Connecting the world
one story at a time
Connecting the world
one story at a time
CERITA is a social cohesion and anti-polarization project, powered by technology, that amplifies citizen voices through storytelling. CERITA inspires influencers, stakeholders, and individual storytellers across all walks of life to fight discrimination, promote inclusivity, and build trust within and between communities.
By creating opportunities to explore–with honesty and complexity–the ways in which different cultures, religious beliefs, worldviews, and identities interact, the CERITA method builds resilience against narratives and ideologies which seek to undermine a diverse and inclusive social fabric. We work with CSOs, Foundations, universities, and the private sector empowering storytellers to reclaim the narrative.
JAMII
Sharing Stories. Building Communities. Changing the World.
CERITA-Jamii is the next-generation CERITA programme, developed in partnership with Meta. Engaging civil society actors, community influencers, and activists in designated countries, CERITA-Jamii creates platforms of self-expression for citizens to share stories across ethnic, religious, gender, political and cultural differences. Every part of the CERITA-Jamii programme is co-created with civil society partners to incorporate local expertise and reflect local priorities.
Our Caravan's Route
Swipe to see our projects...
Kafe Cerita
Java, Indonesia – 2017-18
The original CERITA programme, funded by Google.org and developed in partnership with the Habibie Center.
Kafe Cerita brought together community influencers and activists from five cities on Java for a 3-day intensive training to become Duta Cerita, story ambassadors.
Duta Cerita trained to bring the CERITA model to their communities.
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Individuals engaged in follow-up programmes
Ambassador-led public storytelling events have engaged the wider public and inspired social change
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StoryTheCity
Peterborough, United Kingdom – 2018-19
CERITA’s UK programme, funded by Google.org and developed in partnership with the Institute for Strategic Dialogue and Vivacity.
StoryTheCity trained community actors in the CERITA method while generating digital content to share and preserve powerful and diverse stories of place through the Peterborough Museum and local cultural initiatives.
Community actors trained to bring the CERITA model to their communities.
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Video stories created and shared online.
App-based city tour has allowed users to explore the stories that make up Peterborough
CERITA-Nieuw Wij Amsterdam
Amsterdam, Netherlands – 2018
Employed the CERITA method to inspire groundbreaking conversations among key stakeholders, including professionals involving police officers, local government staff, artists, and civil society actors, with a specific focus on Indonesian-Dutch heritage.
CERITA ASEAN
Jakarta, Indonesia – 2020
Connected representatives from all 10 ASEAN countries in conversation hosted by the Habibie Center in Jakarta and funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Interfaith Youth Camp
The Hague, Netherlands – 2018
Collaborated with United Religions Initiative (URI) and Arigatou International to inspire Dutch and Bulgarian youth participants aged 12-17 to connect deeply through storytelling as part of URI’s Interfaith Youth Camp.
CERITA Singapore @FB
Singapore – 2019
Designed six country-wide programmes to be implemented in 2020, in partnership with Meta and Roses of Peace, and hosted a daylong intensive kick-off training at Meta HQ before putting the project on hold due to COVID-19.
CERITA Caravan
Online – 2021
CERITA’s flagship online programme, developed in partnership with Meta.
CERITA Caravan includes masterclass programming for previous participants and outreach to new audiences to build the storytelling movement, with a particular focus on Indonesia and Singapore and secondary focus on wider ASEAN countries and Europe. CERITA Caravan has hosted expert panel discussions, storytelling sessions, and more.
Events hosted on Instagram Live and Zoom
Participants reached around the world
Pages of programming expertise and best practices compiled into a CERITA Playbook.
Online CERITAFest storytelling festivals have brought participants together for reunion, reflection, and celebration.
Abdul-Rehman Malik
CERITA Co-Founder
Co-Director of the Caravanserai Collective
Abdul-Rehman Malik is an award-winning journalist, educator and cultural organizer. In June 2019 he was appointed Lecturer and Associate Research Scholar at the Yale Divinity School. He also serves at the Program Coordinator at Yale University’s Council on Middle East Studies, and is responsible for developing curricula and partnerships with public schools to promote better cultural, language and religious literacy about the Middle East to educators and students alike.
