Arbah, a PhD Theology student at the University of Cambridge, interviews Jeeves Rohilla, CEO of the National Multifaith Youth Centre and now also studying at Cambridge, about interfaith futures and the role of young people in shaping them. The discussion covers the importance of co-creating programmes with young people, the intersection of interfaith and social justice, and challenges faced by young people in fostering interfaith dialogue. Jeeves shares insights from his experiences and emphasizes the need for inclusive and dynamic interfaith initiatives, particularly in engaging with youth, social media, climate change, and AI. The conversation also touches on gender-based violence and how interfaith collaboration can contribute to creating safer spaces for all genders. The interview opens with a reflection on Reverend Claudette Douglas’s legacy as a multifaith education chaplain and underscores the importance of long-term strategic planning.

0:20 Introduction and Guest Welcome

00:55 Tribute to Reverend Claudette Douglas

01:40 Interfaith Futures and Youth Involvement

05:44 Challenges in Interfaith Dialogue

08:53 Building Effective Interfaith Partnerships

09:45 Future of Interfaith Work and Social Justice

11:40 Interfaith Collaboration in Tackling Gender-Based Violence

15:44 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Resources mentioned

• Faiths Forum for London
• The National Multifaith Youth Centre
• Research by Sophie Mitchell, Faith & Belief Forum

Welcome everyone. So my name is Arbah, my pronouns are she, her , and I'm a PhD Theology student at the University of Cambridge. I'm pleased to welcome my guest today.

Jeeves Rohilla is the CEO of the National Multifaith Youth Centre and a postgraduate student at the University of Cambridge.

Previously the Deputy Head of Operations at the Faiths Forum for London, Jeeves is dedicated to advancing social justice, interfaith dialogue, and inclusivity. Through his leadership, research, and advocacy, he works to foster understanding and collaboration across diverse communities.

It's lovely to be here today.

Before we start the interview, I just wanted to say a few words in memory of Reverend Claudette Douglas. She was the lead chaplain at SOAS. We had the pleasure of working with her. She was an absolutely fantastic person. She was so passionate and cared so much about, interfaith work and working with students on campus, ensuring that they had the best experience.

And we are dearly going to miss her. She is someone who I can say anyone that has come across Claudette doesn't have a bad word to say about her because she is so so amazing So I just wanted to say a few words before the interview in her memory.

Thank you.

No, thank you for that.

Today we are talking about interfaith futures, but let's look at that a bit more specifically. My first question is, as the CEO of the National Multifaith Youth Centre, how do you envision the role of young people in shaping interfaith futures?

I sound like a broken record whenever I answer this question, but always I say every programme for young people should be co created by young people, and that is really important.

I think when people look at the role of young people when it comes to interfaith, they think of them as beneficiaries of the programmes, and that is really important, but it is also more important, more significant that we look at young people as architects of the programmes themselves and ensure that they are in the rooms where these programmes are being put together.

That means organizations need to be bold. They need to ensure that they are getting youth voices in those rooms and they can do that via multiple routes. Putting together a council, faith and belief council of young people, ensuring that they are part of the governance structure of these organizations of the rooms like I've mentioned where these programmes are put together. That is the first thing.

Secondly to tap into the passions of young people.

I think that's so important. There's such an intersection between interfaith and social justice. I know The Faith & Belief Forum for example do a lot when it comes to climate change and faith's role or the role of faiths coming together to tackle issues like climate change. And it's important that young people are involved in that process and really tap into their potential and their passion to get involved in these sort of social justice issues that they are so passionate about.

For example, again, some intersections between faith and issues that aren't explored in too much detail. For example, faith and AI: how can we maximize AI in the role of faith and interfaith relations? Lastly and I'm doing this quickly because I know it's a short interview: social media and social media engagement and outreach.

It's so important that interfaith programmes remain dynamic and that's something which has and often is the criticism of traditional interfaith programmes, the saying "tea and biscuit interfaith" is something which I'm sure a lot of people hear and it's that you're getting the same faces. You're getting the same conversations happen in the same rooms where interfaith engagement is going on.

It's important that we use social media. It's important that we ensure that we are being creative and using technology in order to engage individuals who wouldn't traditionally be in those rooms, wouldn't traditionally be involved in interfaith engagement. So I think ensuring that young people again are in those rooms co producing the programmes, latching on to the passions that they have and using the skills which they have.

I know you've given a few great examples of social media, climate change, and AI as well. It would be great to hear some more examples of the impact of the work of young people in the National Multifaith Youth Centre.

