Social Media as an Agent of Peace: Youth Trains Religions for Peace’s African Women

On 18 June 2020 the Religions for Peace Youth Media Team (RfP-YMT) trained 16 African women from diverse cultural and religious backgrounds. The women were trained to embrace social media as a means to remain connected and engaged in the “new normal” of being physically distant due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The training enhanced the skills and capacity of women of faith to effectively engage on social media as positive agents of peace, creating awareness and spreading messages of hope and encouragement.

This training was hosted by the African Council of Religious Leaders (ACRL-RfP), Religions for Peace’s regional Interreligious Council, in partnership with the Religions for Peace Youth Media Team (RfP-YMT) and the African Women Faith Network (AWFN). A key strategy and focus was to integrate women and youth from the National Interreligious Councils, as highlighted at the Religions for Peace Global webinar on Interreligious Council (IRC) development, held on 16 June 2020.

The zoom training session was moderated by Ms. Linnet L. Wairimu Ng’ayu, ACRL-RfP Institutional Strengthening Advisor, and facilitated by Ms. Agathe Mossane Sagne (African Interfaith Youth Network Co-chair) and Ms. Merylene Chitharai (RfP South Africa and RfP Interfaith Youth Climate Forum), both representing RfP-YMT.

Sister Agatha Chikelue, Chair of RfP’s International Women’s Coordinating Committee, commenced the training, offering inspiration and encouragement for the women to reach out to their communities to share their work. Sr. Chikelue noted the importance of the women’s leadership, declaring, “The active engagement of women as key members of Religions for Peace’s Interreligious Councils at the leadership and the decision-making level is key to influencing change, establishing and strengthening the Women of Faith Networks at the national and regional levels, creating visibility of the women and in turn, create funding opportunities.”

The training also entailed a practical demonstration on how to use the Zoom App to connect with each other online. Merylene Chitharai opened the training with an Earth Meditation to connect with the Divine, followed by an inspirational short video on understanding the world of socialnomics and the social media revolution. Agathe Mossane Sagne then provided an analysis of why and how to use social media, its benefits, challenges and common sense. Her presentation included strategies to using social media as a business tool, tips to create a good post, rules to posting, goals and objectives. Merylene also gave a practical brief demonstration­­ on how to use Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp, how to compress files (WinZip) and shared a short video to introduce Zoom.

Positive feedback and reviews from the trainees emphasized “the relevance of being strategically engaged on different platforms and learning new tools,” as affirmed by Florence Nassanga, Chairperson of the Women of Faith Network of RfP’s interreligious council in Uganda.  “The facilitators and the program helped us to place Mother Earth at the centre of our thoughts,” said Dr. Rozilla Adhiambo, Program Manager for Environment with ACRL-RfP.

Participants also provided constructive feedback for an additional training, suggesting, “Maybe emphasis should be laid on ‘Positive Journalism’ in order to use social media to promote positive peace,” suggested Aleeyah Lallmahimed, Women’s Representative from RfP’s interreligious council in Mauritius, the Council of Religions.

A follow-up training workshop is still in discussion and preparation.