Minorities of Europe developed the Swapping Cultures in response to the Cantle report which examined the disturbances that erupted in the Northern UK cities in 2001.

In our work with young people, the staff at MoE realised that simply sharing experiences with each other and reflecting on similarities and differences is meaningless if the work with young people is not retained. Young people need to feel engaged, respected and understood by all the people around them. Through the ‘Beyond Labels’ youth conference (Leicester, 2002) ideas from the young people were turned into active change by having the presence of Government Ministers and civil servants listening and engaging with them directly.

From this conference, as part of the activities devised by the young people, a simple, but innovative working framework called, the Beyond Tolerance model emerged. The model utilised ways of sensitively asking deep and personal information without making participants feel uncomfortable.