Past Program

Peace is key to ensuring Asia's sustained development and prosperity as the world's most populous region grows in global geopolitical and economic importance. But despite the region’s rich experience in mediating peace and reconciliation, the learning exchange between regional, local and community-driven initiatives has so far been low.

Launched in 2020, the Asia Peace Innovators Forum aims to shape long-term peace, stability, and regional cooperation in Asia by building a network of mid-career professionals working in different sectors and countries to exchange knowledge, community-driven approaches, and best practices. Due the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, this program has been moved primarily online, where every two weeks the selected Asia Peace Innovators will tackle a different element of peace-building. This online program will address Religious Leadership and Interfaith Initiatives.

This online program addressed religious leadership and interfaith initiatives.  Some key themes and challenges participants discussed included: how to improve the legal situation of citizens whose religion does not have official recognition by the government; how to move religious leaders, so used to monologue, into dialogue; how to improve the gender balance and position of women in intra- and inter-faith dialogues; how to create a space to strengthen civil society initiatives promoting religious pluralism; and how to start bringing people of different groups together in the face of prejudice.


This program is open exclusively to accepted participants of the Asia Peace Innovators Forum.