Knowledge Center

All the members of the Global Network of Religions for Children (GNRC) are gearing up towards the Fifth Forum of GNRC to take place in Panama City on May 2017, under the theme “Transformed Faith Communities: Ending Violence Against Children”.

Worldwide millions of children and young people are daily exposed to violence in different forms and they are also the most vulnerable victims of the scourge of radicalization. In this context, one of the sub-themes of the Forum will be Building Resilience to Prevent Violent Extremism and Organized Crime: The Role of Faith Communities. The aim is to “identify actions that can be deployed by religious leaders and faith communities to prevent, reduce and end the manipulation and use of children for violent extremism and organized crime”, explains Dr. Mustafa Y. Ali, the Secretary-General of GNRC.

The Pilot Program to implement the Learning to Live Together (LTLT) Programme in the Tana River County came to an end, delivering positive outcomes, particularly in relation to its impact on children, teachers and the communities.

The initiative, which took off in September 2014, was developed by Arigatou International Geneva, in partnership with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology of Kenya (MoEST) and UNESCO Regional Office for Eastern Africa, reaching 657 children between 9 and 17 years old.

Saydoon Nisa Sayed is a South African human rights faith activist. She is moved by her faith, passionate about children and restless on gender justice advocacy. Saydoon lives in Overport, a hilly residential area near Durban, South Africa where she is the regional coordinator for Religions for Peace, an international and interfaith movement that works across religious divides to bring peace and understanding.

Laura Molnar is a trainer of the Learning to Live Together Programme (LTLT) and has become the driving force behind its implementation in the Romanian formal education system.

Laura comes from a little mountain town in Transylvania, Romania, but she is currently based in Bucharest. Her journey with the LTLT Programme started in 2009 when, while working as a psychologist for disadvantaged children, she was trained in a basic workshop in Geneva. With this new set of knowledge and skills, she started implementing the LTLT approach with the children she worked with. One year later she was selected to participate in the International Train the Trainers course organized by Arigatou International Geneva, which led her to a certification as a LTLT trainer.

Mrs. Prabha Karthik coordinated during a period of ten months an ethics education program with families in Chennai, India. Prabha shares in this interview with us her journey using the Learning to Live Together Programme to support parents on strengthening their parenting skills.

The program used the educational framework, approach and methodologies of the Learning to Live Together manual. Activities were customized to parents with the purpose of creating spaces to discuss about values, spirituality, interfaith learning, the rights of the child and how to create safe environments for children.

This work is part of the Strengthening Family Systems programme of Arigatou International Geneva.

This time Stories from the Field brings the voice of Democray House, an NGO from Maldives that started using the Learning to Live Together (LTLT) approach from 2012, after becoming familiar with the Manual during a workshop in Coimbatore.

Our work on the Learning to Live Together (LTLT) began about 7 years ago, though in January 2014 a diverse group of religious institutions came together to launch again its implementation in El Salvador in order to respond to the reality that our country faces. A reality where there are several positive and negative aspects.

An interview was conducted with Mrs. Mary Wanjiru Kangethe who is Assistant Director of Education in the Ministry of Education Science and Technology in Kenya. She spoke of the Ministry of Education and Science’s implementation of Learning to Live Together Programme in schools in Kenya, the aims and experiences.

A workshop on the Learning to Live Together manual was organized from 26 to 30 June 2013, in the Centre San Antonio of the city of Tadó, in Colombia. The workshop was titled “Building cultures of peace in the family and facing the ethical challenges of children living in extreme poverty”.

A facilitator training workshop on the Learning to Live Together (LTLT) programme was hosted by our partner Shanti Ashram from Coimbatore, India on 27 – 30 June. The workshop brought together 30 young volunteers and teachers from 14 institutions, coming from different educational backgrounds and from Christian, Hindu and Muslim religious communities. While majority of the participants were from Coimbatore, there were also participants from several other cities in India including Chennai, Kochi and Delhi.

This time Stories from the Field brings the voice of Marlene Silbert, former Education Director of the Cape Town Holocaust Center and official Trained Trainer of the Learning to Live Together Program. Marlene shares how the manual has been used in several programs and thematics in Cape Town ranging from human rights, interfaith and intercultural twining and exchange, and religious diversity. Marlene also shares with us the voices of some of the people who have been involved, including teachers and children, and the impact the programs have had on them.