Marlborough House, London, Friday 9th February: Prof Nazia M Habib will speak today on the panel, ‘Fostering Peace Through Faith, The Power of Partnerships’, at the Commonwealth Faith Festival Launch. 

The Faith Festival is a collaborative endeavor between the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Khalili Foundation. Prof Habib has been invited to speak about the Centre for Resilience and Sustainable Development’s ongoing project with the Khalili Foundation, on creating cross-cultural and inter-faith deliberative spaces, as part of the panel’s focus on the Khalili Foundation’s ongoing projects to promote peace.

The Centre for Resilience and Sustainable Development are proud to be working alongside the Khalili Foundation in establishing a theoretical and practical framework for creating deliberative spaces for faith-based peacebuilding. This project will also engage with the Commonwealth Good Offices to apply the framework to real-world situations through action-research. The potential of this project to support the co-creation of a new paradigm for faith-based peacebuilding is both exciting and full of the promise of tangible impact. 

The faith festival is a multi-cultural and multi-faith initiative, designed to enhance peace across the Commonwealth. The festival launch brings together youth leaders, faith-based organisations and community groups. Launching the event are the Rt Hon Patricia Scotland KC and philanthropist Sir David Khalili, who is joining the Centre for Resilience and Sustainable Development as a senior fellow. 

Professor Habib said, 

Embracing diverse faiths and cultures here today echoes a vital message: Interfaith dialogue may be the cornerstone of peace in Commonwealth countries.

The Commonwealth Faith Festival will run for multiple years. It is inclusive, welcoming a diverse range of stakeholders who wish to make a difference in the world, and is open to those wishing to promote peace in their communities. 

For more information see the Commonwealth Secretariat’s dedicated webpage.