The hidden peace-builders: from ambivalence to engagement, strengthening the role of local faith actors in peace-building and reconciliation
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Leeds
Department Name: Sch of Theology & Religious Studies
Abstract
Our key aim during the Development Award is to press on with growing a strong, interdisciplinary and equitable network of Global South and North research and peace-building organisations as either the basis for launching the Network Plus in April 2020, if our application is successful, or as the cornerstone of identifying new funding possibilities with a firm proposal that is ready to go. We have decided that the best way to organise our activities during the Development Award, to support equitable and sustainable partnerships, is to address the specific feedback on our outline proposal.
Our Network Plus aims to deliver the first large-scale comparative study on the role of local faith actors in inter- and intra-faith initiatives to support peace building, working from regional hubs in South Sudan, the Philippines and Sri Lanka. It will address the following research questions emerging as important for achieving SDG 16,
RQ1: How can and do local faith actors (LFAs) best support peace in communities affected by violent conflict, and at what points in the journey from conflict to peace to reconciliation?
RQ2: How can humanitarian organisations, grassroots civil society organisations and local government most effectively engage with LFAs in this process?
RQ3: To what extent can this complement other aspects of community-based programming following the so-called 'triple nexus' approach, for instance to promote sustained child well-being and gender equality?
RQ4: How do inter- and intra-faith initiatives can contribute to peace building efforts beyond the (apparent) religious dimensions of conflict?
RQ5: In what ways do religious teachings and theologies drive the narrative of many local faith communities and their responses to conflict and peace building?
In addition to facilitating research, the Network Plus will develop curricula, including e-learning versions, for use by development/humanitarian organisations, grassroots civil society organisations and local government. The aim of this curricula is to equip these stakeholders to engage LFAs in peace building processes.
There will be three stages to how we tackle the feedback and begin to develop the Network Plus:
STAGE ONE - preparing the full proposal (July 1st - Sept. 19th, 2019). Work will be undertaken by a research assistant who will: identifying existing curricula and projects on faith-based peace-building; carry out a stakeholder analysis in each country; and contacting, following up, phoning/skyping and introducing these people in the regions to begin to develop the network. This intensive process of locating and sharing information, and snowballing contacts, is essential to achieve a wide buy-in for the Network Plus. The work of the RA will be completed by the end of August so that it can feed into the full proposal.
STAGE TWO - run up to start of Network Plus (Sept. 20th, 2019 - 30th, March 2020) - We will hold three country meetings in South Sudan, Sri Lanka and Columbia. These will last three days each and will be organised with input from the hub leaders and the local offices of the project partners.
-Day one: core team meeting - a chance for the core team members to meet and network; to review the three strands of the Network Plus full proposal and its fit with the region, including potential challenges and risks.
-Day two: an open meeting for broad range of stakeholders to introduce the Network Plus, and to generate local interest and feedback.
-Day three: a smaller more targeted workshop with key stakeholders, to work through the logistics of the three strands of the Network Plus, including beginning to plan the specific activities and their timing for Strand One.
STAGE THREE -(April 1st - June 30th, 2020) - to feed findings from the other stages into the inception of the Network Plus or use them to apply for other funding sources.
Our Network Plus aims to deliver the first large-scale comparative study on the role of local faith actors in inter- and intra-faith initiatives to support peace building, working from regional hubs in South Sudan, the Philippines and Sri Lanka. It will address the following research questions emerging as important for achieving SDG 16,
RQ1: How can and do local faith actors (LFAs) best support peace in communities affected by violent conflict, and at what points in the journey from conflict to peace to reconciliation?
RQ2: How can humanitarian organisations, grassroots civil society organisations and local government most effectively engage with LFAs in this process?
RQ3: To what extent can this complement other aspects of community-based programming following the so-called 'triple nexus' approach, for instance to promote sustained child well-being and gender equality?
RQ4: How do inter- and intra-faith initiatives can contribute to peace building efforts beyond the (apparent) religious dimensions of conflict?
