“What if you could illustrate religion’s relationship with conflict, but also with peace, coexistence, human rights and development?”

Conflict in the name of religion is a fact of life for everyone these days. From terrorist actions against media, to the chilling rhetoric of the “Islamic State”, to bloody tensions devolving around religious lines in Nigeria, the Central African Republic, Cameroon, the media is flooded with examples of people who use their religion as an excuse to commit violence.

But this is only one part of the story.

All over the world, and since the beginning of time, there are a far larger number of people who are motivated by their religious beliefs to pursue peace and tolerance.

KAICIID’s Peace Mapping Project is an interactive, online, crowd-sourced database that seeks to map these opposing paradigms.

On the one hand, it acknowledges and documents existing tensions and conflicts in the name of religion. On the other, it documents the numerous actions of those people who seek to bridge differences through interreligious dialogue.

The Peace Mapping Project is a tool for students, researchers, policymakers and dialogue experts to learn about several hundred organisations that are committed to interreligious dialogue: be it conflict resolution, upholding human rights, education or development.

The project aims to go even further: to explain what makes interreligious dialogue intervention unique, efficient, and a sustainable path for peaceful coexistence for us all. 

Diaglogo! is for Peacemakers....

We designed the Dialogo! game to support youth leaders and peace builders. Now, the game is played around the world, in schools, on teams, and in learning environments. The game teaches skills in dialogue, teamwork, speaking, and social emotional learning.

The KAICIID Fellows Programme is an ongoing capacity development and networking programme that starts with one year of hybrid training. The Programme is designed to connect and cultivate a network of leaders committed to fostering peace in their communities through interreligious and intercultural dialogue. Since its launch in 2015, the Programme has equipped more than 500 Fellows from 92 countries with the dialogue skills needed to tackle real-world challenges – such as hate speech, communal conflict, and violent extremism. Fellows can be part of the international or regional cohorts including the Arab Region, Africa, Europe, South and South-east Asia and Latin America.

Violent conflict is a threat to the Arab region’s social and cultural fabric. Often, systemic economic, political and cultural problems have been expressed along religious lines, pitting religious communities against each other. With the emergence of terror groups after the invasion of Iraq - chief among them so-called Islamic State, KAICIID convened religious leaders from diverse faith backgrounds to advocate for dialogue and peace. In 2014, these religious leaders came together under KAICIID’s initiative ‘United against Violence in the Name of Religion’ whereby they worked together over the next years to remove religious affiliation as an excuse for violence and exclusion.  In 2018 these religious leaders established the first official interreligious platform in the Arab world – the Interreligious Platform for Dialogue and Cooperation in the Arab World (IPDC).  Through this collaborative platform, they have sought to preserve peaceful relations within and between communities in the region, based on the principle that violence against one religion is violence against all religions.

The Interreligious Platform for Dialogue and Cooperation in the Arab World (IPDC) was established in 2018 by KAICIID in cooperation with 23 religious leaders to serve as a permanent link between religious leaders and their communities in the region, through which they collaborate on initiatives aimed at promoting dialogue, preventing conflict, and resolving existing challenges.

Although the IPDC was established as a regional platform, several offshoot networks have emerged and are working on local and national relief efforts, such as those aimed at tackling the impact of the Sudan floods, the recent Beirut blast, and the COVID-19 pandemic. The Platform and the KAICIID secretariat work together on the implementation of various projects.

Social media is more than a simple communication tool. It allows also for an exchange of ideas across the global digital landscape and can transform groups and individuals into influencers, publishers and activists on a scale never known. Since 2015, the “Social Media as a Space for Dialogue programme” has equipped more than 700 young leaders in the Arab Region with skills to combat online hate speech and extremism, while advocating for inclusion and moderation. It started as a grassroots initiative aimed at training religious leaders, representatives from religious institutions, and youth in advocacy and dialogical messaging in the online space.

