First stage of multiphase initiative targets survival and wellbeing of children

(Vienna, 5 June 2013) In March, a delegation from the Vienna-based King Abdullah Bin Ab-dulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID), travelled to Kampala, Uganda, to launch the Multireligious Collaboration for the Common Good (MCC) Programme.

Led by the Centre’s Secretary-General, His Excellency Faisal Bin Abdulrahman Bin Muaammar and members of the Centre’s Board of Directors, the Kampala launch was the first stage of a multi-phase, multi-location rollout of the MCC Programme that, in Uganda, focuses on advancing the survival and wellbeing of children.

As an organisation dedicated to facilitating dialogue and practical, interfaith cooperation, KAICIID’s MCC initiative empowers religious leaders, communities, faith-based institutions and individuals to work together towards crucial shared goals. In this case: child health.

In strategic partnership with New York-based Religions for Peace (RfP), the first phase of this KAICIID programme focuses on child survival through the adoption of life-saving everyday habits in and around the home.   As the Programme registers consecutive successes, faith communities in wider locations will be able to modify or scale multi-religious collaborations upwards, to meet common challenges at local, regional or global levels.

In establishing the MCC, KAICIID is keen to satisfy four key objectives:

• To bring together communities from various faiths and cultures through dialogue, so they can identify common values and challenges in the fields of health, education and development.
• To support faith communities in developing and sustaining effective alliances for the promotion of education or development goals.
• To educate the bottom 20% income communities and families on how to adopt 10 lifesaving habits at home in the form of three fundamental interventions: promotion of good nutrition; prevention/treatment of childhood diseases; and promotion of a clean, safe and protective environment. 
• To monitor/share best practice and translatable models of impact.
  
   

KAICIID Dialogue Centre

Vision:

Religion as enabler of respect and reconciliation.

Mission: 

Acting as a hub, facilitating interreligious and intercultural dialogue and understanding, to enhance cooperation, respect for diversity, justice and peace.

Role: 

The Centre will act as a hub among followers of different religions and cultures, empowering others already working in the field of dialogue and promoting harmony and cooperation.

Strategic Objectives:

• Generate, develop and disseminate knowledge in the area of Interreligious and Intercultural dialogue;
• Cultivate and promote respect for differences through dialogue;
• Create bridges, address conflict and promote collaboration amongst diverse groups.

Team:

The Board of Directors comprises high-level representatives of the major world religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism) and cultures. An Advisory Forum of up to 100 members of other religions, cultural institutions and international organisations will provide a further resource of interreligious and intercultural perspective.

The KAICIID Secretariat is headed by Secretary-General, H.E. Faisal Bin Abdulrahman Bin Muaammar and Deputy Secretary-General Mrs. Claudia Bandion-Ortner. 

After its refurbishment, KAICIID is located at the Palais Sturany at the Schottenring in Vienna’s 1st district, a venue that will act as a place for dialogue among followers of different religions and cultures; a place for conferences, for information, meetings and for discussion.

Programmes: 

Looking ahead, the Centre has prepared an ambitious programme of activities and events that will see it progress its Mission, including the following inaugural programmes:

• Multi-religious Collaboration for the Common Good: Survival and Wellbeing of Children: a capacity-building initiative aimed at empowering religious leaders, congregations, faith-based institutions and individuals across diverse faith traditions to promote the survival and wellbeing of children in Uganda, as a priority country;
• The Image of the Other: a signature programme analysing perceptions of the Other in Education, Media and the Internet. Misperceptions and stereotyping are compared with more accurate ways of understanding and depicting followers of other religions and cultures.
• KAICIID Fellows Programme: the establishment of a KAICIID Fellows programme for future religious leaders and educators, advancing a culture of dialogue.