URI-GL has both group and individual membership. Group membership is composed of coalitions commonly known as Cooperation Circles (CCs). Individual memberships are nonvoting members though and are such people of societal integrity who have the values and aspirations of URI at heart. The CCs comprise of people from different religious backgrounds, spiritual expressions and indigenous traditions who uphold the virtue of nonviolence, the respect for lives and the need for peace in their communities
Cooperation Circles range in size from a minimum of seven members to tens of thousands, representing at least three faiths or spiritual expressions and indigenous traditions that subscribe to the shared vision outlined in the URI’s Charter.
On the other hand, individual membership has individuals that support and uphold the values of URI as expressed in the preamble, purpose and principles of URI.
These offer expertise, project cooperation, interfaith excellence, wisdom and other contributions but may not necessarily be active in Cooperation Circles.
Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative (ARLPI) is an interfaith peace building and conflict transformation organization formed in 1997 as a proactive response to the conflict in Northern Uganda. ARLPI brings together leaders of six different religious sects/denominations (Anglican, Catholic, Muslim, Orthodox, Pentecostal, & Seventh Day Adventist) and their respective constituencies to participate effectively in transforming conflicts in Northern Uganda and the surrounding region. ARLPI’s programs are primarily conducted within the northern Ugandan districts of Amuru, Gulu, Kitgum, & Pader, although they are occasionally involved in initiatives throughout Uganda and abroad.
Action for Fundamental Change and Development (AFFCAD) is located in Bwaise, Kampala, Uganda. The CC is primarily focused on working with youth and families in economically underserved communities. AFFCAD’s programs aim to unite individuals across cultural and religious divides via community partnerships and open dialogue in their communities. AFFCAD’s platforms have helped bring people together to combat common social issues present in their communities such as health, drainage system, disease outbreaks, and floods.
African Youth Peace Initiative is a registered Non Profit in Uganda, founded by young people. Our membership has now grown to 175 members from a diversity of Faith Expressions in Uganda working towards preventing violent extremism through promoting non-violence and peaceful co-existence among communities in Uganda.
Body and Soul Development CC is located in Nansana, Kampala, and was founded in 2000 as a result of a government programme centered on poverty eradication to target youth and religious leaders. The CC, through Religious institutions, religious leaders and youth leaders provides entrepreneurial skills development at the local level between different faith groups and communities.
Conflict Resolution by Youth (CRY) Uganda is headquartered in Bweya Central Parish, of Wakiso District and operates both in central Uganda and in the Teso region in North Eastern Uganda particularly in the Sebei, West Nile and KALATE region namely Karamoja, Acholi, Lango and Teso. CRY Uganda is actively in Bukedea, Amudat, Kween, Kapchorwa, Bukwo, Nakapiripirit, Moroto, Napak, Ngora, Soroti, Nyoya, Kole, Oyam, Amuria, Serere, Lira, Otuke, Wakiso, Abim, Palisa, Amolatar, Katakwi and Kumi Districts working with youth to lead non-violent conflict resolution among people of Christian, Muslim and Bahai religious backgrounds and among the Iteso (dominant tribe), Karimajong and Kumam communities. CRY Uganda’s primary activities include Youth-to-youth nonviolent conflict transformation, transforming the land conflicts in the greater northern Uganda, empowering the traditional structures and leadership to reorganise and prepare to manage land conflicts as per the Uganda 2013 land policy and Uganda Land and Mineral Acts-otherwise providing legal support, to the indigenous and vulnerable communities, in particular widows from the Northern war.
Faiths Together Uganda CC is located in Seeta-Mukono, Uganda. They primarily engage youth from Muslim, Pentecostal, Anglican, SDA, African Spiritual, & Orthodox communities. Faiths Together Uganda is actively working to heal fragile communal relations in the face of recent ethnic/religious violence and polarization that swept their country and region. They use song and dance to bring members of different cultures and religions together, and to pass on the message of religious tolerance. Their main programs include interfaith-intercultural clubs on school campuses and organizing an intercultural performance troupe. Faiths Together Uganda has helped many of their youth participants forge strong relationships across cultural and religious lines through collaborative action and dialogue.