RQ5: In what ways do religious teachings and theologies drive the narrative of many local faith communities and their responses to conflict and peace building?
In addition to facilitating research, the Network Plus will develop curricula, including e-learning versions, for use by development/humanitarian organisations, grassroots civil society organisations and local government. The aim of this curricula is to equip these stakeholders to engage LFAs in peace building processes.
There will be three stages to how we tackle the feedback and begin to develop the Network Plus:
STAGE ONE - preparing the full proposal (July 1st - Sept. 19th, 2019). Work will be undertaken by a research assistant who will: identifying existing curricula and projects on faith-based peace-building; carry out a stakeholder analysis in each country; and contacting, following up, phoning/skyping and introducing these people in the regions to begin to develop the network. This intensive process of locating and sharing information, and snowballing contacts, is essential to achieve a wide buy-in for the Network Plus. The work of the RA will be completed by the end of August so that it can feed into the full proposal.
STAGE TWO - run up to start of Network Plus (Sept. 20th, 2019 - 30th, March 2020) - We will hold three country meetings in South Sudan, Sri Lanka and Columbia. These will last three days each and will be organised with input from the hub leaders and the local offices of the project partners.
-Day one: core team meeting - a chance for the core team members to meet and network; to review the three strands of the Network Plus full proposal and its fit with the region, including potential challenges and risks.
-Day two: an open meeting for broad range of stakeholders to introduce the Network Plus, and to generate local interest and feedback.
-Day three: a smaller more targeted workshop with key stakeholders, to work through the logistics of the three strands of the Network Plus, including beginning to plan the specific activities and their timing for Strand One.
STAGE THREE -(April 1st - June 30th, 2020) - to feed findings from the other stages into the inception of the Network Plus or use them to apply for other funding sources.
Planned Impact
The Network Plus has been designed to have long term impact with respect to the work of four main categories of stakeholder. The Development Award will be used to build on existing relationships with these stakeholders and to forge new ones with others. It has been designed to address the feedback on the outline proposal, which raise points pertinent to ensuring impact in the right places and that we are set up to achieve that.
1. The project partners, other development and humanitarian organisations, grassroots CSOs and local government, will benefit from this project since it will develop training curricula for them to use when working with LFAs around peace building. Also, the development of M&E tools linked to the curricula will mean that gaps can be filled in the future in terms of gathering evidence about what works, what doesn't work and why. Beyond this, the commissioned projects in Strand 2 will ensure that the curricula have been tested in different settings and that research and evaluation from these can be fed back into the final iterations of the curricula. These projects will involve academic-practitioner partnerships, thereby building the capacity of these groups to work together and to learn from each other's methodologies and positionalities. The findings from other research in Strand 2, which addresses the Network Plus research questions, will also be fed into the curricula design and roll out.
2. Local faith actors in the three regions, including those from Christian, Muslim, Buddhism and Hindu settings, will benefit from the impact of the training curricula during the lifetime of the Network Plus, since a portion of Strand 2 research projects are to involve the tweaking, testing and evaluating of the curricula in different locations and amongst members of different faith traditions. While LFAs are often already playing an important role in peace building, the curricula will build their capacity to engage with other peace builders, including development and humanitarian organisations, grassroots CSOs and local government, as well as to be able to better use 'theological' tools, where appropriate, to engage with their communities as well as to facilitate dialogue and reconciliation between adversaries in conflict situations. This will build their capacity to address grievances and will result in the development of risk-based approaches to avoiding future conflict.
3. Communities recovering from conflict will benefit from the research, because it aims to facilitate the effective inclusion of a wider set of critical actors (LFAs) into the peace making process. Most communities in the Global South recovering from conflict are deeply religious. This Network Plus seeks to better understand and incorporate religion and the contribution of LFAs into peace making processes and curricula through the development of scripture-influenced tools alongside secular strategies.
