Workshop on Faith for Rights: Faith, Rights, Our Planet and the UN SDG
(Day 3 of a series of 3 days standalone workshops pilot project)
Residential 24hr workshop for rural communities
Concept Note
BOOK HERE: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/421372465387
I. Introduction
Participants will examine areas where faith and human rights work together in the arena of faith, human rights and our planet looking at this through the lens of both the F4R toolkit and the UN SDGs. There will be 24 participantsplus4 facilitators / trainers / panellists. This session will be for 24 ordained faith and belief leaders or equivalent and/or community faith builders to the Faith for Rights principles and how these can be used in their communities to explore this topic.
II. National context
The UK has an established interfaith tradition that only recently has become engaged with environmental issues and other SDG goals including reducing inequality and forming sustainable communities. This is usually carried out by the ordained clergy without their community members/ congregants / followers although the latter have engaged for many years in humanitarian aid projects. Many congregants want to see a bridge between human rights and faith and that promoting human rights and Sustainable Development Goals is aligned with their own belief systems (and certainly not contrary to it). We want to train up 24 ordained leaders to utilise the Faith4Rights principles (and toolkit) in their work and in their own communities to bridge faith concepts with human rights and vice versa. This day is the second day of a series of three days standalone workshops in a pilot programme. All days can be attended as a stand-alone workshop. We hope that 5-6 leaders will be able to attend the entire programme with 18-19 others coming to this residential workshop as a stand-alone experience.
III. Objectives of the workshop
To introduce ordained clergy / equivalent / senior interfaith workers to the Faith 4 Rights toolkit and to train them in the use of the Faith 4 Rights methodology within their own sphere of influence. This will be accomplished via taught sessions, peer-to-peer learning and a form of Faith for Rights scriptural reasoning. We are looking to include clergy from towns and smaller non-metro communities and campuses. The topics of discussion during Day 2 include the following:
- Extended introduction to 18 Principles / 5 Commitments F4R / SDGs
- Spiritual Leverage and how to utilise it
- Justice: human rights, faith and alternative methods of justice
- Faith, rights and humanitarian aid
- Faith, rights and the environment and climate change
IV. Outputs
- 24 ordained clergy or equivalents, faith leaders and interfaith activists coming from a communal organisation / congregation /institution are introduced to F4R and the toolkit
- Ordained clergy to take the toolkit back to 15 communities and their national communal bodies (Church of England / United Synagogue / Sikh Network / RC Church / Muslim communities / Hindu representative bodies / Movement for Reform Judaism)
- Develop a new understanding for partipants of ways of teaching and utilising the concepts of faith and human rights together and having the confidence to do so within 5-6 national faith and belief identity groups
- Test new introduction to Constructive Reading and Human Rights Scriptural Reasoning to a new audience
- Widen the pool of those that can participate by having this as a rural retreat.
V. Panellists
Facilitators
- Rabbi Alex Goldberg
- Dr Thiago Pinto
- Hillari Bollard
- Sughra Ahmed
Panellists
- Professor Naz Ghanea
- Guest after-dinner speaker(s): Sir Michael Aronson, Chine McDonald, Dal Babu and Francis David with Naz and Alex (tbc)
VI. Format and participation
This is a 24 hours session from midday to midday. The aim is for 28 people to attend: 24 participants and 4 trainers. The workshop will be done both in plenary and breakout. The first afternoon will look more closely at the principles found within the Faith for Rights toolkit with the evening and morning sessions looking at the humanitarian aid and environment.
- Welcome lunch
- Intro to F4R: utilising some participants who are familiar with the concepts of Faith 4 Rights in leading peer-to-peer workshop
- Intro to Spiritual Leverage
- Humanitarian Issues, SDGs and F4R Part I
- Dinner
- Fireside chat
- Night time tour of Windsor Castle’s St George’s Chapel
- Humanitarian Issues, SDGs and F4R Part 2
- Environment and Climate Change
- Summary
- Lunch
VII. Methodology
The workshop will pilot new materials (video, F4R sourcebook for clergy, new exercises) and have participants work through a number of modules from the existing F4R toolkit. The aim is to take the participants through a guided tour of the F4R principles using taught sessions, new materials and peer-to-peer learning. The pilot will utilise a Human Rights focussed scriptural reasoning exercise (a methodology increasingly used within the clergy community in the UK). In addition, there will be a topic-related fireside chat in the evening related to faith, rights and humanitarian issues.