Friends of Community Health (FCOH) CC is located in Kavule Village, in Uganda. FCOH is committed to supporting community members on issues of health, income generation, education, and the environment. Their programs and exhibitions are aimed to include people of diverse faiths and traditions from the region. The CC is committed to inclusiveness and uses this approach in their programs, where all religions and cultures are given free entrance and participation.
Golden Women Vision in Uganda is a community-based organization, registered in January 2011. It was formed by the community members and social workers of Muslims, Protestants, Catholics and Seventh Day Adventist communities. They work in a vulnerable area, which is a result of the insurgency in Northern Uganda. The majority of the people have been disturbed and traumatized by violence, and some cannot, up to the present day, forgive each other for the crimes committed during the war. Some people still hold enmity against fellow village mates. Golden Women Vision in Uganda works with women to forget these challenges and to forge a positive and peaceful future for them. CC members’ aim is to improve the social-economic status of the people who were affected by the Northern Uganda war insurgency. They train the women and girls in income-generating activities such as baking, liquid soap making, pancakes, and paper beads for self-sustenance. They also organize cultural dances for the youth, to help them forget the bad memories of the past and reconstruct for a better future. The dances are also part of their leisure and help them to socialize and appreciate each other. For healing and reconstruction purposes they also undertake visits to hospitals, prisons, homes and schools.
They wish to transform the lives of the Ugandans and other people around the world through physical, practical, spiritual and emotional life skills. They provide counseling to bring back the eroded family relationships and to promote character development in the lives of the people. During the war, some people were ordered by the rebels to direct them to the hideouts of relatives and friends and they were forced to kill their own relatives. CC members facilitate the process of bringing such families together, since they are finding it difficult to forgive and reconcile with each other for the “crimes” they were forced to do against their will.
Inter-Religious and Intercultural Dialogue Programme (INTERDIP-UGANDA) was founded by Sr. Mary Gorrett Kisaakye in 1994. The CC is located in Uganda. INTERDIP is committed to promoting peace through inter-religious dialogue, peace-building activities, and the creation of peaceful and culturally harmonious co-existence. INTERDIP regularly carries out workshops in conflict resolution, and is also politically active by regularly contributing to legislation with the Ugandan parliament. The CC has participated in interfaith peace prayers during the International Day of peace at Nakivubo Stadium organized by the URI office, and different peace marches that promote Christian and Muslim relations.
IYPA is a youth-focused Community Based Organization (CBO), based in Nansana Town Council, Wakiso District in Uganda. Interfaith Youth Partnership was founded in 2003 by graduate youth who felt it necessary to mobilize fellow youth from their areas of residence and to address the poor standards of living among unemployed youth. The founders, who are all youth, are an interfaith group from the Orthodox, Christian, and Muslim faith communities.
Latter Glory CC is based out of Busoga, Uganda and consists primarily of Catholic, Muslim, Protestant and Indigenous leaders from the local community. Their CC has worked for years to combat ignorance and mistrust among individuals of different faiths by convening public interfaith dialogues and organizing peace workshops during community events. Anticipating ethnic violence to break out around the 2016 elections, Latter Glory CC is actively working to build strong bridges in their area. As leaders in the community, collaborating together across religious and ethnic lines, they are setting an example of tolerance to the rest of their community. This CC hopes to achieve sustainable social and economic development in their area by using URI’s interfaith framework.
Pamoja CC is located in Kampala, Uganda. Pamoja CC members are engaged in conflict training sessions to find alternatives solutions to violence and issues affecting youth. Pamoja CC collaborates with youth from various CCs in undertaking environmental discussions at secondary schools, training at women’s prisons in Kampala, International Day of Peace events, and soccer sporting events. The CC is focused on promoting religious tolerance through education, communication, and sports activities in an interfaith context.
