MUMBAI | Over the last 20 years Seeds of Peace has conducted dozens of programs, workshops, and camps in India, providing hundreds of India’s youth and educators with the skills and resources to work across lines of difference and lead change in their schools, workplaces and communities.
This year, Seeds of Peace India, with the support of the U.S. Consulate, Mumbai, is proud to announce that it will be empowering even more educators through The Samvaad Project, a new interfaith dialogue facilitation training program.
While different faith communities have coexisted in India for centuries, a systematic engagement with interfaith work is fairly new for the country. In such times where religious differences are a reason for constant social upheaval and strife, we believe that there is an urgent need to train a new set of leaders in tackling the problem of interfaith conflict.
“A person does not have to be religious to understand the ways in which faith and closely held beliefs impact the way communities interact, function, and are governed,” said Joshua Thomas, Seeds of Peace Executive Director. “At a time when people around the world are increasingly feeling the effects of polarization, university educators are in a unique position to create spaces where students and community members can safely engage in dialogue that builds more peaceful societies, rather than tears them apart.”
Led by experts in conflict resolution and peacebuilding, The Samvaad Project will equip participants with necessary knowledge and skills to facilitate dialogue and create safe spaces for students and community members, thus helping them break cycles of fear and hate by promoting co-existence and peaceful exchange of ideas through dialogue.
The program is set to take place April through October, and will include a six-day, in-person residency, along with online training. All college and university-level educators in Western India are invited to apply for the program at seedsofpeace.org/samvaad. The application deadline is February 28, 2021.
For more information, please review the program brochure or email Senior Program Coordinator Urmi Chanda at uchanda@seedsofpeace.org.
