Empowering Communities, Preventing Violence, and Building Peace Across the Continent
Across Africa is home to some of the world’s most diverse spiritual traditions and some of its most complex social challenges. URI’s grassroots network continues to demonstrate extraordinary resilience, leadership, and collective action. In 2025, Cooperation Circles (CCs), Individual Members, and regional partners strengthened peace, protected women and girls, elevated youth leadership, and expanded interfaith collaboration across the continent.
URI gave us the confidence to speak up, share our experiences, and work together to improve our community.” Participant, Women’s Leadership Training, Assamo, Djibouti
With 90 active Cooperation Circles in the Great Lakes region alone, and dozens more across East, West, North, and Southern Africa, the URI Africa network continues to address urgent issues from violent extremism to women’s rights, environmental protection, youth empowerment, and community healing.
Strengthening Women’s Leadership and Community Resilience
Empowering Rural Women in Djibouti
In Assamo, Djibouti, URI supported the training of 50 rural women in leadership, local development planning, and community engagement. For many participants, this was the first time they were invited to speak, lead, and shape solutions for their own communities.
This initiative not only built confidence and strengthened social cohesion but also sparked a growing movement of women leaders connected across the region through URI’s interfaith network.
“We feel empowered and connected to a larger network of women leaders.”
Empowering Women in Eastern Uganda
Working with partners including Filantropia Orthodox Missions (Finland), Sufi Women Organization, and URI Global, URI Great Lakes supported women whose household economic rights had been denied due to cultural and religious pressures.
30 women from 4 CCsmaintained new income-earning businesses.
20 girls returned to school, supported by campaigns that shifted community attitudes toward girls’ education.
The program also engaged men, empowering husbands with knowledge of laws protecting women’s rights and fostering more peaceful, equitable households.
Preventing Violence and Countering Extremism
Great Lakes: Building Local Capacity to Prevent Violent Extremism
Across Uganda and Kenya, URI’s violence prevention programs trained CCs and community leaders in conflict analysis, interfaith dialogue, and early intervention against extremist recruitment.
6 workshops and 4 trainings
300+ participants
Tensions reduced between Salafi and Sunni Muslims, and between Muslims and Christians in three districts.
URI was recognized as a key peacebuilding partner by the Ugandan government and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The Regional Coordinator now chairs the Civil Society Coalition Against Violent Extremism (CISCAVE) and serves on the National Counter-Terrorism Subcommittee.
Women-Led Violence Prevention in Nigeria
Through URI Seed Grants (2023–2024), URI Individual Member Nkechika Ibe implemented Peace to the Girl Child Through Period Kits, providing SRHR education and access to menstrual products for girls in low-income schools.
Her initiative restored dignity, strengthened girls’ confidence, and reduced school absenteeism, demonstrating how women-led grassroots action can interrupt cycles of vulnerability and violence.
Deepening Interfaith Dialogue Across Regions
From Uganda to Kenya, Djibouti to Nigeria, interfaith dialogue remained a cornerstone of URI Africa’s 2025 work:
Great Lakes CCs conducted 4 major interfaith dialogues involving 160 participants, creating safe spaces for minority faiths and Indigenous spiritual practitioners.
Dialogues explored themes such as women’s roles, medicinal and sacred environmental knowledge, and cooperation across historic divides
“Interfaith spaces help minority faith traditions not just be present at the table, but be heard.”
In Djibouti, URI partners collaborated with IGAD and regional peace organizations to train community leaders, teachers, and youth activists in peacebuilding, countering hate speech, and facilitating interreligious dialogue.
Youth as Peacebuilders
Across the African region, youth stepped into leadership roles with energy and vision.
Regional Youth Peacebuilders Network (Great Lakes)
20 young leaders participated in training to form a regional interfaith peacebuilders cohort. These youth are now active across borders, supporting violence prevention programs and dialogue initiatives.
Continental Youth Engagement Through URI Programs
Youth across Africa participated in:
-
Intercultural competency trainings
-
Quarterly youth dialogues
-
Earth restoration and anti-hate speech workshops
-
Collaborative leadership projects with URI’s global youth network
“URI taught me that peace is a personal commitment and a shared responsibility.”
A Girl’s Return to School – Uganda
One of the 20 girls supported through URI’s reintegration campaign shared that returning to school “restored her future.” Once pressured into early marriage following a pregnancy, she is now thriving in her studies and mentoring younger girls in her village.
These stories, and many others, represent the heartbeat of URI’s peacebuilding mission in Africa.
Partnerships and Recognitions
URI Africa’s work is powered by strong partnerships, including:
UNODC
IGAD
Filantropia Orthodox Missions (Finland)
Sufi Women Organization
Arigatou International
District-level government institutions across the region
Looking Ahead: Priorities for 2026
The Africa region is poised for a deeper impact but faces challenges that require investment:
Key Needs
-
Face-to-face regional training for youth peacebuilders
-
Connectivity and data support for rural leaders and CCs
-
Training-of-trainers programs in violence prevention
-
Regional gathering for CCs on environmental and Indigenous knowledge
-
Support for women’s economic rights and legal empowerment
These priorities represent high-impact, scalable opportunities for donors committed to peace, justice, and community resilience across Africa.
In every country, every village, and every faith tradition, URI Africa’s network demonstrates the power of grassroots leadership, interfaith collaboration, and shared humanity. The 2025 impact across the continent shows what is possible when communities are equipped, connected, and supported.
With continued donor partnership, URI Africa is ready to expand its reach, uplift more women and youth, deepen interfaith dialogue, and build sustainable peace across the continent.