Peace Kawomera Cooperative Society CC is located in Uganda and works with Jewish, Muslim, and Christian farmers from diverse ethnic backgrounds. The Eastern part of Uganda enjoys relatively amicable relations between different faith communities, and Peace Kawomera is working hard to ensure that those relations are deepened and sustained. The group cooperatively runs a coffee growing co-op where they train, employ, and buy coffee from community members of all different faiths. In addition to providing economic stability, they conduct trainings on interfaith dialogue, and encourage community members to participate in each other’s traditions.
“… Diseases do not respond to the right explanation; they respond to the right medication. Dr. Yahaya Sekagya
PROMETRA Uganda is an affiliate to PROMETRA International network with 27 chapters worldwide. It was established to act as a conduit to respond to the poor health conditions of rural communities in Uganda. It advocates for the utilization and incorporation of TM into Primary Health Care systems. Prometra Uganda a URI CC was founded to avail such alternatives to particularly Primary Health Care (PHC) for people who cannot afford to access health care, by encouraging them to use natural resources within their own immediate environment.
Prometra Uganda CC is located in Kawempe, Buyijja-Buwama Sub County, Uganda. Prometra CC was formed in 2000 to respond to the poor health conditions and inadequate modern health services by utilizing traditional medical and cultural knowledge. Prometra is committed to avail alternatives to health care and assist people who cannot afford access to health care by encouraging them to use locally available resources within their own environments. The CC’s activities include workshops on African spirituality in health, and conferences on traditional medicine, spirituality and healing. The CC’s future plans include creating impact and local change to healthcare access by active participation in URI activities, conducting research and publishing articles on indigenous knowledge in health, culture, environment and spirituality.
Restoring and Empowering Communities (REC) CC is located in Nansana, Wakiso district and convenes Latter Day Saints, Pentecostal and Muslims as well as a mix of local and regional ethnic groups and communities to promote developmental, cultural, moral and spiritual values, specifically among the primary school children, their head teachers and families. Although interfaith relations are generally centred more on individuals, REC exists to facilitate a culture of learning to live together in all aspects of life for peaceful and respectful co-existence. This is achieved through their primary programs and activities of the REC Book Clubs in schools which are intended to instil a reading culture among the young children and to facilitate access to free books to the less privileged who would otherwise not have afforded them. Through the learning to Live Together program, they also break barriers to ethnic and interfaith cooperation by enabling community members to understand themselves and others, by appreciating diversity as seen in the activities they organize during festivities, the free community clinics, and others.
Twekolerere Women’s Development CC is located in Makerere II- Zone C in Kampala district, and convenes Christian and Muslim women and men to respond to the prevailing social problems by using theatre as a tool for education. They address important issues affecting their community such as HIV and AIDS prevention, poverty, environment, and education. This performing group embodies their messages in songs, dances and drama; engaging the community through radio, TV, and live stage performances. Their primary activity is using performing arts for “edutainment” and income generation at both local and international platforms. They also operate small income generating initiatives such as tree planting and poultry farming, by employing individuals who are affected by or infected with HIV and AIDS, as a means to earn their livelihood. Twekolerere CC has about 50 members with 14 years of staging artistic performances and attracting audiences of all different faiths.
Youth Interfaith Mission Uganda is located in Kyambogo University, Kampala with branches in Kyambogo Secondary Schools and Kira Sub County Wakiso district. The CC is focused on mobilizing young people from different faith and ethnic groups to coexist in harmony. Their primary efforts are focused on helping youth who are facing difficulties meeting school tuition fees, scholastic materials, and basic needs. Youth Interfaith Mission Uganda provides spiritual and psychological mentorship to students, youth with special needs, and orphans. They network with service providers for program support and organize student group to open communication channels for students to overcome challenges together. Youth Interfaith Mission Uganda’s work has helped unite and mobilize diverse youth via spiritual upbringing and URI’s purpose of interfaith cooperation.
