Arigatou International participated in the Second Annual Meeting of the Partnership on Religion and Sustainable Development (PaRD), that took place in the United Kingdom from 12 to 15 November 2017.
The meeting, organized in cooperation with PaRD Member DFID/UKAid, brought together more than 70 participants including governments, United Nations agencies, multilateral organizations, and faith-based organizations to discuss the current work, priorities, and ways forward.
During the meeting, participants discussed the three focus areas or workstreams that have been created, namely Sustaining Peace, Gender Equality & Empowerment, and Health, which are related to the Sustainable Development Goals 16, 5 and 3, respectively. A session on Freedom of Religion and Belief was also organized to discuss its relation to development and conflict situations.
Partner organizations had the opportunity to present some of their programs. Mrs. Maria Lucia Uribe, Director of the Geneva office, represented Arigatou International, and presented the development and implementation of the Learning to Live Together Programme as a good example of collaboration between UN agencies and faith-based organizations, as well as how to collaborate with governments to support values-based education that fosters learning to live together among peoples of different cultures and beliefs. She highlighted the collaboration with the Ministry of Education in Kenya and the UNESCO Regional Office for Eastern Africa, in implementing the program in the Tana River County.
PaRD was established in February 2016 at the Berlin conference “Partners for Change – Religions and the 2030 Agenda”. It brings together members and partners from all over the world in order to harness the positive impact of religion and values in sustainable development and humanitarian assistance.
Arigatou International joined PaRD in 2016.