International Center for Religion & Diplomacy: Peace Fellows

• Education Reform in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In 2011, ICRD launched a program to monitor and support the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s effort to remove inflammatory content from its national education curriculum. ICRD’s initial review of the 2012 curriculum was the most comprehensive evaluation conducted and established a baseline to measure future improvements. ICRD’s findings confirmed that the Kingdom had made laudable progress toward reform, but much remained to be done to fully complete the task. Between 2018 – 2019, ICRD advanced a second review of the high school curriculum to assess the reforms made to the textbook content thus far and to produce real-time recommendations for key Saudi, US, and global policymakers and experts regarding the on-going reform efforts in the Kingdom. Moreover, ICRD has assessed the social and religious impact of Saudi textbooks in some selected countries of strategic concern (Spain, Kenya, Indonesia, and Ethiopia) and supported the retrieval or replacement of older textbooks containing inflammatory content. Strengthening Education and Teacher Training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ICRD has developed a training program for public school teachers in Saudi Arabia, focusing on themes, such as globalization, preventing and countering violent extremism. ICRD’s team of experts developed a training manual that is tailored to the Saudi context, and is preparing to train Saudi public-school teachers so they may integrate preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) considerations into their pedagogy. Moreover, ICRD will conduct a Training of Trainers (ToT) workshop with a pilot group of Saudi teachers so they may integrate the teacher training content into Saudi education institutions or programs. ICRD also will assist teachers in securing support for follow-on projects to sustain the projects impact. This project impacts hundreds of thousands of Saudi students and helps to advance P/CVE efforts by supporting the education sector in the Kingdom. In addition to the teacher training, ICRD will continue the monitoring of Saudi school textbooks for intolerant and violent content. Furthermore, ICRD will inform the development or refinement of P/CVE strategies and programs in Saudi Arabia, specifically as they relate to education and teacher training, and review of Saudi national policies and programs. ICRD will produce a final report with recommendations to inform US and Saudi policymakers about the progress in the Saudi education sector. Promoting Inclusivity in Teacher Training in the Arabian Peninsula ICRD has worked to foster religious tolerance among teachers and incorporate these concepts into teacher training programs in Saudi Arabia. ICRD has developed an interactive series of trainings and workshops on themes of globalization, human rights, tolerance, critical thinking inclusiveness, religious literacy, intercultural communications, curriculum design, and conflict resolution. ICRD will pilot test the training with a group of 25-50 Saudi teachers before working with the Saudi Ministry of Education to integrate these themes into current and future teacher training programs within the Kingdom.ICRD seeks to enhance religious literacy and inclusivity in education to better prepare an emerging generation of Saudi leaders to operate in a global landscape.
• Local Counter-Narratives to Sectarian Violence in Pakistan. Since 2015, ICRD has been working with a network of Pakistani religious actors from across all major Islamic sects to develop a locally-informed response to the pervasive sectarian prejudice that divides Pakistani society and fuels extremist movements. Working in concert with indigenous partners, ICRD has brought together prominent religious stakeholders from the Deobandi, Ahl- e-Hadith (Salafi), Barelvi, and Shi’a communities who collaboratively designed a Narrative of Sectarian Reconciliation which identifies and refutes the most prevalent and divisive beliefs about other sects. To build support for a shared narrative at the community level and to foster inter-sect tolerance, ICRD trained and mobilized local religious leaders representing each sect. These representatives have written numerous articles and conducted dozens of local programs to disseminate a unified message of inter-sect harmony in major cities in Punjab, Sindh, and KPK. Their efforts are supported by inter- sect groups of respected religious leaders who can mobilize rapidly, as needed, to address flash-points of sectarian conflict.
• Enhancing Citizen Participation in Yemen’s Political Transition. Since 2015, Yemen has suffered from a brutal civil war that has resulted in the death of more than 100,000 civilians, the devastation of national infrastructure, widespread famine, and the worst outbreak of cholera ever recorded. ICRD, based on identified needs and requests, is working to strengthen civil society’s capacity to grapple with these local challenges, connecting vulnerable and marginalized populations, local and higher-level leaders across Yemen. The program bridges longstanding divides between local citizens and government leaders, and between civil society and religious actors in working for peace. Often times, government, religious and civil society actors work along parallel lines, heading in the same direction but missing possibilities for strategic collaborating on peace and stability efforts across Yemen. ICRD, in response, is working to facilitate local, regional and national level dialogues across these divides and open new lines of communication for local to national level peacebuilders. ICRD is conducting higher-level intra-north, intra-south, and nationwide dialogues and taking a whole-society approach to a nationwide phenomenon. Enhancing Citizen Participation in Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism in Yemen The Yemen conflict has dangerous violent extremist groups have grown in power and influence. ICRD, to curb the growth of these groups, is leveraging its existing networks in Yemen to strengthen citizens against violent extremism. ICRD, taking a whole-society approach, is working to build the capacity of local religious leaders, educators, and civil society leaders in countering violent extremism – focusing on areas at direct risk of incursion by violent extremist groups. Through a series of trainings and follow-on community projects, ICRD and local implementers are equipping citizen leaders with skills in P/CVE, conflict resolution, and the transfer of those skills to other community organizers while facilitating locally-led initiatives to put these skills into practice in addressing drivers of violent extremism. This project is laying the groundwork for the organic growth and sustainability of such locally-implemented P/CVE initiatives throughout the country.