Social Media as a Space for Dialogue is an evolving and adaptive training series that so far has included 12 workshops, including five advanced “training of trainers” sessions, equipping hundreds of young leaders in the Arab region with skills to combat online hate speech and extremism, while advocating inclusion, moderation, and community support networks. The graduates of this programme have launched and successfully operated 20 social media campaigns promoting diversity, cooperation for sustainable development, and mobilising local efforts for crisis response to such challenges as the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2021, the “Social Media as a Space for Dialogue programme” is transitioning, from grassroots to a policy and institutional level. A new version, entitled “The Power of Social Media”, is being developed based on a needs assessment conducted in 2021, and includes an advanced training agenda covering a wider range of topics related to dialogue, communication and policy making, supported in part with webinars, competitions and support grants for interreligious dialogue community initiatives.

The Arab Region Fellows Programme is an extension of the KAICIID International Fellows Programme, tailored to the Arab region and delivered entirely in Arabic. It attracts candidates from some of the region’s leading religious, academic, and civil institutions. Currently, 130 Fellows from ten countries across the region have graduated from the programme and have implemented 56 initiatives in their communities to raise awareness of dialogue as a means of countering hate speech, and promoting common citizenship.

KAICIID views youth as essential partners in the Arab region’s quest for peaceful coexistence and supports a Youth for Dialogue network for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue in the Arab Region. The network has instrumentalised a Forum space serving as an active, influential window that enables youth to promote interreligious and intercultural dialogue, confront hate speech, and create strong youth communities that reinforce the values of citizenship in the Arab region. The network builds towards more cohesive communities by contributing to the achievement of the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs).

The Youth for Dialogue Project was established in December 2019 to identify strategic priorities for youth in interreligious dialogue. So far, the Forum has established a steering committee, produced a strategic plan for its operations, increased youth participation in regional conferences, encouraged systematic youth engagement through a series of virtual dialogue sessions that are entirely coordinated and implemented by young people and key actors in the region. Members of the Youth for Dialogue network have also led various online and offline campaigns addressing the current pandemic, calling for inclusive ways to mitigate its effects.

Launched in 2020, the Dialogue-360 Project is aimed at strengthening local dialogue initiatives as foundations for peacebuilding efforts in the region.

The scheme aims to:

• Counter and prevent hate speech in the name of religion
• Enhance the role of interreligious and intercultural dialogue in creating social cohesion, common citizenship, and interreligious education
• Promote the protection of cultural heritage and safeguarding of religious sitesIn 2020, KAICIID and the IPDC supported the implementation of initiatives in 15 countries in the Arab region, including 183 training and dialogue sessions, 24 awareness and advocacy campaigns, one mobile application, a set of four educational games, as well as the founding of 10 peace clubs. Collectively, the initiatives have benefited 5500 people directly, and reached 5.3 million through radio broadcasting, videos and social media.

Promoting Social Cohesion in the Arab Region

The Centre is working with UNDP’s Regional Bureau for the Arab States to map social cohesion in the region, and to evaluate the role religious leaders can play in resilience and conflict prevention programmes To this end, the two organizations are collaborating on a multi-level and multi-dimensional social cohesion index which will work to build platforms for dialogue to enhance the constructive role that religious leaders can play in promoting social cohesion in the Arab region. Projects focus on promoting intercommunal peace in communities hosting large numbers of refugees, and on addressing vulnerabilities resulting from the crisis in the Arab region, including Iraq and Syria. To help communities build resilience to conflict, the two organizations are working together with women, youth, religious leaders and the media, as agents for change.

Support for Social Cohesion in Iraq

The Centre is working with the UNDP in Iraq on identifying and empowering local agents for social cohesion - “Social Cohesion Champions”. This involves a particular focus on religious leaders, who will be empowered to contribute to building peace in fragile societies.

High-Level Meeting

Five years after the establishment of the Centre and three years from the launch of the initiative “United against Violence in the Name of Religion (UVNR),” we believe the time has come to stop, reflect and examine both past achievements and challenges. The importance of interreligious dialogue and preventing violent extremism has never been more evident, and religious institutions as well as religious leaders have become more aware of the importance of working together to ensure a better world and promote peace and mutual respect. Additionally, in recent years, political leaders have become more aware of the important role that religion plays in being part of the solution to today’s challenges, and therefore policymakers are more inclined to include religious leaders at the dialogue table. The UVNR initiative, through the next meeting in February 2018, encourages religious leaders and policymakers to work together and address the current challenges.

Growing violent extremism and terrorism have threatened centuries of peaceful coexistence in the Middle East. In June 2014, the Centre launched the Arab region programme through a consultative session on common citizenship. The workshop coincided with a turbulent chain of violence in Iraq and Syria. During the session, 25 religious leaders, as well as a number of religious organizations and institutions from the Arab region, gathered to discuss the implications of current developments in Arab societies and their impact on social structure – particularly within interreligious and intercultural relations.

KAICIID believes there is a gap between religious leaders and policymakers, especially in international organizations. Therefore there is an urgent need to launch a regional platform for dialogue and cooperation in the Arab region in order to support the activists, leaders and religious institutions, who are developing action strategies and working to establish the values of pluralism, religious and cultural diversity, and common citizenship.

In February 2018, KAICIID organized a global conference which brought together leading representatives from numerous religious communities to support peaceful coexistence. At the conference, the Centre launched an historic interreligious platform supported by Christian and Muslim leaders to advocate for the rights and inclusion of all communities in the Arab world. The Platform is the first interreligious dialogue platform of its kind. Planned activities of the platform include training clergy of all religions to combat hate speech, implementing initiatives which empower youth and women, and working with local and national authorities on policy which promotes social cohesion and equal rights.

Read more on United Against Violence in the Name of Religion.

Some Arab societies are witnessing violence and political conflicts, which gravely threatens to weaken the region’s social and cultural fabric. In June 2014, the KAICIID Dialogue Centre brought together many of the religious, inter-religious and civil society institutions currently engaged in supporting and strengthening peace building and dialogue in the Arab world.



KAICIID Secretary General Faisal Bin Muaammar noted that “All of our relations depend upon trust. Trust results from inclusive dialogue, bringing together religious leaders, governments, teachers and civil society towards strengthening common citizenship for Muslims and Christians in the Arab world based on equality and respect for human rights.”

Participants

The participants included: the Arab Group for Christian-Muslim Dialogue; the Adyan Foundation; the Arab Reform Initiative; the Coptic Evangelical Organization for Social Services in Egypt; the Center of Christian-Muslim Studies at Balamand University; Diyar Consortium; the Forum for Religion and Cultures for Development and Dialogue; the Global Center for Justice and Humanity; the House of the Egyptian Family in Al Azhar, the Iraqi Council for Interfaith Dialogue; the Iraqi Institute for Human Rights; the Organization of Islamic Cooperation; the Middle East Council of Churches; the Pontifical Council of Inter-religious Dialogue; the Royal Institute for Interfaith Studies; the Syrian League for Citizenship; the World Council of Churches

Recommendations

• Request KAICIID to foster, facilitate and coordinate local and regional initiatives focusing on citizenship and respect of diversity, especially providing space for exchanging and highlighting the successful and positive experience of the various institutions in the Arab world;
• Launch a special initiative for dialogue to engage youth to ensure sustainability and continuation of the young generation in this field;
• Launch a special campaign to reach out to Arab society through social media. Dialogue and common citizenship through social media can reach further and beyond existing audiences;
• Engage political and religious institutions and leaders to seriously adopt and implement dialogue and common citizenship.

Ethnic, national and religious diversity are growing in Europe. At the same time, there is a rising tendency of populism and demagogy against such diversity, often seen through social exclusion, hate speech and a narrative of fear. Religious actors are uniquely positioned to support processes that strengthen solidarity and foster social cohesion, but they lack the platforms to reach policymakers for those efforts.

KAICIID’s Europe Region programme envisions a continent where religious actors and policymakers have established channels of communication, listen to one another’s concerns and provide support and cooperation to each other. Through facilitating interreligious activities, KAICIID acts as a convener for cross-sector dialogue and enables policy initiatives to take place. Dialogue can address Europe’s current divisions and strengthen social cohesion to obtain equal rights and human dignity for everyone, including minorities.