Abdul-Rehman also serves as Director of the Muslim Leadership Lab, an innovative student leadership program being incubated at the Dwight Hall Center of Social Justice at Yale. He remains programs manager for the Radical Middle Way, which offers powerful, faith-inspired guidance and tools to enable change, combat exclusion and violence and promote social justice for all.
His work has spanned the UK, United States, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sudan, Mali, Morocco, Singapore, Canada and Malaysia. Abdul-Rehman is a frequent journalist for BBC Radio, offering contemporary perspectives on contemporary spirituality. Until 2018 regularly presented the popular Pause for Thought segment on Radio 2 and Something Understood on Radio 4. In conjunction with The Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, Abdul-Rehman will be launching and hosting a new podcast in 2020 entitled “This Being Human”, which will explore kaleidoscope of contemporary Muslim experience and identity.
Rahimah Abdulrahim
CERITA Co-Founder
Rahimah "Ima" Abdulrahim is the Director of Public Policy for Southeast Asia (Established Countries) for Facebook Asia Pacific. Prior to this, she served at The Habibie Center, one of Indonesia’s leading think tanks focusing on democracy and human rights, for 19 years, serving as their executive director for 9 years (2010-2019).
She has 20 years advocating for peace and democracy in Indonesia and travels extensively to speak about good governance, democratization, and the role of civil society in Southeast Asia. In her free time Ima advocates for survivors of gender based violence and abuse through the non-profit Lentera Sintas Indonesia.
She also helped start the Jakarta-based program Drive Books, Not Cars, getting free books into the hands of kids who need them.
Stephen Shashoua
CERITA Co-Founder
Co-Director of the Caravanserai Collective
Stephen is a programme designer, trainer and capacity-building specialist working at the intersections of the arts, identity and culture in order to promote better social relations and inclusion. As former Director of the UK based 3FF (Three FaithsForum now Faith & Belief Forum) over 10 years, he led it’s development building it from a staff of 2 to a team of 18 to innovate, design, and deliver a wide portfolio of award-winning social cohesion programs that encourage interaction and learning between people of different faiths and beliefs in the UK and internationally.
He is Co-Director of the Caravanserai Collective, whose CERITA Storytelling and Dialogue programme sponsored by Google.org(2017-2019) and now Meta (2019-present) has engaged more than 3000 participants in Europe, Africa and Southeast Asia since 2017. He is a Yale World Fellow, a KAICIID International Fellow and Trainer, a member of the IF20 Educational Working Group, a Trustee of Keshet UK, a Strategic Advisor to New Horizons in British Islam, and a UNAOC Global Expert. Having moved to the UK from Canada in 2003, he is now based in Lisbon, Portugal and works internationally.
Kellen Silver
Project Manager, CERITA-Jamii
Kellen Silver is a project management professional from Los Angeles, California currently based in Washington, DC. He graduated cum laude from Yale University in 2020 with a Bachelor of Arts with Distinction in the Global Affairs major and earned a Master of Arts with Distinction in Religion in Global Politics from SOAS, University of London in 2022. His academic interests include religious diaspora and marginalisation, post-conflict reconciliation, freedom of expression and movement, and religious pluralism. In 2019, Kellen led a trip to Indonesia on behalf of the Yale International Relations Association (YIRA) to research multicultural identity formation, where he first encountered the CERITA program. He remained engaged with the program through its transition to the digital CERITA Caravan platform in 2020-2021 and supported the project’s expansion to five new countries as the Project Manager for CERITA-Jamii. In his volunteer work, Kellen serves as Director of Programs for the Northern California branch of Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership, a nationally-recognized nonprofit youth development organisation.
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CERITA Caravan
The storytelling movement is digital
Get in Touch
CERITA is managed and run by the Caravanserai Collective. We are committed to teaching the tools and skills to activate individuals to become powerful movers for positive change. We are a cultural intermediary and consultancy focused on assisting individuals and groups to create the necessary shifts in their organisations and communities. We operate in the area of intercultural literacy, the arts, storytelling, conflict transformation, and organisational development by means of facilitated spaces, consultancy and programming.
We are a private limited company established in February 2017 in the UK.
