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Past projects

Students on the ParliaMentors programme have worked on a number of very different projects in the past. Common to the projects is that they give people and communities the opportunity to empower themselves through new knowledge and skills or by increasing political participation.

Below are just some of the projects UP participants have worked on over the three years the programme has been running.

Human Rights Activist Enrichment Programme

By Gabriela Socha (Christian), Ruthba Amin (Muslim), Michael Keller (Jewish) under the mentorship of Andrew George MP for the West Cornwell and Isles of Sicily (Liberal Democrat)

The project:

• Aimed at young people aged 14 - 15 years old (YR10)
• To raise awareness of the human rights of individuals, of the possible human rights violations in schools and of contemporary human rights abuses
•  To equip students with the knowledge on how to tackle such issues.

Each student was handed out a laminated card defining what human rights are:

Fairness, Respect, Equality, Dignity, Autonomy

A 1 hour seminar in Citizenship classes on the Human Rights Activist Enrichment Programme.  The group formulated a series of stimulating activities and little workshops brainstorming on the key issues and ideas. They utilized various exercises with case studies ranging from theory to practice.

Read the group's presentation

Faith and Gender: A question of representation in the House of Lords

By Karolina Ziemba (Christian), Zaid Belbagi (Muslim), Chaya Burns (Jewish) under the mentorship of Lynne Featherstone MP for Hornsey and Wood Green (Liberal Democrat)

The purpose of the project was to:

• Foster a general awareness of the democratic deficit in gender faith in the Upper House.
• Finding out whether the House of Lords is currently representative of other faiths.
• To explore possible solutions.

During frequent meetings it was decided that they would host a high profile forum, keen to cover more than the issues of faith. Subsequently, it was agreed to host a forum which would encompass both the factors of gender and faith- under the guidance of Lynne Featherstone.

Invited on the panel: Lynne Feather MP, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu, Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, HRH The Prince of Wales, Baroness Warsi, Lord Salisbury, Baroness Hayman, Lord Paul.

A variety of surveys involving secondary schools and universities based on their attitudes towards religion and religious education at school

By Hashim Bhatti (Muslim), Aaron Kienwald (Jewish), Eve- Marie Stefanicka (Christian) under the mentorship of Anne Milton MP for Guilford (Conservative)

A poll was taken with 85 secondary school students from the three Abrahamic faiths and 62 University students on a range of questions designed to show their views on religion and religious education. Their results were showcased in various graphs.

Using the statistics, group 2 concluded that, overall students enjoyed learning about other religions and felt that it was paramount. Moreover, results indicated that students tended to gain information about religions from popular cultures such as TV. Ultimately, students of all faiths agreed that people have the right to practice their religion.

Running a scheme promoting democratic participation in secondary schools - aimed to work with YR10 students (ROOTS)

Richard Daniels (Jewish), Anna Dyachenko (Christian), Adviya Khan (Muslim) under the mentorship of Simon Hughes MP for North Southwark and Bermondsey (Liberal Democrat).

The project aimed to introduce schemes promoting democratic participation in secondary schools and to introduce 'ROOTS' which involves schools workshops.

The structure of the workshop was advised on by the citizenship foundation. Two schools expressed interest in the programme: The Walworth Academy and Saint Saviour’s and Saint Olave’s in which two workshops were set up in each school. A plethora of questions were raised: What issues affected them? What solutions would they suggest? Methods they could use to get their ideas heard. This proved successful. They achieved Saint Saviour’s and Saint Olave’s sending delegates to parliament, meeting with Simon Hughes.

ROOTS involved various materials to encourage students with a congratulating letter sent to each class representative at the North Southwark and Bermondsey Regional Youth summit 2009. A ROOTS certificate was given to those who attended and a leaflet of their outcomes.

Young Lifesavers – Empowering young people with first aid skills

Jahed Pasha-Jamil (Muslim), Daniel Dexter (Jewish), Charly Burridge (Christian) under the mentorship of Peter Bottomley MP for Worthing, West Sussex (Conservative)

• Actively teaching young people basic first aid skills and boost personal development.
• Focusing on the three Abrahamic faiths view on the sanctity of life.
• Going into schools and engaging with young people aged 14-16 years old based in London and aiming to promote the introduction of first aid training into the school curriculum.
• Equipping them with the tools and knowledge taught by a lifesaving institute.

Child Labour

Haddasah Wachsmann (Jewish), Antonia Alomar-Mascaro (Christian), Sayed Khan (Muslim) under the mentorship of Louise Ellman MP for Liverpool Riverside (Labour)

The projects aims were:

• To deliver a 3 day workshop on child labour in schools.
• Aimed at young people between GCSE levels to A levels to demonstrate how they can make a difference through politics, media or voluntary.
• To promote awareness on what child labour is what it consists of, where it is found and ultimately what role can be played to help bring awareness to the world.

Using various source materials this was designed to shock the teenagers in order to create a reaction. A 3 day workshop was introduced to produce a class project designed to bring awareness to child labour.

Workshop 1:- Defining child labour by providing examples

• Presentation/ group work involving pictures of children working in poor conditions.
• Short documentary on child labour

Workshop 2:- Helping raise awareness

• Showing different organizations which exploit child labour
• Media

Workshop 3:- Presenting the completed project to the class.

Application Information

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