Peace-building missionary to address NJPN conference

Fr Patrick Devine

The 2022 Conference of the National Justice & Peace Network due to be held in Swanwick, Derbyshire on 22-24 July will hear a presentation on Transforming Inter-Ethnic Conflict and Religious Ideological Extremism and how an empowering methodology is being used in Eastern Africa to secure positive peace. The speaker will be Fr Patrick Devine, Founder and International Chairman of the Shalom Center for Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation which is based in Nairobi, Kenya.

In his presentation, Fr Devine will discuss his experience of working with communities in Eastern Africa to promote peace, justice, security, reconciliation, and conflict transformation. In particular, he will focus on Shalom's approach to its work with tribal and community leaders on education, empowerment and transcending ethnic and religious boundaries to get to the root causes of conflict.

Shalom has had considerable success in replacing conflict and violence with peace and co-operation in renowned conflict areas catalyzed by negative ethnicity, long-standing animosities, cultural differences, resource competition, and institutional deficiencies. It is comprised of an international team of conflict resolution experts from various religious backgrounds and disciplines.

Shalom seeks to identify, understand and address the underlying causes of conflict rather than just address the symptoms. This deep-rooted approach allows for social and religious values like peace, truth, justice and mercy to take root, enable sustainable development evolve, and progressively enliven people to actualise their potential.

The training that Shalom imparts to grassroot representatives and stakeholders of the various ethnic groups incorporates intensive research and analysis of issues and contextualised conflict transformation approaches. Communities are empowered in their understanding and application of various non-violent techniques that they can use to resolve their own conflict, and once taken through a series of training, they are brought together for inter-ethnic trust building aimed at slowly re-building and healing deep wounds.

Further information about the peace-building work of Shalom can be found at https://shalomconflictcenter.org/. Readers in the UK wishing to support the work can contact Andy Rogers at andy@rogersassociates.org or 077-85920810.

Matt Moran is an author and writer based in Cork in Republic of Ireland.