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Commonwealth

”Humanity is like a tree. The branches are vast and diverse, but the roots are the same.”
– Professor Sir Nasser D. Khalili

“Faith in the Commonwealth is investing in young people as change-makers so that they are equipped with the skills and support needed to build peace in their communities through grassroots social action that encourages constructive dialogue and mutual understanding. This would not have been possible without the generous donation from the Khalili Foundation.”
The Rt Hon Patricia Scotland QC
Secretary-General of the Commonwealth

Faith in the Commonwealth is a joint initiative between the Commonwealth and the Khalili Foundation to deliver Global Citizenship Education (GCED) and religious literacy in an interactive, practical and contemporary way. It builds on the Commonwealth’s investments in youth development and entrepreneurship, and in developing young people’s skills to build peace and prevent and counter violent extremism.

Professor Sir Nasser D. Khalili with Baroness Scotland, Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, promoting Faith in the Commonwealth at Lords Cricket Ground.

Global Citizenship Education builds understanding, knowledge and skills to help people build a just, inclusive, sustainable and peaceful society.

The initiative has two streams: a GCED toolkit for university education, delivered in partnership with Commonwealth universities; and Youth Training of Trainer workshops, where young leaders learn practical facilitation skills to lead interfaith and intercultural dialogue and social action projects in their communities.

Gifts to the British Museum

More and more, universities and technical schools are emphasizing internationalization and ensuring that education prepares students for lives and careers as global citizens, who are able to navigate the multiple dimensions and complexities of modern life. The GCED toolkit supports the establishment of formal GCED learning, adoption of new teaching approaches and uptake of GCED learning by Commonwealth students.

Partner universities are provided with the course material and instructor training. The toolkit and teaching method uses cross-disciplinary, peer-based and hands-on learning with local case studies from current events, student journals and scholarly research. While accreditation of the toolkit is underway, the pilot universities will award students a certificate of completion. The GCED Toolkit is piloted in partnership with Bangladesh Open University, Maseno University (Kenya) and T he University of the West Indies (St Augustine Campus).

Youth Training of Trainers Workshops

These workshops equip young leaders with the knowledge, capacity and tools to train and engage peers and community leaders around global citizenship thinking, and to facilitate intercultural/interfaith under- standing, peacebuilding and social cohesion.

Each workshop creates 26 youth trainers with the resources to deliver training workshops. Participants build confidence in their abilities and gain practical experience in facilitating training, methods and tools. Young people leave the workshops with the knowledge, skills and confidence to act as a catalyst of youth-led action. So far, we have seen over 100 social action activities emerging from the workshops, covering social cohesion, peace-building, education, gender equity, human rights and inter-faith dialogue.

Faith in the Commonwealth in:

Main Achievements

Within its first year (2017-2018), the initiative has showcased the extraordinary potential of young people and educators across the Commonwealth. During this year, Faith in the Commonwealth partnered with four Commonwealth universities to deliver the GCED toolkit and trained 80 young people through Training of Trainer workshops in Bangladesh, Kenya and Trinidad and Tobago.

The GCED toolkit for undergraduate students is now being piloted in three universities in the 2018/19 academic year. The toolkit comprises an Educator Guide and Student Reader, and focuses on eight global issues (climate, education, gender equality, the global economy, health, migration, peace and security, and the technological revolution), in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals. Delivered face to face during the pilot, we are planning for online delivery in 2018/19 so that it is available to as many Commonwealth universities as possible.

Over 80 young people representing ve Commonwealth nations have attended Youth Training of Trainers workshops. Participants design a social action project for their community using the tools and techniques taught in the workshop. Some of these projects include:

  • Building the capacity of youth groups at the grass roots level to tackle radicalisation and the potential for violent extremism (Kenya)
  • Arranging interfaith dialogue workshops and no hate speech campaigns across a network of universities (Bangladesh)
  • Gender and Identity Awareness workshops for Evangelical churches, enabling youth leaders to understand the issues affecting LGBTQI youth and how to work inclusively with the community (Trinidad and Tobago)

Sir David with Baroness Scotland, Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, launching the Peace at the Crease cricket initiative, which seeks to use sport to foster community cohesion across the Commonwealth. The matches – played at Lords and Gymkhana – were between a touring Vatican XI and a Commonwealth interfaith XI.

Khalili Foundation’s Support

As the founding partner of this important initiative, the Khalili Foundation has provided (and is continuing to provide) support in the following ways:

  • Developing the initiative from idea conception to delivery
  • Providing the start-up seed funding required to recruit a dedicated team to the project, develop the GCED Module and implement Youth Training of Trainers workshops in three countries across the Commonwealth
  • Offering expertise on the interfaith, cultural and educational aspects of the project – for example by chairing the global committee to develop the GCED Module
  • Providing on-going strategic, communications and fundraising support