Tony Blair Faith Foundation

For a moment in our busy day, members of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation stopped to enjoy breakfast together for UN World Interfaith Harmony Week.  The Faiths Act Fellows, who were in London for training, also joined us for the special breakfast. They are currently in the full swing of their Fellowships at their various host organisations and it was an absolute joy to see them again. The breakfast gave us a chance to catch up on some of the latest projects we are all working on, Where’s the Net?

  Almost a year after the Dubai Conference, 23 Face to Faith coordinators from a total of 17 countries congregated in London in time for the Coordinators' Conference on the evening of 29 January. I didn't know what to expect when Leila invited me to join last year's conference. I had barely begun my involvement in The Tony Blair Faith Foundation. We had just conducted an informational meeting with school heads in Manila, courtesy of Ian and Simmi, but we had no teacher training workshop as of yet. In other words, I had no first hand experience of the modules or the VCs.

Two young interfaith leaders based at a London charity are to live on £1 a day for five days to highlight the struggle faced by those living in poverty. Charlotte Dando and Usman Nawaz are undertaking the challenge as a preview to the Live Below the Line campaign which will take place between May 7 and 11. That campaign will see people sponsored to reduce their food and drink spending to just £1 a day to highlight the global plight of 1.4 billion who are living below the poverty line. The pair are Faith Act Fellows from the Tony Blair Faith Foundation and currently based at char

On 23rd September 2010 H.M. King Abdullah II of Jordan proposed holding an annual World Interfaith Harmony Week at the UN General Assembly.

Tomorrow, February 1st is the beginning of the second annual World Interfaith Harmony Week as proclaimed in the Autumn of 2010 by the General Assembly of the United Nations. The week has a simple mandate to be a time of interfaith activities that recognize the diversity of our human family of spirituality and to bring us together in fellowship and community.

Being asked to speak at Birmingham’s Holocaust Memorial Day 2012 event at the Town Hall, on behalf of the Sikh community was an honour and privilege. I spent a few minutes reflecting on the experience of the Sikh widow following the mass atrocities that hit Delhi and other parts of India in 1984.

Last Thursday, I was invited to give a talk at the Council on Foreign Relations on religion, extremism and foreign policy. We discussed the connections between religion, policy, diplomacy, conflict resolution, and the all-important and urgent issues of religion’s place in societies and democracies.

Since September 2011, I have been part of a team, in Sierra Leone that is engaging Christian and Muslim faith leaders to disseminate malaria prevention messages through sermons, community activities and house hold visits.  Prior to the project, the National Malaria Control Programme had conducted a national campaign to distribute insecticide treated bed nets but some families were either not using the nets to sleep under but were using the nets for fishing, washing and making wedding gowns, etc.  I am looking forward to going back to Sierra Leone to continue with the Fait

I better declare an interest.  I introduced Alex Perry to Michael Dwyer of Hurst Publications because he obviously had a great story to tell and, more power to his arm, Michael published his manuscript.  It even headed his list last year. Not bad for a book on malaria largely in Africa. Like any good journalist Perry can tell a rattling good tale in decent sized sentences.  As Time magazine’s Africa specialist, he had got malaria into a double spread on one occasion.

If you ask most Americans about Martin Luther King Jr., we will highlight him as one of the finest Americans in the history of our country, remembering him as a man who stood courageously for racial equality and social justice.  He overcame hardship, struggling in the way of what he believed to be right, doing everything he could to encourage and move his community and nation towards a better, more just future.  One of our favorite qualities of this inspirational leader is not simply his ability to see a wrong and devote himself to correcting it, but his dedication to buildi