Empathy Leaders

Your questions, answered clearly

Explore how our workshops foster empathy, dialogue, critical thinking and active citizenship. Learn about our approach of applying human needs theory to conflict resolution, and the positive impact on students and classrooms.

Click here to ask your questions to our leadership team!

Is SNS politically impartial?

SNS is an education charity that teaches about political issues, but does not adopt or promote a position, instead allowing young people to make up their own minds based on critical thinking and a variety of views. This includes (but is not limited to) the following issues:

Zionism
Refugees
Borders and potential win-win solutions
Jerusalem
Occupation
Security
Palestinian Nakba
Israeli Independence
Settlements
UN resolutions and international law

Disinformation campaigns have claimed that SNS is either a Zionist/pro-Israel or anti-Israel organisation, or pro-Palestinian or anti-Palestinian, or is pushing other political agendas and positions. These claims are untrue. Our values framework that all our speakers and team sign up to, and within which we deliver our programme is:

Non-violence
Equality for all
The rejection of hatred

What happens in a typical workshop?

SNS workshops are carefully structured to help young people explore difficult issues in a safe, balanced and educational way. While each session is tailored to the age group and school context, a typical workshop follows this arc:

1. Exploration: the students engage with our short video, with Palestinians and Israelis talking about what the history of this region means to them (1 hour)

2. Empathy: they learn that pushing for a win-lose outcome will likely lead to lose-lose, and what that really means for the people affected through personal stories (1 hour)

3. Empowerment: they undertake a solutions-focused exercise with the Israeli and Palestinian speakers, learning about the needs of both sides, and the importance of a win-win outcome (1 hour)

Please click here for a ‘walk-through’ of our curriculum.

Who funds SNS?

SNS is funded through a mix of charitable trusts and foundations, school contributions, and individual donors. We do not receive funding from political parties or governments linked to the conflicts we teach about, and all funding is accepted in line with our strict commitment to political impartiality and educational independence.

What benefits do students gain?

Solutions Not Sides workshops help students develop skills they need for school, society and democratic life. Students typically gain:

Critical thinking – learning to question information, spot misinformation, and move beyond simplistic binaries
Empathy and perspective-taking – understanding different experiences without pressure to agree
Confidence to discuss difficult issues – practising respectful disagreement and calm dialogue
Emotional literacy – recognising how fear, identity and emotion shape opinions and conflict
Active citizenship skills – applying these tools to social media, community life and democratic participation

In short, students leave better equipped to handle complexity, resist polarisation, and engage with contentious issues in a thoughtful, responsible way.

Empathy leaders

People behind the progress

Real voices, real impact

Your questions, answered clearly