Exchange Learning Workshop

On 17-19 December, 2019, Faith for Earth Initiative held a learning exchange workshop on the topic of faith and environment, where 43 representatives from faith-based organizations, other NGOs, governments and UN entities have participated. The systemic process of the conference aimed to enable participants to build a community with capacity for transforming sustainable development goals into sustainable actions with outcomes meaningful for local contexts and global agendas supported by the Faith for Earth Coalition.

The participants of the workshop discussed the role FBOs play in tackling environmental challenges by creating projects and programmes at different community levels. Individuals and groups produced 12 project proposals under 3 themes including youth & women, growing people to grow trees, and environmental governance and policy. Participants learnt how to formulate project background, project approaches and budget plans by peer learning.

The co-founders of Sevenbridge provided the participants practical tools and approaches in capturing the feedback from other participants and prioritizing their goals. Iyad Abu Moghli, the director of the Faith for Earth Initiative, encouraged the collaboration among small-scale FBOs to create impactful projects to mobilize bigger investments.

On the very last day, 5 trees, referring to the five continents, were planted at a Sikh Temple in Nairobi to mark the successful outcome of the workshop and its commitment to actionable outcomes. The action does not stop when people leave the workshop, but it continues in shared working and project groups driven by linkages and connections. This contribution led to focusing on co-creating shared actionable outcomes.