Right now we're putting together our own sort of youth committee. In terms of the impact of young people, we have had some fantastic young volunteers who have been a part of our organization.

From the top of my head, we have someone called Alex Kyriakou, who was absolutely amazing. He took part. He actually chaired one of our youth round tables last Inter Faith week. That was in partnership with the Brahma Kumaris, and he was 19 years old at the time. And you would have had no idea. He was extraordinary, exceptional. And it was because he was given the opportunity to chair one of those, one of those roundtables.

And everyone after the event was just saying how impressed they were with him. So I think, like I say, the most important thing is you trust these young people, put them in positions of responsibility, and I promise you they will surprise you, as in the case of Alex.

I think there's this idea or misunderstanding of young people and engaging in interfaith work that they're not interested or anything and it's really great to hear those examples.

It would be good though in your work to see what specific challenges you find young people face in fostering meaningful interfaith dialogue and collaboration within today's social and political climate.

Of course. First and foremost, it can be very emotionally draining and that's something which young people, but also I'm sure all interfaith practitioners right now are facing especially this past year.

And it's important that you do look after yourself first and foremost.

Secondly, I think you might face resistance and a lot of people do face resistance. I think interfaith, like I say, can, if you talk about tea and biscuit interfaith can seem a bit vanilla, or has done previously, but it's not, it's still very controversial.

There's someone who I've spoken to recently, an academic from SOAS who's working on interfaith marriage and that's something that's a reality for myself in terms of my own parents.

I was brought up in a household where my dad was Sikh and my mum was Hindu. And it was very challenging for a lot of reasons, one being talking from a personal perspective.

What am I? Am I Sikh? Or am I Hindu? Where do I fit in?

I think in the traditional interfaith landscape, especially when it comes to interfaith programmes, want to label you. They want to know who you are. And it's not always that simple, especially in a world where you're brought up with multiple identities. I think that can be really challenging. And I think sometimes young people like myself don't know where they fit.

And that was one of the big reasons why we put together the National Multifaith Youth Centre to reflect that sort of change in identities. Secondly, like I said it's really challenging work and it isn't easy.

And sometimes I use the words "amateur interfaith". Sometimes amateur interfaith isn't what's needed. It needs to be well planned. When you put together a programme, there needs to be due diligence involved. You need to make sure that you know what you're doing when you enter these rooms. Because when you're engaging with interfaith dialogue, when there are issues which are very emotional, where there's a lot of, for example historical generational trauma attached to issues which you're engaging when it comes to interfaith dialogue. It's important that the practitioners in there know exactly what they're doing, and that cannot be taken for granted.

Finally, understanding the experience of young people and ensuring that there is more research involved in that. I think it's a really unexplored space when it comes to academia. Exactly how young people on university campuses, for example, faith and belief based young people, what their experiences are on university campuses, what interfaith looks like on each individual university campus, because demographics of faith and belief based students are different depending on the university campus that you go to, what faith and belief provisions are there that this work, this mapping out still needs to be done.

So more research certainly needs to be explored when it comes to youth faith / interfaith engagement and that is happening right now. I'll highlight Sophie Mitchell from Faith & Belief Forum who just put together her master's looking at youth interfaith engagement And I had the pleasure of being part of that and recently reading it and so there are some emerging academics who are doing that work, which is really hopeful.

I love Sophie Mitchell as well, so, 100%, I agree with what you're saying.

To move on to the next question, and you have touched on this in your previous answer: having previously worked as Deputy Head of Operations at Faiths Forum for London, what are some key lessons you've learned about building effective interfaith partnerships?

The first thing that comes to mind is building trust and friendships. It's so important. I think that is the bedrock of the interfaith sector. And that means just going beyond sort of programme relationships, putting together a programme and then saying goodbye to one another. It means, for example, if you're engaging with a Muslim colleague, whenever it's Ramadan, making sure you're, or Eid, making sure you're saying Eid Mubarak, whenever it's a Jewish holiday, and you've got a Jewish colleague, whenever it's Sukkot, saying it's so important to make sure that you are engaging with colleagues outside of programmes, building that relationship, building those friendships.

And from there, you get effective collaboration.

Thank you for that. Looking ahead over the next five to 10 years, what kind of changes do you anticipate in the way public spaces, education systems, and policymaking will engage with interfaith work and social justice?

I hope for more funding, that's obvious, more infrastructure, more youth engagement, more female led organizations, more LGBTQA plus work in the sector, ensuring it is fully inclusive, and in terms of policy majors, especially a long term perspective and plan for interfaith and integration in the UK. I think that's really important, especially when it comes to policymakers, ministers and governments.

