Highlights from the success of 'Women's Role in Peaceful Co-Existence' Conference organised by FRF and UMCOR

From 16 – 18 June 2008 the Faith Regen Foundation together with the United Methodist Committee on Relief hosted a major conference on “Women’s role in promoting peaceful coexistence” in central London. Over 100 delegates and participants from the UK and abroad came together for this event to inspire each other and to exchange experiences and views in this timely discussion. The conference brought together stakeholders and decision makers from government, private and third sectors.

Prominent keynote speakers included H.E. the Vice President of The Gambia, Rt Hon Baroness Uddin, Minister for Employment and Welfare Reform at the Department for Works and Pensions, Rt Hon Stephen Timms MP, and Parliamentary Undersecretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Meg Munn MP, as well as many other influential figures.

The intention behind the event was to bring together practitioners, thinkers and policy makers from UK as well as from abroad to gain an overview of the existing work being done to promote peaceful coexistence between diverse communities. The discussion about the way forward was informed in particular by the contributions of the delegates from The Gambia, Israel, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Sri Lanka, who provided important new insights for the UK-debate on how best to prevent violent extremism and promote peaceful coexistence. For more information on the conference proceedings re-visit this site soon as the report will be made available online.