Forward Thinking, building upon past achievements in creating a communication bridge and promoting dialogue between the British Muslim and the Establishment facilitated a three-day Leadership Training programme for young Muslims along with a two-day Muslim Engagement symposium at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

Between 2nd and 4th November, this year, a group of forty young Muslim from grassroots organisations and communities across Yorkshire, Lancashire, the Midlands and London participated in a Youth Development Challenge that focused on Leadership Training whilst at the same time showcased military and combat basics but also extensive discussions around the values that guide the British Army. More specifically, the programme aimed at creating a vivid experience as close to the one encountered in actual situations where moral, theoretical, personal and practical issues, all merge into one single event, most often brought about with no fore-warning. The young people enjoyed the challenges put before them and participated wholeheartedly throughout the programme.

It was apparent that whatever issues the young Muslims have with the Army, they actually do not refer to Army core values or methods but to the political decisions that trigger military action. A particular point to note was that the issue of discrimination did not appear in the discussions.

From the 3rd to the 4th November, the Academy hosted, in addition, a Muslim Engagement Symposium where Muslim academics from around the country engaged with representatives of the Academy in lively, open and honest discussions that explored historical aspects of the construction of the Army's image and the difficulty in overcoming long-standinggrievances, misunderstanding and misrepresentations.

The two events merged on the last day to give the opportunity for all parties involved to exchange experience. The ensuing discussions lead to important insights into the diversity of roles within the British Army and the new and provocative ways of engaging in them. While it was noted that the young Muslims' view on the role of the Army quite significantly differed from the one espoused by the academics, the former being significantly driven by media reports while the latter by historical evolution, the openness and honesty of the representatives of the Army proved extremely useful in putting in perspective the current public debate about the Army and its role in society

This initiative is part of a long-running effort by Forward Thinking to facilitate bilateral communication and dialogue between Muslim communities and government establishments in the UK.

We wish to thank all organisations involved as we express our hopes for a fruitful continuation of this initiative in the future.