As COVID-19 spreads across the globe and increasing efforts are made to curb the pandemic, an estimated 1 billion people currently find themselves quarantined in more than 50 countries around the world. Despite all the challenges and hardships, unprecedented times also offer unprecedented opportunities. With people confined to their homes and public life paralysed, many are turning to the internet to work from home, connect with others, gather information or acquire new skills.
KAICIID’s Dialogue Knowledge Hub (DKH) is expanding its wide range of digital learning tools in response to the current situation. In the upcoming weeks, the platform will regularly host free webinars. DKH also offers nine different e-learning courses for individuals who seek to expand their knowledge in the field of interreligious dialogue (IRD).
The online platform provides informative and educational services as well as networking opportunities for different stakeholders, including students, educators, IRD practitioners, religious and spiritual leaders, as well as policymakers and researchers.
Series of webinars on IRD-related topics
With a session on “COVID-19 and religion: New Ways to Worship and Serve those in Need”, KAICIID will launch a series of webinars on 26 March at 11:00 am (CET). This first panel discussion will focus on concrete examples of how faith communities around the world are leading responses to the current crisis.
The webinar will feature renowned speakers, such as Brian J. Adams, the Director of the Centre for Interfaith & Cultural Dialogue at Griffith University, as well as KAICIID Fellows Yudhistir Govinda Das, Country Director of Communications for the International Society for Krishna Consciousness in India; Mabrouka Rayachi, Supervisor for Islamic Religious Teachers in Lower Austria in the Ministry of Education; and Rabbi Alexander Goldberg, Dean of the College of Chaplains and Coordinating Chaplain at the University of Surrey.
Subsequent webinars in April will focus on interreligious dialogue and youth outreach, the emergence of women at the leadership of international IRD organizations, and on the role of interreligious dialogue in humanitarian aid around the globe.
“Because all religions share a depth of commitment to reach out to the most vulnerable, especially in a time of crisis, and because all religions have networks that can galvanise millions of religious actors into powerful volunteers for constructive actions, religious actors play an important role in all international efforts that are currently being undertaken to curb this pandemic. KAICIID is now extending its e-learning resources and invites anyone who is interested in increasing their knowledge or in extending their networks to join one of our upcoming webinars or e-learning courses,” Prof. Patrice Brodeur, KAICIID Senior Adviser said.
Self-paced and moderated e-learning courses
KAICIID is also offering nine online courses on topics related to interreligious dialogue. Two of the courses are moderated and participants are awarded a certificate upon successful completion. There are also “self-paced” course offerings which can be taken any time.
As a result of exceptional circumstances related to the COVID-19 outbreak, KAICIID’s Dialogue Knowledge Hub will start an extra offering of its popular moderated course “Using Interreligious Dialogue (IRD) to Strengthen Peace, Reconciliation and Social Cohesion” on Wednesday, 25 March. The 12 modules include interactive lessons, discussion forums, case studies and group work which take place over two months. Another available moderated course, “Basics of Interreligious Dialogue”, has 8 modules and and lasts three months.
Self-paced courses have a duration of one week each and focus on topics such as “Key Concepts in Interreligious Dialogue”, “Ethics and Key Theories in Interreligious Dialogue”, “Using Interreligious Dialogue to Reduce Religiophobia”, “Interreligious Dialogue in Virtual Communities and Social Networks” and “Interfaith Peace and Dialogue Models: A Venue for Peace Building”.
For all information on webinars and e-learning courses (moderated and self-paced), please click here