Clingendael Institute,
Faith-Based
Peace-Building: Mapping and Analysis of Christian, Muslim and Multi-Faith
Actors, written by Mr Tsjeard Bouta, Mrs Ayse
Kadayifci-Orellana, and Mr Mohammed Abu-Nimer.
This new report, which
is a joint effort of the Netherlands Institute of International Relations
‘Clingendael and the Salam
Institute for Peace and Justice, analyzes a number of Christian, Muslim and
multi-faith organizations that are working on peace-building in conflict
situations. By studying how they operate as peace-builders, the report aims to
shed more light on the peace-building potential of faith-based organizations. It
particularly intends to advise donors on how they can deal with faith-based
peace-building in policy. Some of the key donor recommendations in the report
are that:
·
Donors should explore whether they can cooperate
more with faith-based actors on the theme of
peace-building;
·
Donors should consider demanding more attention
for faith-based peace-builders in international discussions in the field of
peace-building (such as in the EU, UN bodies, OSCE and
OECD/DAC);
·
Donors should sensitize and train staff of the
ministries of foreign affairs and defence that are involved in peace-building on
the topic and role of faith-based approaches. It is in particular vital to train
embassy staff, which are usually in direct contact with faith-based
peace-building organizations. It could also be relevant to train peacekeepers in
order to increase their cultural and religious
sensitivity;
·
Donors should try to regard ‘religious moderates’,
but also ‘religious conservatives’, as possible drivers of change. They are
encouraged to explore further the possibilities of establishing true dialogue
with conservative, politicized, religious groups in order to engage them in
peace-building;
·
Donors should make extra efforts to identify local
Muslim peace-building actors. They are recommended to identify them through
international Muslim peace-building actors, or through analysing whether local
Muslim relief and humanitarian agencies, as well as Muslim women’s
organizations, (could) operate as peace-building
actors;
·
Donors are invited to develop a tailor-made
approach for strengthening Muslim actors’ peace-building capacities. Such an
approach should be aware that direct donor support to local Muslim
peace-building actors may negatively influence their peace-building
performance—given that Western support can be a rather sensitive issue—and that
Muslim peace-building actors may require some specific kinds of support (for
example, basic institutional development, audio-visual materials and the
establishment of national and regional networks).
This study was
published as part of the Conflict Research Programme (CRP) by the Conflict
Research Unit (CRU) of the Netherlands Institute of International Relations
‘Clingendael’ and supported by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. For
more information on this and other research projects, please visit our website
at: www.clingendael.nl/cscp/.
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Mr
Tsjeard Bouta |
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Clingendael
Institute E-mail: tbouta@clingendael.nl |
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