The Cultural Network SANGWA (Reseau Cultural Sangwa) is a Non-governmental Organization, based in Kigali-Rwanda and was started in 2006 by a group of women who were affected by the genocide of 1994 against Tutsi ethnic group. After a while, it was identified that other social cases which were very sensitive regarding children who were discriminated and not considered in the society due to their parental situation, where some are orphans of Genocide others born as result of genocide rapes. We convene over 300 members, including women, men and youth; from the Protestant, Catholics, SDA and Jehovah’s Witness and all are of Rwandese ethnic background. We mainly focus on Unity and Reconciliation programs, Culture, Arts and Solidarity, Agriculture and animal farming with women and participation in International Human Rights Days. All our works are implemented in Rwamagana, Gatsibo and Nyarugenge districts, of Kigali city province. Our works have helped in healing and reconciliation of the effects of the genocide and offered hope through small income and revenue generating projects for Genocide widows and widowers, Women living with HIV and AIDS, discriminated children born to the Genocide rape victims and segregated children by the families born from single-mothers and young unmarried youth. The Cultural troops and youth groups undertake social activities such as community activities locally referred to as UMUGANDA, and construction of houses for poor people.
Body and Soul Development CC is located in Nansana, Kampala, and was founded in 2000 as a result of a government programme centered on poverty eradication to target youth and religious leaders. The CC, through Religious institutions, religious leaders and youth leaders provides entrepreneurial skills development at the local level between different faith groups and communities.
Burundi Women for Peace CC is based in Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi and it convenes people from the indigenous, Christian and Muslim spiritual background. Coming from a war torn country, we were established to support women and children in Agriculture and Fight against HIV and AIDS. This specifically includes mobilization of families on the prevention of transmission of HIV and AIDS from mother to child as well as programs to fight hunger in the communities of Bujumbura and some rural areas. The program actions have helped in increasing awareness about HIV and AIDs transmission and risk reduction in target communities and from our agricultural programs families are fairly able to get produce, both for subsistence and small scale commercial purposes. In all our work, our adopted approach is the use of religious leaders to convince people about the danger of HIV and AIDs and the celebration of the life of every human being through non-discrimination practices based on religion or cultural background. By default, our CC activities reach out to people of diverse faith and indigenous traditions, so we use our diverse faiths to tackle the common problem of poverty and HIV and AIDS which affects us all.
Fire Women Association based in Bukavu-DRC, strives to reconstruct women and children survivors of rape to date. This group of about 100 members convenes the Pentecostals, Protestants, Catholics, Muslims and Seventh Day Adventists; and offers some modest reconstruction services such as counseling, linking women and children to health centers and encouraging educational programs to empower women with skills which will potentially enable them to earn an income. Their programs are also intended to the survivors a sense of belonging and connection and re-integration into a community from which they had been robbed. Of course coming back into community, the women don’t come the same; they are ‘heavy laden’ with children born out of captivity as well as pregnancies for which they can barley tell the persons responsible. This however does not stop Fire Women Association to lend a healing hand for the broken hearted. What remains complex to work in this country of persistent civil turmoil is that women are always targeted post war victims even for having assumed ‘male roles’, having adopted ‘urban/educated life styles’ or otherwise. This state of affairs has denied the civic population the luxury of movement or association lest they become victims of sexual abuse as they get on about with their gender chores of collecting water, food and other necessities. Fire Women Association is being brave enough to face the prevailing situation and restore hope to its members.
