COMECE hosted a roundtable debate on the concept of resilience and the respective roles of policy-makers and faith-based actors in this process. The meeting gathered 30 stakeholders from European External Action Service, European Commission, European Parliament as well as UN and faith-based actors from the field.
(Credit: COMECE)
In view of the current geopolitical challenges and of EU’s strategic priority to foster resilience of countries and their citizens, COMECE together with the Baha’i International Community, the Conference of European Churches (CEC) and the Quaker Council for European Affairs invited policy-makers and field actors to jointly reflect on ways of putting the concept of resilience into practice.
From COMECE’s perspective, resilience should be understood and implemented as a people-centered approach focusing on the human being, family and local community. By strengthening their resilience, the EU can make a significant contribution to integral human development and sustainable peace.
Churches and religious organisations as long-standing grassroots actors can play an important role in fostering human resilience. In this regard, the participants reflected on ways of tapping into the social and moral resources contained within religious networks and of effectively engaging them in resilience policies.