‘Civil society and policymakers have to join hands’

The King Abdullah International Center for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID) in Vienna signed cooperation agreements with several international partners, including the African Union, the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), the World Scouts Foundation and UNESCO, at their global forum.
The agreements are designed to enhance cooperation between KAICIID and these partners in the field of dialogue. KAICIID will cooperate with ISESCO on the joint organization of dialogue training courses for imams, Muslim scholars and religious leaders.
The World Scout Foundation seeks to work with the center on dialogue training with interfaith scout leaders in 2014. The two-day forum closed with a panel discussion on the future of dialogue.
The panel featured Federico Mayor Zaragoza, Spain’s minister of Education and Science and former UNESCO director-general, Bahia Hariri, a member of the Lebanese Parliament, Nassir Al-Nasser, the UN High Representative of the Alliance of Civilization, Former Saudi Minister of Culture and Information Iyad Madani and Shaun Cases, special adviser to the office of faith-based community initiatives to the US Department of State.
Faisal bin Muammar, secretary-general of KAICIID, said the forum was attended by leading authorities on interreligious dialogue and education under the banner “The image of the other.”
He hoped that the forum would improve understanding and build better relationships among the various faith-based communities.
“We are proud to announce our cooperation agreements with international partners. We wish to convert the discussions of the past year into action. We look forward to a year of implementation, cooperation and dialogue with our partners and stakeholders,” Muammar said.
UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova said the forum was a good opportunity to promote the common ideals of the two organizations, which are mutual understanding based on the free exchange of ideas and the respect of cultural and religious diversity.
“Civil society and policymakers have to join hands so people learn to live together in peace. The KAICIID global forum is indispensable in this regard. It is an active laboratory of shared values, a living embodiment of the power of dialogue for peace,” she said.
KAICIID board member Hamad Al-Majed said, “Religiously-motivated conflicts are a problem in our world, but religion is also a part of the solution. Conflict and violence are usually caused not by religions, but by misunderstanding others. This is why we are all here today, to discuss how religion can play a positive role in promoting understanding for peace through dialogue.”
KAICIID also announced the launch of its Global Policy Network, a network of experts and governmental focal points from Ministries of Education, Religious Affairs and Integration around the world, who will convene to discuss key interreligious and intercultural issues in formal and non-formal education.
The Global Policy Network is the first of its kind in interreligious education.






During the forum, participants were offered a series of capacity and skills-building workshops on topics such as curriculum design and teacher training, successful network-building and monitoring and evaluation. It focused on themes ranging from challenging stereotypes and misconceptions and curriculum development in increasingly technological societies.