Since 2008, the Centre for Peace Building and Reconciliation (CPBR) has been developing strong relationships with leaders from Sri Lanka’s diverse religious and ethnic communities, focusing on cultivating their capacity for personal and inter-personal transformation through intrafaith engagement. These efforts paved the way for interfaith encounters later in 2010, and the establishment and staffing of interfaith dialogue centers in 2012 in six regions of Sri Lanka in order to promote a culture of cooperation and inclusivity in these communities and to support an interfaith network that spans the country. Since then, CPBR has been strengthening the capacity of religious, community, women, and youth leaders to engage their communities in dialogue and mobilize them towards social advocacy. In this latter phase, the Salam Institute has contributed to CPBR’s impressive efforts by offering intensive training in interfaith dialogue and advocacy to its religious, community, and youth leaders, representing Sinhalese Buddhists and Christians, Tamil Hindus and Christians, and Muslims.
