URI Intro Workshop Series 2026 

As URI, we are working to grow a network of interfaith peacebuilders who use their personal capacities and collective power to facilitate interreligious and intercultural collaborations, end cycles of religiously-motivated violence, and heal our earth communities. 

To achieve this, we have a series of online introductory workshops as your first step to connecting with a global network to deepen learning and collaboration. 

These workshops are designed in an interactive and learner-centered way, where you are invited to bring your wisdom and experience to learn with interfaith peacebuilders from around the world. 

Our 2026 offerings are structured to help you:

• Enhance Local Impact: Translate interfaith values into measurable actions within your organization and community.
• Bridge Wisdom Traditions: Learn to integrate ancient sacred wisdom with modern social and natural sciences.
• Build Resilience: Master the "Health Approach" to violence prevention and hate speech to create safer, more inclusive spaces.
• Strengthen the Network: Connect with a global cohort of peacemakers to share best practices and spark new collaborations.

The series is therefore designed to offer practical, skill-based tools for those working at the intersection of peacebuilding, ecological justice, and community organizing.

Logistics at a Glance:

When: Thursdays at 2pm GMT (Check your local time [here]).

Duration: Each session is an intensive 2-hour deep dive.

Format: Interactive online workshops with facilitators from the network and peer-to-peer learning.

2026 Offerings

All workshops are two hours and take place on a Thursday at 2pm GMT - find your timezone here. 

Thursday 12th March - Intro to Violence Prevention

This workshop explores violence as a changeable behavior and empowers you to step in as an effective interrupter. By exploring the "third side" perspective, you’ll learn how to bridge divides and spark new partnerships for peace.

Thursday 19th March - Intro to Interrupting Hate Speech

This workshop equips participants to recognize hate speech and understand it as a violent behaviour. By treating hate speech as a contagious behavior, you will discover your personal power to intervene effectively, drawing on the wisdom of our religious, spiritual or cultural counter-narratives. 

Thursday 26th March - Intro to Navigating Difficult Conversations 

This workshop introduces essential practices for navigating interfaith differences and conflict through curiosity and mindfulness. Participants will explore their personal habits while building a practical toolkit for transforming difficult conversations into creative collaboration.

Thursday 16th April  - Intro to Interfaith Engagement 

This workshop introduces the fundamentals of interfaith engagement and provides a roadmap for effective interfaith collaboration. You will learn how to design an interfaith event that is inclusive and appropriate to your context, as a starting point to building relationships across religious and cultural divides.

Thursday 23rd April - Intro to Facilitating Interfaith Spaces

Building on the Intro to Interfaith Engagement, this workshop will introduce a starter toolkit of key facilitation and design skills to support interfaith organizing and collective efforts to advance specific changes in our communities.

Thursday 30th April - Intro to Navigating Difficult Conversations (repeat)

This workshop introduces essential practices for navigating interfaith differences and conflict through curiosity and mindfulness. Participants will explore their personal habits while building a practical toolkit for transforming difficult conversations into creative collaboration.

Thursday 14th May - Intro to Earth Restoration and Collective Healing

This workshop connects our capacity for Earth-care with a practical toolkit for ecological regeneration and collective healing. By blending indigenous and sacred wisdom with modern natural and human sciences, we will imagine and build new possibilities for our shared future.

Register here

Certification 

We are pleased to offer certificates of completion to recognize your commitment to peacebuilding and skill development. You can earn a certificate by following any of these three tracks:

1. Specific Pathway Certificates

Complete all workshops within a specific pathway to receive a specific certificate:

• Interfaith Leadership and Collaboration 
  • Intro to Interfaith Engagement 
  • Intro to Facilitating Interfaith Spaces 
  • Intro to Navigating Difficult Conversations 
• Violence Prevention
  • Intro to Navigating Difficult Conversations 
  • Intro to Violence Prevention
  • Intro to Interrupting Hate Speech 
• Earth Restoration and Collective Healing
  • Intro to Earth Restoration and Collective Healing 1
  • Intro to Earth Restoration and Collective Healing 2

2. “Peace, Justice and Healing Champion” Certificate 

Participants who complete all seven unique workshops in the 2026 series will receive a URI Global Ambassador Certificate, recognizing your comprehensive training across our core impact areas.

*Note: For the Navigating Difficult Conversations workshop, you only need to attend one of the two scheduled dates to satisfy your pathway requirements.