Based in Nigeria, but available to interested participants worldwide, Faith & Freedom Africa offers in-person Freedom of Religion or Belief (FORB) education and training events, a tailored FFA Good Governance Short Course, and an online human rights course designed to raise awareness of, and support for FORB in Africa and further afield.
It is this collection of resources and materials that has garnered recognition from the UFUK Dialogue Foundation in collaboration with the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR), Nigeria.
The Peace and Dialogue Awards were organised as part of activities around the 2026 International Day of Peace, themed “Investing in Peace For Everyone, Everywhere, Every Day”.
At the ceremony in September 2026, The President of Ufuk Dialogue Foundation, Mr Emrah Ilgen, said the Peace and Dialogue Awards were established to recognise individuals and organisations whose contributions promote peace, reconciliation, humanitarian service, education, youth development and peaceful coexistence. When FORB is a reality, all society benefits and can live in harmony. “Investing in peace means investing in relationships,” he said.
Felix Samara, FORB trainer for FFA says the recognition is an important milestone of recognising the organisations work. “It acknowledges the growing impact of FFA’s engagement in promoting freedom of religion, interfaith dialogue, peaceful coexistence, and stronger relationships among faith communities.”
Speaking at the awards ceremony, the Director-General of Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR), Dr Joseph Ochogwu, called for deliberate and sustained investment in peacebuilding, specifically across Nigeria. Ochogwu noted that there needs to be a move from reactively responding to conflicts after they had erupted, to investing more resources in prevention, early warning, peace education, mediation, justice reform and community resilience. “To invest in peace is to move from rhetoric to resources, from reaction to prevention.”
Faith & Freedom Africa is pursuing and fulfilling the peacebuilding mandate through its offering. Recognition at the Peace and Dialogue Awards, has served a call to further deepen the work, says Samara. “The organisation is increasingly becoming recognised as a credible voice within Nigeria’s religious freedom and interfaith peacebuilding space. Our priority going forward will be to consolidate this credibility by expanding grassroots FORB engagement, strengthening youth and women’s participation, supporting faith leaders as advocates for religious freedom, and developing sustainable platforms for interreligious dialogue across Nigeria and the continent.”
