Faith groups alongside other civil society organisations were at the forefront in receiving and welcoming refugees and migrants arriving in Europe in large numbers during the fall of 2015.
In Sweden, former Archbishop of the Church of Sweden, Antje Jackelén, recognising migration as one of the biggest challenges of our time, identified faith-based communities to have a special responsibility.
The three Abrahamic religions constitute more than half of the world’s population. Without them seeking and keeping peace with each other there will not be peace on earth. Dialogue and diapraxis between people of faith is needed, if European societies are to be up to the pressing challenges of polarisation, populism, protectionism, post-truth, and patriarchy. The five pivotal P:s.
In this mission, migration practitioners and their work were identified as critical to enhance a multi-faith infrastructure, defend human dignity and build the future of a cohesive Europe.
To understand the needs of the practitioners, a programme was launched and the late Dirk Ficca, Senior Advisor to the Archbishop and Anna Hjälm, appointed Programme Director for Interreligious Praxis for Peace – A World of Neighbours made over 150 site visits across 11 countries, talking to practitioners, understanding the scope, the urgency, the challenges and the rewards.
The programme then hosted five working groups work on receiving communities, immigration policy, narrative and media, social cohesion and the work of practitioners, to explore critical aspects that had emerged from this listening and learning exercise.
These initial explorations led to a summit in Malmö, Sweden, in January 2020. Utilising the Future Search Method. 72 individuals from 15 countries were purposefully selected and invited to represent the varied stakeholders involved in Europe’s migration context. This diverse group encapsulated seven critical categories: refugees and migrants, grassroots practitioners, civil society advocates, researchers, institutional leaders and faith leaders, and youth. Together, they offered a comprehensive view of the ‘ecology’ of migration in Europe. It was a first attempt at getting a big picture view of the grassroots movement working on behalf of people on the move.
Out of the Malmö meeting grew the idea of for the practitioners network to mitigate the challenges they face. By directly connecting practitioners from differens organisations, countries, context, profiles and faiths in agreement with theirinsittuational contexts we hoped to create a community of practice. An application process was designed, and interviews were held. Simultaneously, a team of researcher was connected to AWON.
The first cohort with ten participants started September 2020 and ended in November.
The experience and feedback collected during that process allowed us to introduce improvements for the subsequent cohorts. By the end of 2021 another 4 cohorts of 10 people each had successfully been through the “practitioner onboarding” and added to group.
In October 2021 the Research Network was granted finances for the first research project co-designed by AWoN practitioners and researchers: Public Theology in the Post-Migrant Society. The Role of Religion in Multi-Faith Refugee Relief.
In February 2022 a digital Europe-wide summit, A Week of Neighbours, was arranged. Thousands of people attended online workshops, seminars and the closing event that was broadcasted live. This marked the end of the programme and the start of the A World of Neighbours Network.
In May 2022, the onboarded Core Practitioners together with the research network and friends of AWoN were invited to the first annual meeting as a free standing network. The decision was taken to establish a foundation and an interim board was elected.
The AWoN Foundation was formally established in October 2022 in the Netherlands as an independent non-profit organisation. It is run with, for, and by migration practitioners.
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A World of Neighbours Stichting is registered in The Netherlands (KVK 87857421).