4. The UN and other international agencies and donor organisations, who have committed to the New Way of Working, following the World Humanitarian Summit in 2016, will benefit from being able to see evidence of the advantages in engaging local faith actors in peace processes. While it is not uncommon for faith actors to be involved in peace building at the international level, it is much less common for this engagement to specifically target the local or grassroots level. Guidance for these actors, including an outline of how to overcome barriers to engaging with LFAs, as well as how to ensure that opportunities are successfully harnessed, will be produced in Strand 3 and disseminated as part of the communications and dissemination plan led by the JLI project partner. This guidance will draw on the findings from the research undertaken in Strand 2 and will also make the curricula available to these actors.
1. The project partners, other development and humanitarian organisations, grassroots CSOs and local government, will benefit from this project since it will develop training curricula for them to use when working with LFAs around peace building. Also, the development of M&E tools linked to the curricula will mean that gaps can be filled in the future in terms of gathering evidence about what works, what doesn't work and why. Beyond this, the commissioned projects in Strand 2 will ensure that the curricula have been tested in different settings and that research and evaluation from these can be fed back into the final iterations of the curricula. These projects will involve academic-practitioner partnerships, thereby building the capacity of these groups to work together and to learn from each other's methodologies and positionalities. The findings from other research in Strand 2, which addresses the Network Plus research questions, will also be fed into the curricula design and roll out.
2. Local faith actors in the three regions, including those from Christian, Muslim, Buddhism and Hindu settings, will benefit from the impact of the training curricula during the lifetime of the Network Plus, since a portion of Strand 2 research projects are to involve the tweaking, testing and evaluating of the curricula in different locations and amongst members of different faith traditions. While LFAs are often already playing an important role in peace building, the curricula will build their capacity to engage with other peace builders, including development and humanitarian organisations, grassroots CSOs and local government, as well as to be able to better use 'theological' tools, where appropriate, to engage with their communities as well as to facilitate dialogue and reconciliation between adversaries in conflict situations. This will build their capacity to address grievances and will result in the development of risk-based approaches to avoiding future conflict.
3. Communities recovering from conflict will benefit from the research, because it aims to facilitate the effective inclusion of a wider set of critical actors (LFAs) into the peace making process. Most communities in the Global South recovering from conflict are deeply religious. This Network Plus seeks to better understand and incorporate religion and the contribution of LFAs into peace making processes and curricula through the development of scripture-influenced tools alongside secular strategies.
4. The UN and other international agencies and donor organisations, who have committed to the New Way of Working, following the World Humanitarian Summit in 2016, will benefit from being able to see evidence of the advantages in engaging local faith actors in peace processes. While it is not uncommon for faith actors to be involved in peace building at the international level, it is much less common for this engagement to specifically target the local or grassroots level. Guidance for these actors, including an outline of how to overcome barriers to engaging with LFAs, as well as how to ensure that opportunities are successfully harnessed, will be produced in Strand 3 and disseminated as part of the communications and dissemination plan led by the JLI project partner. This guidance will draw on the findings from the research undertaken in Strand 2 and will also make the curricula available to these actors.
