The Washington Program

A program of Hope in the Cities

The Washington Program has offered public and private workshops, forums, public events, film screenings, receptions and conferences as key ways to build trust and understanding across the divides of politics, religion, race and nationality. This outreach to members of government, education, nonprofits, corporations, civic groups, faith-based communities, and media companies in the U.S. and internationally amplifies personal honesty, self-evaluation, and responsibility as the first step in processes of racial healing, history reckoning and reconciliation. It demonstrates the transformative power of individual change to collective conflict situations. The goal is to model and encourage active listening, quiet reflection and honest conversation – the hallmarks of IofC’s peace building approach. The Washington Program also offers a special focus on interfaith understanding programs that are designed to deepen understanding and collaboration between people of varying religious experiences.

Below are a few highlights of the Washington Program:

• The Imam and the Pastor

The film The Imam and the Pastor chronicles the journey of two Nigerian peacemakers, one of Islamic faith and the other of Christian faith, as a means to model how to work across religious divides. The follow-up film, An African Answer, challenges viewers to interrogate how self-reflection, honesty, accountability and reconciliation can work as a force of change within their own lives.  An accompanying dialogue guide to the film forms a springboard for constructive interfaith dialogue within varying communities and are regular resources at a number of global universities and faith institutions.

• Find out more about these resources:

Order the 2 DVD packaged set and dialogue guide.

Read the report of the U.S. launch of An African Answer, sponsored by the U.S. Institute for Peace and hosted at Harvard University.

The D.C. Interfaith Network

Initiatives of Change USA is part of an energizing network of young professionals in the metropolitan D.C. area involved with or interested in interfaith activism. This group is a partner of the 9/11 Unity Walk. Monthly brown-bag lunch sessions have been held at multiple nonprofit venues to offer an opportunity for members to meet with peers working in different sectors and faith-based communities. These meetings provided unique opportunities to discuss projects and further possibilities for collaboration. The DC Interfaith Network is a place to connect, learn, ask questions, engage, and share best practices.

Creators of Peace Circles

Creators of Peace connects women globally to embrace their human value as peace-creators in their families, workplaces, networks and countries. The Creators of Peace (CoP) women's initiative was launched in 1991 at the Initiatives of Change conference centre in Caux, Switzerland, by the Hon. Anna Abdallah Msekwa of Tanzania, a respected politician and leader of women's organizations in her country. In her inaugural speech, she urged everyone to “create peace wherever we are, in our hearts, our homes, our workplace and our community. We all pretend that someone else is the stumbling block… Could that someone be myself?”

As participants share their stories and explore what they can do to create peace, they build new relationships of trust and friendship across racial, religious and social divides. A Creators of Peace circle is run by trained volunteers. It runs for either a few hours once a week over six or seven weeks, or it can take place over a long weekend. CoP gathers women, representing the diversity of a local community, to work together through material designed to deepen understanding of their peace creating capabilities, and to build an atmosphere of trust.

CoP is now a global network of people working on different continents through Creators of Peace Circles, workshops, personal encounters, community building activities and international conferences - Caux, Switzerland '91 and '94, India 2001, Uganda 2005 and Australia 2009. A delegation attended the UN Women's Conference in Beijing (1995). In 2016, the 25th anniversary of CoP was celebrated in Caux through the 'Living Peace' 2016 Conference.