet people that look like me with the same faith as me be successful I see it is possible’.Forward Thinking will shortly be launching applications to recruit a new cohort of participants. Current participants provided some useful suggestions for the structure and content of the next programme based on their experiences.We will continue to engage with the current cohort to further their skills development and develop their connections.