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.

The Arab Region programme operates in a challenging context marked by diverse conflicts and crises alongside political and economic instability. Addressing these challenges requires a coordinated and specific joint response from various stakeholders, including religious, political, and social leaders, civil society, faith-based organizations, and the international community. Collaborative efforts focus on developing policies and programmes that promote social cohesion, rebuild trust, and counter hate speech. In this context, KAICIID will enhance its intervention strategy by expanding into new areas of peacebuilding, reconciliation, and promoting peaceful coexistence. The programme is working to engage new actors to address key themes such as faith and policy, intra-Muslim dialogue, faith and media, and inclusion, aiming to position KAICIID as a key peacebuilding actor in the Arab region. The goal is to empower and mobilise partners to improve national, constitutional, and societal frameworks that foster stability and peace.   

A key focus of KAICIID’s work in the Arab region lies in collaboration with religious leaders and institutions, the media, local organizations, and policymakers to create a lasting impact. Initiatives such as Dialogue 360 support grassroot partner organizations in addressing and responding to the needs of their communities in issues related to peacebuilding, countering hate speech, and crises, while developing their knowledge and capacities in interreligious and intercultural dialogue. Through the Dialogue Journalism Fellowship (DJF), KAICIID equips journalists with the tools to report on religious diversity, counter hate speech, and promote inclusive narratives. The She for Dialogue programme empowers women to take active roles in leading interreligious dialogue and peacebuilding efforts in their communities. By working with policymakers and local organizations, KAICIID ensures that these initiatives are embedded into governance structures, promoting sustainable peace and social cohesion across the region. 

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.

Missverständnisse, Misstrauen, Fehldarstellungen und Konflikt zwischen religiösen und kulturellen Gruppen verursachen zu häufig Leid und Zerrüttung auf der Welt. In manchen Fällen verschlimmern die Schwierigkeiten und Frustrationen, mit denen sich jüngere Generationen konfrontiert sehen, die Situation erheblich. KAICIID ist bewusst, dass Spannungen zwischen Gruppen immer ihre eigenen, lokalen Dynamiken und Herausforderungen mit sich bringen, die nicht mit generischen Lösungen oder aus der Ferne adressiert werden können. Darüber hinaus konzentrieren sich Initiativen zur Förderung von interreligiösem und interkulturellem Dialog (IRD/ICD) oft stark auf die Einbeziehung religiöser Oberhäupter, deren Einfluss auf und Verständnis von jungen Menschen häufig schlecht ist. 

Im Gegensatz dazu haben junge Menschen, deren Beitrag zu interreligiösen und interkulturellen Beziehungen innovativ und langlebig sein kann, den Vorteil, dass sie auf Gleichaltrige über soziale Medien sichtbaren Einfluss ausüben und sie so in lokale Vorhaben mit einbeziehen können. Da sie jedoch oft wenig Erfahrung mit anderen Religionen, IRD, und Projektmanagement haben, brauchen sie — damit sie zu interreligiösen und interkulturellen Aktivisten werden können — Kurse, in denen sie diese Erfahrungen machen können und die ihnen diese Fähigkeiten und Unterstützung mitgeben.

"A Common Word Among the Youth" war ein Programm, das von KAICIID in Zusammenarbeit mit der Right Start Foundation International (RSFI) entwickelt wurde, um junge, enthusiastische Aktivisten dabei zu unterstützen, dort zu arbeiten, wo sie leben, und so nachhaltigen Einfluss auf möglichst viele Gemeinschaften auszuüben. Das Programm war eines von KAICIIDs ersten "metamorphen" Projekten für junge Anführer. Es begleitete Teilnehmer, die anfangs kein oder nur wenig Wissen über IRD oder sogar andere Religionen hatten, auf ihrem Weg zum erfolgreichen Arbeiten als aktive und ausgebildete Agenten für interreligiösen Dialog. In vielerlei Hinsicht war das Programm damit einer der Vorläufer des bekannten KAICIID Fellows-Programms.

Bei der Einführung von "A Common Word Among the Youth" arbeitete KAICIID gemeinsam mit der Right Start Foundation International an der Erstellung eines Programms, das potentiell großen und nachhaltigen Einfluss auf Graswurzelgemeinschaften überall auf der Welt haben würde und das in den sozialen Medien Geschichten schreiben würde, die ein breiteres Publikum inspirieren und Aufmerksamkeit für IRD schaffen.

