Center For Applied Spiritual Science (Jos, Nigeria/URI Africa)
PURPOSE: To promote peace building through interfaith dialogue focusing on unity in diversity
Center for Applied Spiritual Science is based in Jos, Nigeria, and promotes peacebuilding through interfaith dialogue focusing on unity in diversity. The Center promotes interfaith and intercultural diversity, peace education, compassion and also conducts social research. The Center has hosted several Faith-based Focus Group Discussions, conferences and seminars in Jos and Abuja. One of their most memorable activities was an Interfaith Dialogue Event at the ISKCON Temple, in which Christians and Muslims, including leaders of several ethnic groups in Plateau State, actively participated.
Despite the current challenges Nigeria is facing, CC members have great hopes for a peaceful society, where all people will live together as brothers and sisters. Their plan is to continue to work with others to promote peaceful co-existence based on love, compassion, and respect.
Alliance For Development - AFODE (Kampala, Uganda/URI Africa)
PURPOSE: “A strengthened and enlightened society advocating for equal opportunities and self-reliance.”
AFODE was formed in 2006 by two retired teachers living with HIV/AIDS and who had survived domestic violence in order to bring the community together and raise awareness of the daily struggles for women’s rights. Their district, Kasese, is in an area with a Bakonzo tribe majority, but is comprised of over ten different tribes with different religions of Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Bisaka (indigenous), Christianity (Anglicans, Catholics, Pentecostals, Seventh Day Adventists), Tabliqs, and non-believers. AFODE’s scope of work covers human rights and good governance, environmental conservation and management, and economic empowerment.
Integrated Community Resilient and Development Organization - ICORD (Pallisa, Uganda/URI Africa)
PURPOSE: Contribute to promotion of community transformation for self-sustaining through education, health services, human rights good governance and environmental protection.
ICORD is a registered non-profit organization based in Pallisa, Uganda which has been instrumental in community development in the Bukedi sub-region. The group provides innovative support to improve the quality of life and sustainable livelihoods of poor and vulnerable communities in order to stimulate local development for sustainable futures as well as developing harmonious relations among people of different backgrounds and cultures.
ICORD’s mission is to promote community transformation for self-sustaining growth through education, health services, human rights, good governance, and environmental protection. Its programs focus on research and policy advocacy, good governance and human rights, community development, disaster risk reduction, livelihoods and environmental protection. Its approach emphasizes community based care for marginalized groups.
Love Care Foundation (Ghaziabad, India/ URI India North Zone)
PURPOSE: The Project Bageecha aims to sensitize people to live harmoniously in spite of various personal differences
Since its inception in 2010, Love Care Foundation has worked with underprivileged groups in BPL areas and slums to uplift the community by improving the quality of life. The organization’s advisory board is made up of members from different religious backgrounds and provides care for more than 21,000 children.
The foundation’s team comprises of educated, experienced, self-driven and committed professionals motivated by a passion to make a lasting, positive impression on the lives of economically and socially challenged children.
Their current projects are: Shuchita, which raises awareness of cleanliness through door-to-door surveys; Ummang, which focuses on care for special needs children; Sahara, which provides nutritious food and other basic necessities for around 50 families; and Golden Umbrella Academy, which is an inclusive school accessible for all. Through its diverse range of programs, Love and Care Foundation has managed to touch the lives of many underprivileged men, women, and children, including families affected by HIV/AIDS.
Bright Future CC (Lahore, Pakistan/URI Asia)
PURPOSE: Youth empowerment through education and interfaith harmony and children education.
Bright Future aims to bring a positive change to young lives and ensure a better life for women and children, primarily through education and musical programs. There is a great deal of social disparity between people of different religions in Lahore, Pakistan, so the group works for peace and harmony among people of different faiths and for gender equality.
Hand in Hand (Lahore, Pakistan, Asia)
PURPOSE: To achieve lasting improvements in the quality of life of deprived communities
Hand in Hand is a registered nonprofit NGO working on community development in voiceless and deprived areas without discrimination of religion, caste, or ethnicity. It is committed to bringing about positive social change, focusing on women and children in minority groups for peace and interfaith harmony in the country. Hand in Hand works in coordination with other likeminded NGOs, and is always ready to share its experiences and resources. The organization’s broader focus is on social awareness, health, education, human rights, justice, peace, natural and man-made disasters, and interfaith harmony.
Joy Foundation (Toba Tek Singh, Pakistan/URI Asia)
PURPOSE: To ensure that we play a vital role in the design and implementation of peace building activities.
Joy Foundation has been working with women, youth and children for a long time. They have established women and youth groups addressing community needs, but also works with an interfaith approach with different religions. Joy Foundation has a trained theater group and organizes Iftar parties for Eid every year to increase understanding of Muslim traditions.
