The Forgiveness Project
 |
|
| Founded | 2004 |
|---|---|
| Type | International organization |
| Registration no. | Charity No. 1103922 |
| Focus | |
| Location |
|
|
Key people
|
Marina Cantacuzino (founder) |
| Mission | To open up a dialogue about forgiveness and promote understanding through awareness, education and transformation. |
| Website | theforgivenessproject |
The Forgiveness Project is a UK-based charity that uses real stories of victims and perpetrators of crime and violence to help people explore ideas around forgiveness and alternatives to revenge. With no political or religious affiliations, The Forgiveness Project’s independent and inclusive approach ensures its core message – that everyone has the potential to change their perspective and break the cycle of vengeance – resonates across all cultures.
The charity’s goals are centred on:
The charity was founded in 2004 by Marina Cantacuzino, a journalist who in the build up to the Iraq War began to gather personal stories from people whose lives had been affected by violence and terrorism but who had learned to forgive and move on.
Cantacuzino spent all of 2003 collecting stories of reconciliation and forgiveness for an exhibition of words and images which she created with the photographer Brian Moody. These stories subsequently formed the basis of The Forgiveness Project’s The F Word exhibition.
Central to their work is the sharing of personal accounts about people’s transformative journeys. Having collected over 130 personal stories on their website, this is also done through its exhibition, The F Word, and via the award-winning programmes it runs within prisons, schools, community groups and companies.
In providing tools that can facilitate conflict resolution and reconciliation, The Forgiveness Project encourages behavioural change and improves people’s lives, whatever their story.
These story-led initiatives operate at a local, national and international level and encourage individuals to reflect on their current perspective and their future life path. Rather than give advice or tell people what to think, The Forgiveness Project works by inviting those involved to see whether they can relate to the stories they hear and to take steps in trying to see a different perspective on their circumstances.
This collection of thought-provoking narratives document personal tales of forgiveness and reconciliation around the world. The exhibition can be hired in a range of formats and regularly tours Germany, the UK and the USA. There are also permanent exhibitions in France, Kenya, South Africa and Sweden.
The F Word exhibition has been displayed in more than 500 venues across 13 countries to an audience of over 60,000 people since being launched in London’s Oxo Gallery in January 2004. The exhibition was described by the charity's founding patron, Anita Roddick Anita Roddick, as “truly an education of the human spirit”.
An updated collection of some of the charity's stories which examine the charity's core themes of forgiveness, reconciliation and conflict transformation have been brought together into an illustrated 240-page book. Released in hardback by Jessica Kingsley Publishers on 26 March 2015, the book was written by founder Marina Cantacuzino and includes forewords from patron Desmond Tutu and Alexander McCall Smith. It has also been received endorsements from actress Emma Thompson, journalist and news presenter Jon Snow, historian and TV presenter Dan Snow, cultural thinker and founding faculty member of The School of Life in London, Roman Krznaric, Cambridge University professor Simon Baron-Cohen, humanitarian and former hostage Terry Waite and journalist Bel Mooney.
...
Wikipedia