The African Council of Religious Leaders
Aim
Facilitate the establishment of National Inter-Religious Councils (NIRCs) and Sub-regional Inter-Religious Coordinating Bodies (SIRCBs) and promote cooperation among them in responding to pan-African and sub-regional challenges; build and equip networks that promote the mission of ACRL-RfP such as women of faith and religious youth networks.
History
In 2002, about 100 senior Religious Leaders convened in Nairobi, Kenya and called for an establishment of a pan-African multi-faith organisation. The African Council of Religious Leaders-Religions for Peace (ACRL-RfP) was conceived. It was inaugurated a year later in Abuja, Nigeria on the occasion of its 1st General Assembly. H.E. Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, then President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria alongside the Religious Leaders, gathered to inaugurate the new body.
IRD Activities
- Conflict Transformation and Peace Building
In order to realise the task of building an environment where conflicts and differences are addressed amicably and through dialogue and constructive engagement between and among people of different persuasions, the Council facilitates and promotes actions of peace building, mediation and conflict transformation in the continent by focusing on issues of trans-national dimensions, supports national inter-religious structures in attending to their respective countries' challenges, mobilises religious leaders and their communities employing their moral responsibilities and wide acceptability in the African societies, to act jointly in situations that require rapid responses in violent conflicts and in other situations of peace-threatening impasses across the continent, facilitates and accompanies religious leaders and their communities in conflict transformation and peace building processes by augmenting the religious leaders' understanding and appreciation of the dynamics of the conflicts in Africa and its developmental challenges in a broader context
- African Women of Faith Network
The African Women of Faith Network (AWFN), launched in 2003, comes out as a structure to ensure that women are mobilised, their capacities built, and space offered for their common action.The African women of faith network builds, equips and networks religious women of Africa by constituting and growing the African network of religious women's organisations, increasing the level of activities and leadership by women in all multi-religious initiatives, building capacities through training and mainstreaming women of faith, involvement in projects and standing commissions in areas such as HIV/AIDS Stigma, peace and conflict, violence against women and girls, building synergies and linkages through advocacy and networking, and identification and compilation of profiles and best practices from the regional network
- African Religious Youth Network
ARYN exists to mobilise and steer religious youth in modelling alternative leadership structures, creating space(s) for constructive engagement for peaceful resolution of conflicts, carrying advocacy and lobbying on specific issues that affect the lives of our communities. More specifically, ARYN focuses on network building and strengthening, youth leadership development and capacity building, advocacy and lobbying, and mobilising youth for common action, as well as communication and information exchange
- Building and Equipping of ACRL—RfP Networks
The task of building and equipping the ACRL—RfP networks is undertaken through encouraging religious leaders to create platforms for dialogue, information and experience sharing, and learning, supporting and building capacities of the African Women of Faith and African Religious Youth Networks to undertake various tasks, and mobilising different networks at sub-regional and continental levels for the purpose of harnessing religious assets and moral values for common action
5. The African Interfaith Youth Network (AIYN) is the youth platform of ACRL-RfP and the regional representation of the Global Interfaith Youth Network. The network is essential to encourage and facilitate the youth to promote just and harmonius societies on the continent. Co- chairs of the AIYN are representatives of International Young Catholic Students–Christian and Uganda Interfaith Youth Network – Muslim.
Main Focus Countries of Activities
Burundi - Benin - Cameroon - Ivory Coast - Democratic Republic of the Congo - Congo - Ethiopia - Ghana - Guinea - Kenya - Liberia - Madagascar - Malawi - Mauritius - Mozambique - Nigeria - Rwanda - Sierra Leone - South Africa - Seychelles - Sudan - Senegal - Swaziland - Tanzania - Uganda - Zambia - Burundi - Benin - Cameroon - Ivory Coast - Democratic Republic of the Congo - Congo - Ethiopia - Ghana - Guinea - Kenya - Liberia - Madagascar - Malawi - Mauritius - Mozambique - Nigeria - Rwanda - Sierra Leone - South Africa - Seychelles - Sudan - Senegal - Swaziland - Tanzania - Uganda - Zambia - Burundi - Ivory Coast - Democratic Republic of the Congo - Ethiopia - Ghana - Guinea - Kenya - Liberia - Mozambique - Nigeria - Rwanda - Sierra Leone - Tanzania - Uganda - South Africa - Senegal - Swaziland - Zambia - Burundi - Benin - Cameroon - Ivory Coast - Democratic Republic of the Congo - Congo - Ethiopia - Ghana - Guinea - Kenya - Liberia - Madagascar - Malawi - Mauritius - Mozambique - Nigeria - Rwanda - Sierra Leone - South Africa - Seychelles - Sudan - Senegal - Swaziland - Tanzania - Uganda - Zambia - Africa