Religion, Belief and Social Cohesion in South and Southeast Asia. Since 2015, ICRD has analyzed rising intra and inter-religious and - ethnic tensions between majority and minority groups across South and Southeast Asia. In support of partners’ requests to collaboratively respond to national and regional organizations engaged in social cohesion and peacemaking across the South and Southeast Asia region. Strategic members of the ICRD AWG—including key religious actors, the International Network of Engaged Buddhist, the Asia Muslim Action Network, Center for Peace and Conflict Studies at Chulalongkorn University, National Human Rights Commissions (NHRC), and Association for Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN)— designed and are implementing a country specific to cross-regional South and Southeast Asia programs focused on intra and inter-religious understanding, social cohesion and peacebuilding. Country and regionally based researchers are advancing research focused on intra and inter-religious understanding, tensions, and cohesion with findings utilized to inform full program implementation. Cross-regional capacity building and peace initiatives grants will be provided to strategic and respected religious actors in collaboration with organizations to improve capacities to mitigate tensions and conflict and advance intra and inter-religious and -ethnic social cohesion and peacebuilding cross-regionally and in impacted countries: Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand, and the Philippines. Furthermore, ICRD is working in direct collaboration with the ASEAN Secretariat and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Secretariat (SAARC) to build the regional bodies and governmental capacities and networks in order to understand and respond to rising sectarian tensions and conflict across the regions. All efforts are supported by inter-religious groups of respected religious leaders who can mobilize rapidly, as needed, to address flashpoints of sectarian conflict.

• Religious Actors and Official Peace Processes. In 2017, ICRD conducted a preliminary desk study on the role and impact of religious and traditional actors on official peace processes in Colombia, Libya, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Myanmar, and the Philippines. Based on initial study findings, ICRD, the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), Inclusive Peace (IP) and the United Nations Mediation Support Unit (UN MSU) formed a partnership in 2018 to advance research, case studies, and resources (policy briefs, guidance notes, capacity building and mentoring resources). This partnership also included the creation of an advisory group, and a consortium of religious actors and experts, design and implement a support mechanism. Three on-going peace processes will be supported through this program in 2020-2022, for example: South Sudan, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, and Myanmar. As a direct impact of this program, several peace process policymakers and practitioners have recognized the value of drawing on the contributions of religious actors in official negotiations to reach political settlement to conflict. This is particularly the case for conflicts in which religious dynamics have shaped and driven the course of conflict and contributed to its imperviousness to resolution. In such conflicts, religious actors and communities have interests at stake in political negotiations related to the peace process and, if excluded, may subsequently disrupt official negotiations.
• Women of Faith Negotiators at the Front Lines of Violent Conflict. Since 2018, ICRD and the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) have partnered to research and support the role religious women engaged in negotiating/mediating local settlements and/or protecting the fragile peace achieved through formal peace processes. ICRD, USIP and country-based researcher are engaged in research focused on highlighting the role of women of faith negotiators/mediators in Kenya, Nigeria, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Myanmar, the Philippines, Northern Ireland, and Colombia. The research and case study findings will be used to address gaps in curriculum and training by informing the development of a specialized training program to support women of faith peacemakers and organizations engaged in supporting them. This curriculum will be developed by examining the factors that determine when women’s engagement with conflict and/or extremist actors are effective, taking into account both those women who operate within religious frames and those who do not. ICRD and USIP will develop and pilot capacity building in negotiation and mediation with peer to peer mentorship to amplify the successes of women who contribute to peace in their communities and countries. Exploring real conflict scenarios in Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Libya, and elsewhere, the curriculum will examine successful negotiations and mediations facilitated by women in areas threatened by violent extremism and communal conflict. Furthermore, this endeavor will link practitioners around the globe and foster a network of support comprised of women of faith peacebuilders.
• Integrating Conservative Religious Actors in Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism. ICRD, in light of the growing threat of violent religious extremism, is exploring innovative strategies and developing dynamic networks to prevent and counter the appeal of, for instance, Jihadi-Salafi groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda. Specifically, ICRD is critically examining the constructive role that might be played by conservative religious actors who often possess unique influence with and access to those at-risk of violent radicalization in strategic countries. Currently, ICRD is advancing research and forming networks in Lebanon, Spain, Kenya, Indonesia, and potentially the United States. Drawing on direct field research and developing networks with conservative religious actors (imams, religious students, and educators), ICRD is developing recommendations for national and international policymakers and practitioners on how to more effectively integrate a range of religious actors and institutions into future preventing and countering violent extremism and broader peace initiatives. ICRD will utilize the research findings to inform innovative trainings and programming globally.
• Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism Trainings. In 2019, ICRD was contracted by the Global Community Engagement Resilience Fund (GCERF) to implement four preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) trainings in FY19 and FY20. The trainings were designed to support local GCERF civil society organization (CSO) grantees in implementing projects to prevent and respond to recruitment by extremist organizations in Kenya, the Philippines, and Tunisia. The FY19 training took place in Nairobi, Kenya (December 2018) with representative from 25 CSOs and engagement from representatives from the Government of Kenya. FY20 trainings were planned for Mombasa, Kenya (November 2019); Manila, Philippines (January 2020); and Tunis, Tunisia (January 2020). The training curricula were finalized following pre-training needs assessment surveys with participants, and consultations with GCERF focal points and local trainer counterparts who co-facilitated the training workshops with ICRD staff. Participants across all trainings went on to implement local P/CVE projects and to share training content with others in their networks. ICRD, building on years of experience in P/CVE trainings and programming, has developed cutting-edge training tools and facilitation methods to support CSOs engaged in P/CVE programming. ICRD will continue to innovate, refine, and adapt the tools and facilitation techniques for use and engagement in other contexts impacted by violent extremism such as in the Sahel, the Western Balkans, South and Southeast Asia, and the United States. GCERF, given ICRD’s training impact, initiated an additional ICRD FY20 contract focused on foreign fighter returns (FFR) to the Western Balkans.