"Was wäre, wenn man den Zusammenhang zwischen Religion und Konflikt illustrieren könnte, aber gleichzeitig auch den zwischen Religion und Frieden, Zusammenleben, Menschenrechten und Entwicklung?"

Konflikte im Namen der Religion sind heutzutage eine Tatsache des Lebens für uns alle. Von terroristischen Akten gegen Medienvertreter, über die schaurige Rhetorik des "Islamischen Staats", bis hin zu den blutigen Spannungen entlang religiöser Grenzen in Nigeria, der zentralafrikanischen Republik und Kamerun – Die Medienwerden überschwemmt von Berichten über Menschen, die ihre Religion als Entschuldigung für Gewalt nutzen.

Doch dies ist nur ein Teil der Geschichte.

Überall auf der Welt und seit Anbeginn der Zeit gibt es viel mehr Menschen die von ihren religiösen Überzeugungen dazu motiviert werden, Frieden und Toleranz zu leben.

Das KAICIID Peace Mapping Projekt ist eine interaktive, gruppenbasierte Online-Datenbank die versucht, diese entgegengesetzten Paradigmen abzubilden.

Einerseits gesteht es existierende Spannungen und Konflikte im Namen der Religion ein und dokumentiert diese. Andererseits belegt es die zahlreichen Aktionen von Menschen, die durch interreligiösen Dialog Differenzen zu überbrücken suchen.

Das Peace Mapping Projekt ist ein Instrument für Studenten, Forscher, Politiker und Dialogexperten um mehrere hundert Organisationen kennenzulernen, die sich dem interreligiösen Dialog verschrieben haben: sei es Konfliktlösung, das Einhalten von Menschenrechten, Erziehung oder Entwicklungsarbeit.

Das Projekt will sogar noch einen Schritt weiter gehen: Es will erklären was interreligiöse Dialog-Intervention zu einem einzigartigen, effizienten und nachhaltigen Weg zum friedlichen Zusammenleben für uns alle macht. 

The International Dialogue Centre (KAICIID) has allocated funds to sponsor small scale short-term projects that focus on building dialogue bridges between diverse religious and ethnic communities in the Arab region. Possible grants range from 3000 Euro to 5000 Euro and will be evaluated based on specific selection criteria (attached below). Projects should be fully implemented within six months upon the receipt of the grant, including the submission of the final reports.

Projects focusing on the following areas will be given preference:

1. Countering & preventing hate Speech in the name of religion on the national /regional level.

2. Promoting the role of diverse religious leaders and institutions as active partners involved with policymakers, governments, and international institutions to confront this pandemic and deal with crises in general, and this includes, but is not limited to: raising awareness of individuals and societies, facing all the effects of the crisis in various fields such as education, unemployment and the economic implications, psychological support, combating social stigma and domestic violence etc.

3. Enhancing the role of Interreligious dialogue (IRD) in responding to Covid-19 in promoting public health. Preference will be given to interfaith initiatives focusing on community engagement and responses to the current situation concerning COVID-19 outbreak amongst vulnerable groups (elderly, people with special health conditions, children, and refugees, etc.)

The following methods, approaches and formats could be used to address the topics highlighted above:

• Advocacy for policy changes.

• Capacity building (preferably online workshops and training).

• Traditional/Social media engagement, live streaming events, broadcasting, radio programs, TV programs, short videos, documentaries, etc.

• Knowledge exchange.

• Awareness raising.

• Research and publications, online and offline publications (digital/print), policy papers, booklets, infographics, articles and blogs.

• Information and Communication Technology (ICT) such as phone Application, text messages and push notifications.

Who can apply?

The small grants scheme targets organizations and institutions, as well as individuals who can support interfaith efforts to respond to the themes identified in this call. More specifically, these partners include the following entities:

• Interfaith/interreligious dialogue platforms, organizations and networks. 

• Religious leaders and faith-based organizations (FBOs).

• Youth and women organizations and other civil society organizations.

• Social media influencers and bloggers.

Please note that:

• Proposals might include more than one method and multiple formats.

• Only proposals consisting of (1) an application form includes the proposal and (2) a detailed budget will be considered.

• Please provide electronic copies rather than scans.

• To increase the chances of your project to be selected, please consider the set of selection criteria outlined (Attached below) to this Application Form, which will serve as basis to evaluate the projects to be awarded.

Deadline for the submission of applications: MAY 31, 2020

Tips before starting the online application form:

• It is advised to prepare the entire project on a side file and use it when starting the application process.

• Please prepare the budget file completely and attach it to the application form in the space provided

• Please prepare supporting documents (CV and registration documents in one pdf file not exceeding 2MB)

For inquires and further information please contact Grants-arabregion@kaiciid.org

Selection Criteria Application form Budget template

“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 International Fellows Programme is an international capacity-building and professional development programme designed to bring together religious leaders, educators, and practitioners from diverse religious and cultural backgrounds worldwide. 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 550 Fellows from nearly 100 countries with the dialogue skills needed to promote mutual understanding and cooperation between diverse religions and cultures in a global world. 

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.