Faith in our Communities
Ever since the beginning of time, faith and spiritual traditions have played an important role in the lives of people across the world. Faith traditions and sacred texts have provided a moral framework on how people should act, speak and make decisions in their daily lives.
Despite the rapid advances and development in our societies, religions and faith still remain relevant to human and community progress. People look to faith leaders for spiritual and emotional support, as they have high moral stature and influence within their communities.
Faith networks also have a wide reach, with religious centres (including temples, mosques and churches) present across the world, from the largest cities to the remotest villages. Consequently, faith leaders are in a unique position to promote behavioural change through both teachings and actions
Introduction
The Interfaith Alliance for Safer Communities was established to empower faith leaders to work for the safety and security of our communities, tackling issues such as child sexual abuse, extremism, radicalization and human trafficking.
We aim to facilitate the building of bridges between key stakeholders including faith communities, NGOs and experts in various domains. We are conscious of the importance of empowering faith leaders, both at the institutional and grass-root levels, with knowledge, and to mobilize them to play a more active role in community safety.
We have several areas of focus, based on challenges being faced by vulnerable communities. This includes child protection, hate crimes, climate change, trafficking and displacement.
Goals
Empower
Empower faith leaders to work for the safety and security of our communities, tackling issues such as child sexual abuse, hate crimes, extremism and radicalization, human trafficking, etc.
Build Bridges
Facilitate the building of bridges between faiths, NGOs and experts in various domains.
Mobilize
Equip faith leaders, both at the institutional and grassroot levels, with knowledge and to mobilize them to play an active role in community safety.
Secretariat
Dana Humaid
Chief Executive
Hamad Khatir
Vice President
Rabbi Diana S. Gerson
Senior Advisor for Partnerships and External Relationships
Advisory Board
His Eminence Elder Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon
Chair, Advisory Board
Bani Dugal
Co-Chair, Advisory Board
Dr. Mustafa Y. Ali
Co-Chair, Advisory Board
Our Approach
In order to fulfill our objectives, we adopted a hands-on and practical approach that focusses on engaging faith leaders from across the world.
Through regional workshops and global forums, we have faith leaders engage in discussions on how they can contribute to the safety of their communities and the challenges that they face.
These discussions are enhanced by engaging cross-functional stakeholders representing governments, law enforcement agencies, international organizations and NGOs. We also encourage engagement between faith leaders at senior as well as grassroot levels to allow for a more diverse discussion on the actions that faith leaders can take.
Our Work
The Interfaith Alliance for Safer Communities was established in 2018 to empower faith leaders to build safer communities.
Based in Geneva, we conduct out work across the world to facilitate co-operation between faith leaders and other stakeholders from different communities. We host events, sponsor awards, develop education programmes and more.
Partners
