Our approach

Mission

ICRD's mission is to Bridge Religious Considerations with Global Peacebuilding Policy and Practice

Vision

ICRD envisions A World in which Religious and Spiritual Values Advance Peace and Reconciliation

Beyond Traditional Diplomacy

Religious convictions influence the values of nearly 85% of the global population. These beliefs can either exacerbate divisions and conflict or help build the trust needed to overcome violent extremism. Traditional diplomatic or military approaches often fall short when addressing the deep-rooted issues driven by religious, ethnic, and tribal identities. ICRD tackles this challenge by employing a unique range of capabilities that engage the core values and belief systems at the heart of identity-based conflicts. We enhance our programmatic impact by integrating our community-based approach with broader peacebuilding efforts, particularly those of government agencies. This comprehensive strategy allows us to effectively address violent religious extremism and other critical global issues.

ENHANCE THE CAPACITY OF RELIGIOUS PEACEBUILDERS

INCREASE THE NUMBER AND DIVERSITY OF RELIGIOUS PEACEBUILDERS

REMOVE RELIGION AS A DRIVER OF VIOLENCE

INFORM THE FIELD OF PRACTICE

UN-ECOSOC Consultative Status

ICRD holds official consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)

Letter of Approval

ICRD is committed to identifying and elevating the religious convictions, which are found in all faith traditions, that promote stability through building understanding across differences. The vast majority of religious adherents and faith leaders are not ideologically driven to advocate for dehumanizing violence. Considering the fact that roughly 6.5 billion people (84% of the global population) self-describe as adherents of a religious tradition, this suggests that there is an enormous pool of potential faith-based peacebuilders in the world.

ICRD employs specific methods to build greater numbers of skilled faith-based peacebuilders, including:

– Employing training of trainers and knowledge and skills exchange models.
– Enhancing the role of women of faith.
– Ensuring that marginalized faith influencers (formal and informal leaders) effectively participate.
– Promoting interfaith dialogue that leads to actionable and innovative strategies.

While ICRD believes that religious faith can and should be a source of healing over harm, it is undeniable that certain influential faith figures have coopted religion in the past and present to advance conflict, hatred, and even violence. Often, legitimate concerns may lie at the root of damaging identity prejudices; ICRD helps to disentangle them, developing mechanisms for addressing economic or security concerns while dispelling harmful stereotypes.

ICRD supports doctrinal discernment and community building to increase understanding between groups, while disempowering religious narratives that promote violence, providing expertise on such topics as:

– Critical Thinking Pedagogy.
– Tolerance in Religious Education.
– Dialogue Across Difference.
– Religious Literacy.
– Religious Narratives of Social Cohesion.

The importance of religion in community interactions, including international affairs, has become increasingly recognized in recent years. Many diplomatic and conflict intervention processes are still seeking best practices for religious engagement, however. Additionally, many observers mistakenly assume that religion is only relevant in “religious conflicts”. ICRD has multiple strategies for increasing the awareness of the contributions that religious influencers, communities, infrastructures, and doctrines can provide to peacebuilding efforts, including:

– Analyzing trends and trajectories with a focus on innovative and predictive strategies.
– Conducting qualitative and quantitative community-based “research-to-action”.
– Employing unique approaches for impact measurement.
– Advising policy-making structures at the regional and national level.
– Producing field-tested methodological frameworks.