Ex Conselheiras e Conselheiros da URI Global Regiao ALC (Goias, Brazil/URI Latin America & the Caribbean)
PURPOSE: Exchange of experiences, integration of the knowledge of former Global Council Trustees from Latin America and the Caribbean to keep alive the commitment with the Charter of URI and to inspire current GC Trustees.
This CC is composed of former trustees representing Latin America in URI’s Global Council. They have gathered together to inspire and assist the Global Council and URI as a whole to achieve their goals; to encourage the creation of Cooperation Circles of former Global Council Trustees in other URI regions; and is looking forward to a multiregional MCC of former trustees and to continue to serve URI Latin America with advice and recommendations. It seeks to provide a space for interaction and cooperation, keeping alive the memory and flame of those who have been part of the Global Council and making good use of their learning. Members are committed to building bridges, mediating conflicts, promoting dialogue, lending their experience to the service of URI and helping to empower CCs.
Sanabel Tounsia (Nabeul, Tunisia/URI MENA)
PURPOSE: To promote peaceful co-existence and to prevent violence and promote early conflict resolution. To give children better opportunities for education
Sanabel Tounsia is a group of highly motivated social activists from different professional and educational backgrounds participating in projects aimed at sensitizing communities against violence, promoting world peace, and increasing intercultural dialogue among young people from different countries. After the political transition in Tunisia, there is a heightened need to unite people from different religious and ethnic backgrounds to work hand in hand to rebuild the country. Members are working on creating social awareness among citizens through campaigns, projects, and activities to promote national and international mobility, empower women, and increase their integration into civil society. They are developing programs for environmental education and intercultural dialogue among young people from different countries, cultures, and backgrounds. Members regularly interact with Tunisian stakeholders to defend the rights of the minorities and oppressed people, especially women. They organize interfaith dialogue forums to promote human rights, dignity, and peaceful coexistence, and run childhood education activities and intercultural exchanges.
Nashville Cooperation Circle @ Scarritt Bennett Center (Kingston Springs, Tennessee, US/URI North America)
PURPOSE: Interfaith peacemaking through the arts and justice programs.
This group desires to contribute to the mission of the Scarritt Bennett Center with programs in justice, equality, faith and spirituality; work with the Nashville Cordell-Hull United Nations Association and the Global Action Summit on international Sustainable Development Goals; and collaborate with OneCity Nashville, an inner city campus devoted to green public spaces. Members have identified a need to fight adverse attitudes towards other religions, particularly against Islam, and view their diverse membership as a positive force for building bridges. Among their memorable activities are the Oneness Festival, a celebration where people sang, prayed and celebrated their different faiths; and the World Wisdom Bible, an anthology of texts from the world’s major religions dealing with perennial wisdom. They put together this Bible and hope it will be published in 2017.
Tri City Interfaith Council (Fremont, California, US/URI North America)
PURPOSE: to promote respect, understanding, cooperation and appreciation for the many spiritual paths and faith traditions within our community that inspire us and teach us love and support for one another more fully
Fremont is probably one of the most diverse communities in the US in terms of faith and ethnicity. Members of this group are all neighbors and strive to work together to make the world a better place for our children and our children’s children. They experience the reality of living together in harmony and want to ensure that that gets shared with others and that individuals are not allowed to disrupt that harmony, particularly in today’s political climate. Their annual Interfaith Harmony Days are opportunities to get together in the community, sharing their faith journeys in a non-threatening, open, and accepting way to learn more about and honor different faiths and traditions invite others to come. Another highlight of this CC is their Thanksgiving Interfaith Service, which has become a tradition in Fremont over the last decade. They also sponsor an annual Holocaust Remembrance Day at the local synagogue, which often has a survivor giving the keynote address. Meetings at different temples or houses of faith which gives community members the chance to explore different traditions.
Social Artistry Alliance of South East United States (Colquitt, Georgia, US/URI North America)
PURPOSE: To support the growth of the human family required to build a world that works for everyone during this time of transition
Social Artistry is defined as the art of enhancing human capacities in light of social complexity. It seeks to bring new ways of thinking, being, and doing to social challenges in the world. Social artistry brings state of the art discoveries to human capacity building and social transformation. Thus, it seeks to build a society based on the principles of democracy, sustainable development, human-based needs and values, universal human rights, environmental protection, social justice, equality and the sovereignty and dignity of all peoples worldwide. The group met each other through the work of Jean Houston, and come together each January for the Building Creative Communities conference which is inspired by her work. Members of the group often express the value of the opportunity to meet and share the work they feel called to do and to learn from each other. For more information, click here: http://www.jeanhouston.com/Social-Artistry/social-artistry.html