Misercorde Association CC operates in Minembwe, in the high plateau of South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The CC convenes about 50 members of the Muslim and Christian faiths to intervene on the effects of war in the DRC. The war has left many orphans and widows in dire need of support. Misercorde CC’s primary focus is to provide services to war victims, primarily orphans and widows by helping them reconstruct, reconcile, forgive, and learn to live in peace. Misercorde also collects funds from members to send orphans back to school, and provides education for widows to work collaboratively and support each other by building skills in tailoring. The CC is also committed to environmental protection by raising awareness and action in environmental efforts. As a CC working in a nation stricken by war, MISERCORDE strives to create an interfaith effort among people of different religions to connect on common social problems in order to spur peaceful co-existence and development in the area.
GLPF is based in Uvira a province of the Democratic Republic of Congo and it lives its founding purpose by educating communities on peace which is informed by the conviction that the ultimate goal of peace makers is the elimination of the infection of war as a method of resolving conflcits.In their quest for peace, GLPF mobilizes women, men and youth and the greater communities which hail from diverse religius and ehtnnic backgroud on Forgiviness and reconciliation over past conflict atrocieteis. Thier programs help widows and orphans to transition back to nomal community life through offering special voational training and entreprenuarial skilling for self sustenance. GLPF is currently working towards the establishment of a Revitialization centre to support families with basic safe shelter, food, medical care and education among others during their transformation into community life.
CACOPA is based in Goma, a province of the Democratic Republic of Congo with a mission to foster the culture of Peace within communities in the Great lakes Region, particularly in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Our programs are informed by what is considered as the world’s most intense and bloody violence and protracted conflict of the last half century within the Great Lakes Region. Due to its direct and underlying consequences on humans, the economy and nature, some researchers and analysts have suggested it to be the world’s bloodiest war since World War II. Over many years, the region has experienced internal conflict worsen by internal and external illegal armed groups and often cross-border conflict in the DRC, genocide in Rwanda, civil war and election turmoil in Burundi. Significant crosscutting themes that have dominated the conflicts in the region include the illegal exploitation and trafficking of natural resources, proliferation of small arms and light weapons, illegal armed groups, sexual/gender-based violence and forced population displacement. Despite various efforts at resolution, the conflicts persist with profound effects on the human security of communities and the stability of the region. The regional dimensions of conflict in the Great Lakes and the emerging dynamics call for a continued collaborative analysis by regional stakeholders in order to inform the implementation of strategies towards sustainable peace in the region.
Our strongest strategy is the initiation of peace clubs in within Universities, Secondary and Primary schools within the conflict ravaged countries of DRC, Burundi and Rwanda, specifically targeting youth in these institutions who are at the greatest risk of radicalization and conflict infiltration. Our works have so far targeted youths in five universities namely: Two universities from the DRC [the Free University for Great Lakes Countries (ULPGL) from Goma, The African Evangelical University (UEA) from Bukavu]; and two universities from Burundi: Hope Africa University (HAU) and University of Lake Tanganyika (ULT) and the Protestant Institute for Arts and Social Science (PIASS) from Rwanda.
For creation of a greater mileage in our conflict transformation programs, we are currently changing the core strategy to target youth out of school since these are at more risk given their limited critical mindset which may not enable them to question the motives of their recruiters.
Pita Women’s Association for Development (PWAD) CC is based in Juba-South Sudan in central Equatorial state, convening Christians, Muslims and ethnic communities of mainly the Dinka and Nuer tribe and we were found in 2005 after the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) by women who had an idea to address the effects of the 21 years war in the country. Our major activities is to address the presenting problems within our communities which include peace building particularly trauma healing to address the recurrence of war; conflict resolution of land disputes through community dialogues mostly among the farmers and game rangers; human rights advocacy especially addressing oppressive cultural practices against young girls into forced early marriages coupled with youth and women empowerment through entrepreneurial skills building among others. Our work has been made possible by the UN Women, UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), UNHCR, Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) and others enabling us to reconcile communities after the war. We have offered women and youth hope of a better livelihood and protecting young girls in the face of forced early marriages to attain their freedom to choose a spouse at a desired age.
You are warmly invited to participate in the life of URI and become part of this extraordinary force for peace and justice around the world.
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