Peacebuilding and Conflict Transformation

“We practice healing and reconciliation to resolve conflict without resorting to violence.” - URI Principle 9
Peacebuilding and Conflict Transformation

URI Cooperation Circles work at every level, from influencing policymakers to providing training at the grassroots, to build peace, heal existing tensions, and prevent new conflicts.

Examples of our work in this Action Area:

  • EcoPeace/Friends of the Earth Middle East CC gathered Israelis, Jordanians, and Palestinians to join their voices in calling for cooperative restoration efforts in the Jordan River.
  • In Africa, Shalom Ghana CC ended a 10-year feud between Christians and Muslims by getting youth from both sides together to plant trees the village badly needed.
  • After an increase in anti-Muslim hate crimes in California, USA, the Interfaith Council of Contra Costa County CC co-sponsored a "Ring of Solidarity" where over 200 people joined hands around a mosque to show community support for their Muslim neighbors.
Search for Cooperation Circles (CCs) with a focus on Peacebuilding & Conflict Transformation

Stories

DuVernay's 'Colin in Black & White' on Netflix traces the seeds of Kaepernick's activism

Tahil Sharma, Regional Coordinator for URI North America, was invited to review the Netflix docuseries Colin in Black and White, detailing the formative years of NFL footballer and activist Colin Kaepernick. After reviewing the show and sharing thoughts, various people including the director Ava DuVernay invited Tahil to write a blog post for publication.

Transformative environmental education with 30 high school learners in South India - the launch of the Ecopeace Teen Cafe

In India, Greshma Raju, from Jyothirgamaya Interfaith CC, has initiated a project called Ecopeace Teen Cafe, which is a four month education programme reaching 29 high school learners in South India, focusing on community building, environmentalism, peacebuilding and social justice. Read more about the inspiration behind this initiative and Greshma’s learnings through the experience of starting a project like this!

URI AL&C Online Youth Training

Between August and September 2021, the URI AL&C Online Youth Training organized by the URI Global Program for the participation of youth was developed with the intervention of 15 young people from the CCs: Aflaiai, Constructores de Puentes, Teusaquillo, Mukua, Quinaroes , COEMATI, The Descendants of Guatemaya, Samay, ACRE from the countries: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama and Venezuela.

Report of the G20 Interfaith Forum

Young leaders from North America/Multi-Region (Erin Adarve and Vasu Bandhu), Europe (Mirjona Hoxhallari and Emina Frljak), and West Africa (Clement Awanfe Ngueto) represented URI, along with Regional Coordinator for North America Tahil Sharma and member of the URI UN team Audrey Kitagawa, at the G20 Interfaith Forum in Bologna, Italy from Sept 11 - 14th. Read about their experiences here!