Organisations
- University of Leeds (Lead Research Organisation)
- Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities (Collaboration)
- World Vision UK (Project Partner)
- Ctr for Peace Building & Reconciliation (Project Partner)
- Islamic Relief Worldwide (Project Partner)
- Joint Learning Initiative International (Project Partner)
- Finn Church Aid (Project Partner)
People |
ORCID iD |
| Emma Tomalin (Principal Investigator) | |
| Kathryn Kraft (Co-Investigator) |
| Description | As a result of COVID we had to change our plans to hold workshops in Sri Lanka and South Sudan and instead commissioned two research projects on the impact of COVID on faith based peace building in the two countries. 1. Kalinga T U D O R Silva and Nafeel Zawahir (2021) Impact of COVID-19 on the Peace Building Activities of Local Faith Actors in Sri Lanka (chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/viewer.html?pdfurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wvi.org%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2F2021-12%2FImpact%2520of%2520Covid19%2520and%2520peace%2520building%2520report%2520%2528final%2529.pdf&clen=3739568&chunk=true) The study explores the role of religion and local faith actors in peace building and reconciliation from Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Christian groups and denominations during the COVID-19 pandemic in Sri Lanka. A mixed method approach was employed in this study. As such, telephone interviews were conducted with a total of 44 key informants including priests and other faith actors to garner qualitative evidence and an online survey of 164 respondents representing different religions was carried out in order to explore their religious activity and participation in the pandemic response. Even though their participation in religious gatherings were highly restricted in view of the health guidelines and quarantine regulations in operation at the time, switch to digital media, TV, radio and loudspeaker sermons and chanting helped overcome the barriers to physical congregation to some extent. The study found that the religious leaders and faith actors made a substantial contribution to the pandemic response through their participation in humanitarian services, presentation of public health information in culturally sensitive ways, countering misinformation, building productive rapport with local level government institutions at the frontline to respond to the pandemic, and the donation of religious spaces for establishment of treatment centers and vaccination drives. Their specific contribution in trust building, promotion of social harmony and addressing drivers of conflict was particularly relevant due to the focus of this enquiry. An outstanding achievement in this regard was successful mobilization of interfaith action for restoring the burial rights of Muslims who died of COVID-19, overturning a government imposed mandatory cremation of all COVID-19 dead. Similarly, a digital citizenship program developed by the National Evangelical Christian Alliance for Sri Lanka sought to counter the pandemic of hate by educating young people about responsible use of digital media, identification of fake news and use of digital media for cultivating a sense of citizenship and related human values and environmental concerns. These interventions point to the positive role religion can play in addressing adversity caused by the pandemic and related social crisis. Despite a majoritarian bias in decision-making at the national level, a productive relationship was gradually evolving among local faith actors and state institutions at the local level in responding to the pandemic collectively. It has given space for faith actors from different religions to express their views and beliefs in responding to the pandemic jointly across the religious divide. This remains an important avenue for discussion and deliberations among all religions to take health information, safety measures and counter misinformation on the pandemic and vaccination to the local communities. This indicates that effective engagement of religion and faith to fight the common crisis is likely to bring positive outcomes in the areas of reconciliation, respecting unity, diversity, and pluralism so that this can be taken as a useful point of departure for peace-building initiatives in future. Finally, the study points to policy changes at the national level needed to promote social harmony, development, and long-term sustainability in Sri Lanka. Nurturing of appropriate human values including unity and diversity, human rights, dignity of all individuals and social justice calls for fostering of suitable partnerships between state, civil society, and faith actors at all levels. 2.Theodore Mbazumutim (2021) Impact of COVID-19 on the Peacebuilding Activities of Local Faith Actors in Burundi (not yet published) The 2015 political crisis culminated in an attempted coup d'état in which the Governmental party dissidents, the opposition and the leading CSOs (Civil Society Organizations) were assimilated. The abortion of the coup created a divided society with most political opposition leaders and CSOs being forced to take refuge in different countries. Burundi ended up with a powerful government controlling every sector of life including the religious institutions by institutionalizing God and religion so much so that it became difficult to differentiate between the sacred and the political. Peacebuilding narratives became a threatening political stand against the government narrative that the country was peaceful. For many protestant churches, therefore, their peacebuilding initiatives aimed at being resilient to this Government that was becoming more and more aggressive towards dissident voices by avoiding political interventions and becoming more humanitarian oriented. Those protestant leaders who did not get the "vision" were assimilated to the opposition and replaced by their own colleagues understood to be more cooperative in an exercise believed to have been indirectly guided by the government. Further there was a vocal Roman Catholic Church openly discussing political and humanitarian issues at the dissatisfaction of the government which accused this denomination of being at the service of the colonial master. Meanwhile, a less noticed and silent Muslim community did not just preach peace, they lived it and created safe places where some Burundians could run to. In the midst of all this, Covid-19 overshadowed the peace initiatives that were underway and the peacebuilding initiatives were diverted to Covid-19 which was first denied by the then government but later declared the enemy number one of the country-a narrative that further silenced the little peacebuilding debate that was underway and giving way to the government to take total control of the public space in the name of controlling the spread of this pandemic. In a rather fortunate turn of events, the new government has started depoliticizing peacebuilding narratives and taking a much more scientific and nuanced stand against the pandemic, but the religious institutions are already too absorbed by fear to see this opportunity. A recent research project, basing its argument on qualitative data collected between April and June 2021 with religious leaders, civil society organizations, local and international NGOs as well as youth and women groups, argues that the role of religious institutions in peacebuilding has been dominated by the victor-vanquished relationship where the victor-who is the CNDD-FDD (Conseil National Pour la Défense de la Démocratie -Front Pour la Défense de la Démocratie) -set up the framework and the rest in the country-the vanquished or the less powerful- had to follow with actions that can fit into that frame, keep quiet, or be assimilated to the enemies of the country until such a time when the victor decided otherwise. Even when the victor narrative changes, the vanquished struggles to see the opportunity and continues to live a crisis context when the government is moving to a post crisis nation building narrative. |
| Exploitation Route | The findings from these two research projects address the implications of COVID for faith based peacebuilding and could be useful to humanitarian and peacebuidling organisations seeking to partner with local faith actors as well as those that already have partnerships. It is also useful for faith actors themsleves as it maps out the broad impact of COIVD on peacebuilding in their locations so that they can learn from this and be better prepared for future pandemics and crises. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy |
| Description | Knowledge Frontiers |
| Amount | £200,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | The British Academy |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 04/2023 |
| End | 10/2025 |
| Description | Collaboration with the Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities |
| Organisation | Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Learned Society |
| PI Contribution | This grant enabled me to forge strong relationships with the Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities (https://jliflc.com/) - 'an international collaboration to develop and communicate evidence on local faith actors' roles and contributions to development and humanitarian action for community well-being'. Members of the JLI attended events from this grant and we have since collaborated on a number of projects: I co-chair their learning hub on modern slavery and human trafficking; I am a member of their executive board playing a key role in their academic engagement; we secured funding with Tearfund, Islamic Relief and Red-R UK from the Belgian Government for a project entitled 'Bridging the Gap: the role of local faith actors in humanitarian response in South Sudan'. |
| Collaborator Contribution | They are funding a full time senior research fellow in the Centre for Religion and Public Life at Leeds for one year, with plans to renew it in the future. |
| Impact | Frame, J., Tuckey, M., White, L., Tomalin, E. (2019) 'Faith and freedom: the role of local faith actors in anti-modern slavery and human trafficking - a scoping study.' Scoping Study. Washington D C: Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities: Anti-Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery Hub. https://jliflc.com/resources/ams-ht-scoping-study/ Wiklinson, O, Tomalin, E, Logo, K, Wani Laki, A, De Wolf, F (2020) Bridge Builders: strengthening the role of local faith actors in humanitarian response in South Sudan, Islamic Relief, Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities, RedR UK, Tearfund, Tearfund Belgium, University of Leeds. https://jliflc.com/resources/bridge-builders-south-sudan/ Wilkinson, O., Logo, K.H., Tomalin, E. et al. Faith in localisation? The experiences of local faith actors engaging with the international humanitarian system in South Sudan. Int J Humanitarian Action 7, 4 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41018-021-00113-8 |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Collaboration with the Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities |
| Organisation | Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Learned Society |
| PI Contribution | This grant enabled me to forge strong relationships with the Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities (https://jliflc.com/) - 'an international collaboration to develop and communicate evidence on local faith actors' roles and contributions to development and humanitarian action for community well-being'. Members of the JLI attended events from this grant and we have since collaborated on a number of projects: I co-chair their learning hub on modern slavery and human trafficking; I am a member of their executive board playing a key role in their academic engagement; we secured funding with Tearfund, Islamic Relief and Red-R UK from the Belgian Government for a project entitled 'Bridging the Gap: the role of local faith actors in humanitarian response in South Sudan'. |
