The Good Practices to Prevent Religious Discrimination Project (GP2PRD) is a pioneering initiative by the International Institute for Religious Freedom (IIRF). The mission of this project is to gather, categorize, and analyze effective “good practices” that prevent religious persecution and mitigate conflicts globally. The GP2PRD Project addresses the pressing need for a resilience assessment tool that helps religious communities respond to persecution. By examining and promoting effective strategies, the project aims to influence policy and foster religious freedom.
Working definitions of key terms
Good practices: Embodied and institutional knowhow that religious groups can use and adapt to prevent religious discrimination in new contexts (Wisdom & Petri, 2023, p. 5). Activities and practices can be judged as good insofar as they add insight and reduce the level of unknown factors (Wisdom & Petri, 2023, p. 11).
Religious discrimination: Any type of restrictions placed by state and non-state actors on the religious practices or institutions of religious groups (Fox, 2018, as cited in Wisdom & Petri, 2023, p. 6).
Goals of the GP2PRD Project
The goal is to identify and investigate practices that help prevent, de-escalate, or resolve religious conflict.
This comprehensive effort involves building resilience among local and international actors and encouraging collaboration across various societal domains. To achieve this, the project is compiling a manual of practical applications to reduce, resolve, and prevent religious conflict. The term “good practices” is used instead of “best practices” to acknowledge the complex nature of these issues. This distinction reflects the understanding that no single practice fits all contexts, and diverse responses are necessary to address the multifaceted nature of religious conflict.
This is a living project: good practices will continue to be added, developed, and analyzed as they are discovered, implemented, and researched. We welcome collaboration with organizations that are implementing a method to prevent religious discrimination that they believe could serve as a good practice for others. To share a practice, please contact Dr. Kyle Wisdom at kwisdom@iirf.global.
Research methodology
The GP2PRD Project employs a case study approach rooted in the study of religious freedom. The research documents good practices through detailed case studies, focusing on individuals and their broader contexts. This qualitative, exploratory approach uses pragmatic snowball sampling, emphasizing areas of conflict or potential conflict. By focusing on good practices, the project aims to provide valuable insights and practical strategies that can be adopted by religious groups worldwide to promote religious freedom.
Pilot research
The project has completed its first pilot study, in which researchers interviewed individuals and organizations in various regional contexts with acknowledged pressure against religious communities.
The case studies aim to generate descriptions of practices that might be profitably replicated and adapted by religious groups in different contexts to promote the cause of religious freedom. The pilot research resulted in the report Prevention Is Better Than Cure: Good Practices to Prevent Religious Discrimination(Wisdom & Petri, 2023), covering Vietnam, Iraq, Nigeria, Colombia, and Mozambique.
Practices observed in the pilot research include:
- Mobilizing business and the economic sector to unite communities. The Religious Freedom & Business Foundation highlighted how the Sunshine Nut Company is hiring workers from both the north and the south of Mozambique and investing profits in local communities.
- Working with multiple organizations and governments to advocate from the outside in, in difficult contexts such as Vietnam.
- Developing a program such as Ambassadors for Peace in Iraq and Syria, which builds intentional connections with Muslim leaders to reduce active conflict. This program reportedly reduced violence by 42% (Wisdom & Petri, 2023, p. 14).
- Starting a peace foundation and focusing on research in Nigeria. Well-informed reports that avoid sensationalism help policymakers and parliamentarians face the reality on the ground and increase accountability.
Resources
- Introduction: International Institute for Religious Freedom. (2023, January 28). Good practices to reduce, resolve and prevent religious conflict.
- Methodology (summary): Wisdom, K. (2023). Good practices to reduce, resolve, and prevent religious conflict. International Journal for Religious Freedom, 16(1), 1–2. https://doi.org/10.59484/KOMB6831
- Methodology (expanded) and pilot findings: Wisdom, K., & Petri, D. P. (2023). Prevention is better than cure: Good practices to prevent religious discrimination (IIRF Reports Vol. 12, 2023/10). International Institute for Religious Freedom.
- Book chapter: Petri, D. P., & Wisdom, K. (in press). Assessing the resilience of religious minorities: Case studies of Nigeria, Iraq, and Mexico. In E. E. Stensrud, C. Smith, & G. Sindre (Eds.), Mass atrocity resistance. Rutgers University Press.
- UN submission: International Institute for Religious Freedom. (2023). Call for inputs: Promotion of the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, or belief at the national and local level [Submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief].