14 Peace Fund Grants Awarded
Volunteers plant a banana tree at PHARP’s Jilore Center in Kenya. This year, PHARP renewed its partnership with BPFNA through the Peace Fund program.
BPFNA~Bautistas por la Paz has awarded 14 grants to support local peace projects around the world.
This year’s Peace Fund cohort represents our most international group of ministry partners yet. Grantees include organizations in nine countries: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zimbabwe, the Republic of Georgia, Kenya, Colombia, Argentina, Mexico, Ecuador, and the United States. Six organizations received support for the first time; nine renewed their partnership.
For one recipient, the Peace Fund represents “being a part of each one of our dreams, our journeys and hopes.” Another notes that “little funds will have a significant impact, transform lives, and reduce the cycle of violence.”
The following projects will gather, equip, and mobilize peacemakers in their local communities:
The Peacebuilding, Healing, and Reconciliation Programme (PHARP) will provide mentoring and training in conflict transformation and peace-building for 200 religious and community leaders in 5 villages within the Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya.
The Peace Cathedral in Tbilisi, Georgia, will host three interfaith conventions on ecological peace, intercultural and international peace, and interpersonal peace involving key Christian, Muslim, Jewish, and Yazidi clergy and laity from Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, and Turkey.
The Nonviolent Conflict Transformation Initiative (NVCTI) will continue its dialogue and collaboration project aimed at empowering survivors of gender-based violence and substance abuse through sports, music, skits, and social media platforms.
Community Action for Integration and Development of Fizi (ACODIF) will train young people from different political parties on the prevention of post-electoral conflicts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Mecklenburg Metropolitan Interfaith Network (MeckMIN) in Charlotte, NC, will convene an interfaith youth panel to promote interfaith understanding, sensitize people to faith-based prejudice, and help young people to create relationships across differences.
The Fondation Chirezi will create radio clubs for children and youth in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to provide the community accurate information about local conflicts and train them in peacemaking techniques.
The Peace in the Storm Foundation in Cali, Colombia, will offer a workshop on building peace through music.
Red Crearte will offer a conference for seminary students in the U.S. and Latin America to receive training in liturgy and develop a life-affirming spirituality from ecumenical and Latin American perspectives.
The SEPAZ Foundation in Colombia will equip high school students with pedagogical cools related to mediation, conflict transformation and resolution, and a well-rounded education on gender.
Shalom Baptist Church in Mexico City will lead visits to migrant centers and an indigenous community with a team of healthcare practitioners to provide medical and dental care.
The Baptist Seminary of Mexico will provide citizenship workshops on conflict transformation in marginalized and indigenous Mexican communities.
The Baptist Theological Seminary of Quito, Ecuador, will train mentors for preadolescent girls and offer a conflict resolution workshop for preadolescent girls.
Jerusalem Baptist Church in Mexico City will lead a mission trip for young adults to offer vacation Bible school and form relationships with a sister congregation in an indigenous community in Chiapas.
The Mayan Intercultural Seminary in Chiapas, Mexico, will offer a series of workshops on psychosocial accompaniment to provide individuals, families, and communities with tools and skills necessary to build a happy life and promote human rights.