It seems like there is a short term perspective and I understand how that is the nature of working with the government. However, when it comes to an issue or issues like interfaith and integration, it is a long term approach that is necessary.

It would be great to expand on the important role that policymakers, educators, and community leaders play in fostering interfaith dialogue and social justice. It'd be great if you could speak about that a little bit more.

You'll have to take each one individually.

So I'm going to go for educators. And let's go to universities, for example. And one thing that we advocate for in the National Multifaith Youth Centre is university- led interfaith engagement. I think for a lot of the times universities wait for students to speak up about inclusivity needs and motivations to engage in interfaith.

But I think universities really need to take a hold of that. And that doesn't mean that we don't co produce with young people. That's really important. Like I've said. But I don't think the two are mutually exclusive. I think they can work in collaboration with each other. But I think it's important that universities take ownership of what is happening on their university campuses.

And they ensure that the infrastructure is in place. So when young people who have a passion for interfaith want to take up that opportunity, it is there for them.

And not only that, but like I mentioned that young people can also mould that infrastructure, those programmes themselves. I think it can work in synergy with one another and it should do.

And that's what we look to do on university campuses.

Having looked at your work around gender based violence, it would be great to ask some questions. What have you observed about the role of interfaith collaboration in tackling gender based violence?

How can diverse faith communities contribute to creating safer, more equitable spaces for all genders?

This is regarding the work that I did with Tara Corey from Women's Interfaith Network, and we put together the Faith Against Domestic Abuse programme, which was a coalition of faith and belief based communities, organizations , and leaders to raise awareness of domestic abuse within faith communities.

First and foremost, and I mentioned it in terms of what I'm looking for, what I'm hoping that we see in the next 5 to 10 years in the interfaith sector, which is more female led organizations. Too often our interfaith organizations, even faith based places of worship, for example, are male- dominated when it comes to their governance structures, their trustee boards. To ensure that these places are fully welcoming and reflect the needs of women, you need women in roles of leadership. It's a must. It has to happen. So that's something which we're working to do. And hopefully we can continue to work to ensure that that is the case, number one.

Two, I mean, just little steps, for example, in terms of tackling gender based violence, for example, having posters of Women's Aid or specific faith and belief based support in female bathrooms in places of worship again.

Things like that. Ensuring that that basic level of infrastructure is there within places of worship or faith spaces. For example, if it's a Gurdwara ensuring the Sikh Women's Aid poster is there. If it's a synagogue ensuring that Jewish Women's Aid poster is in these female bathrooms. I think ensuring that places of worship are implementing this type of infrastructure is really important.

Also, when it comes to gender based violence, it's tackling the taboos and stigma around it ensuring that individuals who are unfortunately survivors of abuse, who are victims of these sort of awful ideals, to ensure that they are supported once they come out, they feel like they can. And we try and remove the stigma and narratives around that.

And that's something that we can do. As an interfaith initiative, as an interfaith coalition. Ensuring that all faiths and beliefs come together to make sure that we can fully support victims and survivors of domestic abuse when they come out and shift that narrative.

Just to expand on that, it'd be great to hear about faith leaders , interfaith leaders in particular, so how can interfaith leaders support in this kind of educational work in preventing gender based violence within faith communities?

I think firstly, I think this is what I'm a proponent for, which is faith leaders being trained in signposting individuals or even being fully trained in safeguarding support should someone be a survivor of domestic abuse and approach their faith leader. Because I think faith leaders play a really key role in places worship in that they are trusted by the community. And those might be the individuals who a survivor might come to disclose abuse and you and we need to make sure, knowing that, that that individual is adequately trained to deal with that.

If someone does disclose that abuse to them, are they fully aware of the best practice, the procedures that they need to take in order to make sure that they are best serving their community and that survivor? And that's really, really important. And that means taking safeguarding seriously within places of worship.

But also it means ensuring that all members of the place of worship are adequately safeguarding trained as well. Ensuring that you have the infrastructure in place, including designated safeguarding leads ensuring that you have designated safeguarding leads who are women, because again, if it is a woman who is a victim, a survivor of that abuse sometimes they might feel, again, more comfortable engaging a DSL, a designated safeguarding lead who is a woman.

So ensuring that you've got women DSLs in place is very, very important. Did that answer your question?

Yeah, that was perfect. Thank you so much.

That's all we have time for today. I just want to thank you so much for contributing and it would be great to have the chance to continue this conversation in the future.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.