| Collaborator Contribution | They are funding a full time senior research fellow in the Centre for Religion and Public Life at Leeds for one year, with plans to renew it in the future. |
| Impact | Frame, J., Tuckey, M., White, L., Tomalin, E. (2019) 'Faith and freedom: the role of local faith actors in anti-modern slavery and human trafficking - a scoping study.' Scoping Study. Washington D C: Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities: Anti-Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery Hub. https://jliflc.com/resources/ams-ht-scoping-study/ Wiklinson, O, Tomalin, E, Logo, K, Wani Laki, A, De Wolf, F (2020) Bridge Builders: strengthening the role of local faith actors in humanitarian response in South Sudan, Islamic Relief, Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities, RedR UK, Tearfund, Tearfund Belgium, University of Leeds. https://jliflc.com/resources/bridge-builders-south-sudan/ Wilkinson, O., Logo, K.H., Tomalin, E. et al. Faith in localisation? The experiences of local faith actors engaging with the international humanitarian system in South Sudan. Int J Humanitarian Action 7, 4 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41018-021-00113-8 |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Hidden Peacebuilders Collaborative Workshop with volunteers of the organisation Duyog Marawai - Mindanao State University - Iligan Institute of Technology, Philippines, Jan 30th 2020 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | This session included about 40 volunteers from a local faith based peacebuilding organisation called Duyog Marawai. We started by introducing the concept of local faith actors as hidden peacebuilders, outlining the key concepts of who are "local faith actors" and how they have and have not been recognised by international peacebuilding programs and organisations. The first part of the afternoon included presentations on core concepts and ideas, including discussion of new and emerging trends such as the "triple nexus" (humanitarian-development-peace nexus) and analysis of religion and peace research that has already been achieved. The second, and longer, part of the afternoon allowed time for the collected experience in the room to be shared. Experienced faith-based peacebuilders were in the room from the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and East Africa. These peacebuilders shared stories of the best practices they have witnessed, particularly highlighting the ways in which being faith-based helps and hinders their work. This was followed by a knowledge exchange session in the style of a "world café" model - in which each participant shared his/her experience with a small group, then moves on to another table to share with a different small group. Each table will include some members of the global Network and some representatives invited locally. We discussed: 1- What are the greatest contributions you have seen faith groups offer to peacebuilding? 2- What are the greatest challenges to faith groups' ability to contribute positively to peace? 3- What types of knowledge, resources or relationships would help local faith-based peacebuilders do more and do better? |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Hidden Peacebuilders Network Workshop, Bujumbura, Burundi |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | A desired outcome of this meeting was to strengthen and build the Hidden Peace Builders Network. It provided an opportunity to bring the core team together, which included new members since we last met, to revaluate the network's research priorities. We also included activities to involve local faith actors in Burundi during the three day meeting and identified local research gaps that will feed into the design of grant applications. In terms of outputs, we will produce a written report from the three days of meetings to be circulated amongst the network members and a plan for grant capture over the following three years. This plan will include an outline of the aims and objectives, methods and locations for the research, as well as a plan of who will be approached for funding. This will include academic research councils, NGOs and other agencies, such as the World Bank and the UN. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Hidden Peacebuilders Network Workshop, Manila, the Philippines |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | A desired outcome of this meeting was to build the South East Asia hub through convening academics and faith actors to reflect on the kind of research that would be most useful to their work and to participate in a workshop where we will revisit the previously funded GCRF project that was withdrawn. We also expect new humanitarian partners to join our team. In terms of outputs, a report will be written up following the meeting and a draft reworked grant application for the AHRC standard research grant route. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Hidden Peacebuilders Public Event - Mindanao State University - Iligan Institute of Technology, Philippines, Jan 31st 2020 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This public event brought together about 50 people. The aim was to share the premise behind the Hidden Peacebuilders Network. It was organised through a Q&A session with panelists. The following questions were discussed: 1- What are the greatest contributions you have seen faith groups offer to peacebuilding? 2- What are the greatest challenges to faith groups' ability to contribute positively to peace? 3- What types of knowledge, resources or relationships would help local faith-based peacebuilders do more and do better? |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |