The GNRC Secretary General, Dr. Mustafa Y. Ali, attended a two-day conference organized and hosted by King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID). The conference took place at the African Union Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 25th – 26th August.

The conference, which addressed the theme “The Image of the Other: Interreligious and Intercultural Education – Best Practice, was the second of a series of four international regional working conferences that have been hosted by KAICIID in 2013, with the first having taken place in Vienna Austria. Dr. Ali moderated the session on building partnerships to address the challenges faced in inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue.

The overall aim of this project series focused on helping to replace subjective interreligious or intercultural misperceptions and stereotyping with more objective, appropriate and respectful ways of thinking about and depicting followers of other religions and cultures.

Dr. Jinmi Adisa, Director of the Citizens and Diaspora Directorate of the African Union Commission, emphasized the need to evolve a structural partnership with religious leaders and religious communities in the quest to promote and sustain human dignity and material welfare.

Participants noted the need for and importance of cultivating, through research, a cross-border community and database of individuals actively engaged with inter-cultural and inter-religious education.