Equality Trust

About the Film

Over the last six months we have been working with ten young people to co-produce a project which explores ‘Reconstructing the Social Contract’. The idea of a social contract between the government and the people, which previous generations understood, has been steadily dismantled over the past four decades. This has negatively impacted our ability to thrive. As one of the storytellers on the project put, ‘The sense of community is just disappearing in most areas. I just don't think that people are just going to get along and talk with each other, they're just going to keep erecting walls and just judging others.’ Young people today are left to face an economy where, despite their hard work, the basic pillars of a secure life - affordable housing, debt free higher education, resources to raise a family and time for leisure- feel increasingly out of reach.

Through this project we wanted to uncover young people’s stories that lie beneath the statistics. Ten ‘Youth Advocates’ from across the UK came together to discuss what the social contract means to them, learnt how to be a Community Reporter and to advocate for the changes they want to see in their communities and across the UK. The Youth Advocates started by creating their own definition of what a new social contract fit for the 21st Century should be, using this as the basis for their own Community Reporting project. They then went out into their communities to hold interviews with their peers to discover their hopes and fears for the future; what they think is needed for young people to have a better life and their thoughts on youth participation in decision making. The final film was the culmination of the Youth Advocates’ work and pulled together highlights from each of the 25 stories they gathered.

About Us

The UK's severe levels of inequality enable the super rich to amass enormous resources, which harms us all. The Equality Trust's research shows that everyone in the UK could lead a better life if wealth and income were shared more equitably because more equal societies work better.

Our vision is for everyone to have a good life.

Our mission is to challenge concentrations of income, wealth and power to create conditions where people and communities thrive. To make this happen we gather evidence, build coalitions for change, campaign, and support others to do so.