The Forgiveness Project


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.

Aims

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.

Concept of rehabilitative storytelling

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.

Themes

Stories collected by The Forgiveness Project follow multiple themes that the Project states "provide a framework to these forgiveness stories, adding a dimension to the narrative of hate, hurt, and healing." These themes are feeling pain and anger, being curious, forgiving yourself, developing empathy, seeking revenge, transforming hate, and making meaning. The Forgiveness Project believes that analyzing the themes "shows that while forgiveness is not a linear process, and seldom a one-off event, nevertheless certain qualities and values feature in most of the stories."

''The F Word'' exhibition

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”.
The Exhibition is made up of Storytellers, who engage others and share their traumas in order to help others heal.

''The Forgiveness Project: Stories for a Vengeful Age'' (book)

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.

Speaker’s Bureau

The charity believes that hearing someone speak first-hand and being able to ask questions is the most powerful form of story-telling so over 30 of those who share their stories with The Forgiveness Project are also part of the charity's Speaker's Bureau. This facility allows schools, prisons, conferences and organisations hiring the F Word exhibition to have one of the featured storytellers on hand to share their experience of forgiveness.

Annual lecture

In addition to regular talks, The Forgiveness Project has also hosted five annual lectures to date.
RESTORE is the charity's intensive, group-based victim empathy programme for offenders that encourages the sharing of experiences within a framework influenced by Restorative Justice principles. The project has delivered over 160 programmes in custodial and non-custodial settings in England and Wales since 2007.
Over nine years in the judicial system: The Restore Programme has helped over 3,ooo people including 180 Prison Officers.
Co-facilitated by trained victims of crime and ex-offenders, the workshop leaders use their personal testimonies to encourage prisoners to take responsibility for their actions and change how they think and feel about their offending behaviour.

Link between RESTORE and restorative justice

Whilst Restorative Justice traditionally focuses on bringing a victim and offender into communication, this process can be stalled if both parties aren’t at the same life stage. The Forgiveness Project's approach is to help offenders unravel their own stories and develop empathy by understanding the effect their actions have on others. This enables them to start the restorative process without being entirely dependent on their victim's willingness or availability to participate.
In many cases, having encouraged behavioural change, the programme may result in the offender having the confidence, motivation and support to meet their victims as part of future RJ conferencing. RESTORE assists in victims’ recovery by enabling them to play a role in the criminal justice system.

Recognition

Awards and commendations

The organization has won recognition such as:
Cantacuzino received a 2013 Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Travelling Fellowship which enabled her to spend five weeks visiting and learning from other restorative justice programmes in custodial and community settings in the US and Canada.

Research and evaluation

Independent evaluation was commissioned on the work of RESTORE within prisons and the effect that it has had on young offenders and adult prisoners who had participated in the programme.
Since Dame Anita Roddick first lent her support in advance of the inaugural The F Word exhibition in 2004, The Forgiveness Project has attracted endorsements and ongoing support from a number of high-profile organisations and individuals.
The charity's patrons include Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Rt Hon the Lord Woolf, philanthropist Lady Edwina Grosvenor, actress Emma Thompson and comedian Shappi Khorsandi whilst supporters include Tony Benn, clothes designer Katharine Hamnett, actors Dame Helen Mirren and Linus Roache plus Terry Waite.
The Forgiveness Project is also a peace partner of the Charter for Compassion.