2008 was a successful year for FoR’s International Peacemakers Fund. Thanks to donations from our individual members and grants from 8 UK trusts, we have been able to support 14 peace-building projects in Pakistan, Kenya, Sudan, Russia/Chechnya, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Uganda, Zambia, Rwanda, and DR Congo. Since 2006, over 1,600 people have participated in a variety of IPF community peace-building programmes.

Here are just three high-lights of our overseas work in 2008. In Zambia, FOR Zambia’s Ignatius Kabale and David Chisanga have created a nonviolence training curriculum that has been piloted in three training programmes for students and teachers in Kitwe. In 2009, it will be delivered across at least 10 schools in the Northern Copperbelt Province, culminating in a Schools Peace Festival to be held in Kitwe in September.

In Pakistan, IPF partner SPADO (Sustainable Peace and Development Organization) have created the Islamic Nonviolence Training Program in the troubled North West Frontier Province that borders Afghanistan. Project Manager Raza Shah Khan is working in partnership with both Islamic and tribal leaders to develop a nonviolence curriculum, and launched the programme with an initial training weekend for 118 young people drawn from tribal communities across the entire region.
In Rwanda, and in partnership with FOR (MIR) France and Charles Serushyana from “Association Famille De Paix” (Umuryango W’Amahoro), IPF funded a regional Great Lakes Peace-Building Conference, that brought together 20 NGOs working on peace-building and conflict resolution in DR Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, and Burundi - to share their experiences of peace-building work, and develop a unified regional framework and strategy.

What continues to amaze us are the huge number of individuals and organisations globally that are striving for nonviolent social transformation, in some of the most divided and horrifyingly violent societies, and often in the midst of war and conflict. So far this year, we have received over 50 applications for funding, and the depth and range of peace-building projects is both staggering and life-affirming. Wherever there is war, violence, and conflict there are brave peacemakers striving to build reconciliation and peace in their communities. All our peacemakers overseas are united by a deep spiritual commitment to peace and nonviolence that transcends religious and political sectarianism. Whether Muslim, Christian, Jew, Buddhist, Jain, or Hindu, they are all able to draw spiritual inspiration for their peace-building work from their respective faith traditions.

In 2009, we are looking to both develop our current overseas projects, and support new international partners for peace-building. In addition to fundraising for individual donors, in April we will launch our “Partner for Peace” campaign to recruit churches and meetings that can commit to a year of fundraising for a particular IPF project or country. Our hope is to connect religious institutions with specific peace-building programmes overseas, so that deeper connections can be made between congregations wanting to support peace in a tangible way, and peace-building programmes that are in desperate need of prayerful support, sustainable long-term engagement, and funding.

Please contact IPF Officer Nick Chavasse on 01865 250781 E: nick@for.org.uk to register your interest, and an information pack will be ready in April 2009.