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MultiReligious Collaboration for the Common Good

MultiReligious Collaboration for the Common Good

The Multireligious Collaboration for the Common Good (MCC) programme comprised country projects in Tanzania and Indonesia to build capacity to undertake IRD to strengthen social cohesion. The projects were led by KAICIID field experts and affiliates of Religions for Peace (RFP) . Tanzania and Indonesia share a governmental and societal priority in constructively managing diversity in their societies. The local RfP affiliates were well-placed to support local KAICIID Field Experts in their work.

The programme in each country focussed upon three pillars of activity:

  1. Dialogue Capacity Building to strengthen of interreligious dialogue platforms
  2. Dialogue in Support of Child Wellbeing
  3. Dialogue in Support of Interreligious Education

The MCC programme emphasized flexibility by empowering the field experts and local interreligious councils to adapt and tailor activities to meet the needs of the local communities. As a result, in Indonesia where KAICIID’s expert Ms Wiwin Rohmawati collaborated with the Centre for Dialogue and Cooperation among Civilisations (CDCC), consultation groups of academics and religious leaders from across the country produced the following:

  • Four Modules on Peace Education in Indonesian which were launched in June 2016
  • A Baseline Study of IRD in Indonesia, covering some 2000 individuals in five cities, which Indonesian organizations have requested permission to use and develop further (delivered in July 2016

In Tanzania, field expert Bakari Ally collaborated with the Interreligious Council for Peace, Tanzania (IRCPT)  to deliver:

  • A Baseline Study of IRD in Tanzania
  • Peace Education and Training Curriculum
  • Child Welfare Manual for Religious Leaders
Impact in Indonesia

A consortium of organizations emerged that plans to continue work on piloting the Peace Education Modules, as well as meetings, such as the Forum for Interreligious Dialogue for Child Wellbeing, created as a result of KAICIID-run initiatives Around 200 people (religious leaders, interreligious dialogue, education and child health care practitioners, experts and academics) have been trained in IRD and related skills and fields. Many of these figures have ‘multiplier’ potential, for example, as trainers or teachers who will instruct future generations. The activities’ evaluation indicate positive responses from participants and calls for more of the same. The MCC programme brought together stakeholders in IRD who had not previously considered or collaborated on the issues at hand, such as IRD in Education. The cooperation between sectors produced the modules on peace education which are the first of their kind and have garnered the interest of the Ministries of Education and Religious Affairs, whose officials actively participated in workshops and meetings, giving us hope that the manuals will be officially sanctioned and utilized.

Impact in Tanzania

100 practitioners and trainers received training in conflict resolution tools and materials on child-wellbeing. The trainers and tools both have multiplier potential to benefit numerous other teachers, pupils and communities, whilst the tools offer new resources to the system in the long-term. The Baseline Study of IRD in Tanzania and the Newsletter development have provided foundation work, templates and systems for network monitoring on which further iterations and activities can be based (the newsletter can become a regular communication tool given funding ). The MCC programme brought much-needed funding, coordination and capacity-building to the IRCPT which had been lying dormant. Under MCC this important national interreligious platform was able to regroup, coordinate several meetings with policy-makers and acquire training for its members, hopefully improving its capacity to operate and deliver good activities in the long term. The development of the Peace Education curriculum and training manual has involved collaboration between religious figures and policy-makers which has potential to continue.