Gemeinsam wählten die Organisationen junge Menschen aus, die in ihren Gemeinschaften bereits an relevanten sozialen Projekten arbeiteten. Im Dezember 2015 versammelte sich eine Gruppe von 85 jungen Menschen mit verschiedenen Hintergründen aus rund 70 Ländern im Rahmen eines geförderten, einwöchigen Seminars im marokkanischen Rabat. Dort profitierten die Teilnehmer von der Expertise von ISESCO, der Weltpfadfinderbewegung (WOSM) und der Universität von Georgetown. Von verschiedenen Dozenten lernten die ACWAY-Teilnehmer über unterschiedliche Religionen und Kulturen, das Konzept des IRD sowie Projektdesign und Management. Diese intensive Lebens- und Arbeitserfahrung bildete die Grundlage eines Netzwerks, das —in den sozialen Medien unterstützt durch die RSFI — sie in den darauffolgenden sechs Monaten unterstützte, in denen jeder Teilnehmer in seiner Heimatgemeinde ein selbst entworfenes Projekt durchführte.

Seit Dezember realisierten die Teilnehmer dutzende Projekte. Die RSFI überwachte und ermutigte die jungen Leute und half ihnen mit Verbesserungsvorschlägen. Um das Engagement der Teilnehmer aufrechtzuerhalten, schrieb KAICIID fünf Preise von je bis zu 2000 Euro für die fortgeschrittensten Projektdesigns aus. Die preisgekrönten Projekte finden in Afrika und Asien statt und reichen von intensiven Dialogveranstaltungen in den Andachtsstätten verschiedener Religionen in Indonesien hin zu gemeinsamen religiösen Interessensvertretungs- und Arbeitsteams, die in Dörfern in Nordghana Abflüsse reinigen und so Krankheiten verhindern.

Another focus of the symposium will examine the effects of hate speech on educators and students. “The symposium will be conveying values of respecting the other, accepting the other, to be listening to others and learning more about other groups,” continued Abu-Nimer. “That package of values is a front line tool to immunise children and communities from engaging in hate speech.” 

Transforming Education

Aim: To foster a broad interdisciplinary dialogue about the field of interreligious dialogue

Under the title ‘Dialogue beyond Dialogue (DbeD),’ the KAICIID research department team aims to provide an interdisciplinary space for a dialogue between different forms of ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’ vis-à-vis interreligious dialogue. The conference seeks to (a) bring together theoreticians and practitioners, in particular, in the field of interreligious dialogue (b) from various regions around the world, (c) who use different theories and methods in their work (in and off the field) (d) in order to further study the phenomenon of dialogue from different disciplinary perspectives (e) to be able to trigger new learning processes, and (f) to translate them into applied knowledge to be disseminated broadly.

Approach: Frame the conference using the ‘insider/outsider” ideal type

By borrowing the ideal type distinction between ‘insider’ and ‘outsider’ - often used in such disciplines as Religious Studies, Anthropology and Sociology - the KAICIID Research Department Team wants to underline different, yet complementary, theories and methodologies that have been used in carrying out research on interreligious dialogue across numerous scientific disciplines. One way of organizing these approaches is to re-group them into two sets: 1) those that use a more empathic point of view (‘insiders’), themselves being active participants in normative and practical interreligious dialogue activities and debates on the topic; and 2) those that use more distanced point of view (‘outsiders’), approaching interreligious dialogue as a historical fact, a sociocultural phenomenon and/or a mental process. The use of this ‘insider/outsider’ ideal type as a means to frame this interdisciplinary conference aims to enhance our understandings of various aspects of interreligious dialogue activities, as well as to make better sense of this relatively new field of study.

Implementation: Foster dialogue across disciplines and kinds of engagement:

The structure chosen for this conference aims to enhance dialogue among all participants, so that the notion of ‘dialogue’ is not only the topic of discussion but also the way deliberations are conducted. Three formats are used: 1) a few select larger-scale plenaries, including one public event in the KAICIID Hall of Dialogue; 2) smaller parallel panels that include two presenters followed by one respondent with more time than usual for Q&A; 3) as well as a final morning session devoted to collective in-depth thinking on future directions for collaborative research projects. Each participant is invited not only to present his/her own paper as an expert on dialogue, but also to discuss theories and methodologies of dialogue across disciplines and paradigms of research and praxis throughout the conference.

Results:

This international interdisciplinary conference will result in the production of at least two books published by KAICIID in conjunction with an academic press. Additionally, the KAICIID research department team will distil a white paper from the various sessions, particularly the final morning one. The white paper will address the advances and challenges in the academic field of interreligious dialogue, as well as future potential directions for collaborative research. Finally, all participants will be given an opportunity to talk about their work, both research and applied (if applicable), to be included in a KAICIID series on Who’s Who in the field of interreligious dialogue. The conceptual character of this international conference aims that its results will serve for medium to long-range developments in the interdisciplinary field of interreligious dialogue.