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Saturday, 20 October 2018 04:01

Religions to Reconcile

In 2010, NPC set up eight District Inter Religious Committees (DIRCs) to address an increase in inter religious and inter ethnic disharmony at the end of the war. Through a project entitled Religions to Reconcile, NPC is continuing its work with new members of six existing DIRCs and two DIRCs established specifically through the project in the Northern Province.

The project is supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S. Government’s development agency, and is being implemented in partnership with Generations for Peace (GFP), an international peace building organization based in Amman, Jordan. GFP specializes in peace building and conflict transformation training and will assist NPC in building and establishing a cadre of peace delegates to support future project activities.

The 26-month project, which began implementation in October 2016, targets the districts of Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Mannar, Puttalam, Nuwara Eliya, Galle, Matara and Ampara. It focuses on strengthening community networks mentored by religious leaders and engaging them in building consensus for a Transitional Justice process and helping communities evolve a pluralistic national identity. The project is based on strengthening inter religious people-to-people community engagement for reconciliation and social cohesion in Sri Lanka.

As part of the project, sports and arts session are conducted weekly by peace delegates in the eight districts to build understanding among different communities.

Other activities include Community Cohesion activities and Mitigatory Interventions. Mitigatory Interventions are community based activities aimed at addressing an inter religious or inter ethnic issue present or are brewing in a community and have the potential to lead to a conflagration in the future. They are identified by DIRC members and discussed during their meetings and a possible solution is devised to address the issue.

Last modified on Monday, 22 October 2018 15:27