About Us

FIIDI-Canada is a registered charitable organization in Alberta, Canada. We are affiliated with The Foundation for Intercultural and Interreligious Dialogue Initiatives (FIIDI) – a non-profit, non-religious, non-partisan and non-political community based organization working in Port Loko District of Sierra Leone, and Foyer pour les Initiatives de Dialogue Interculturel et Interreligieux (FIIDI) – a civil society organization working in Burkina Faso. Each organization operates independently but the vision and mission remains the same.

Arising out of a commitment to end religious and ethnic violence, FIIDI has taken an awareness (education) based approach to address and prevent religious and ethnic challenges affecting the communities we serve in Burkina Faso, Canada, and Sierra Leone. We believe that education, including education for tribal, ethnic, and religious leaders and actors, as well as youth, increase mutual respect; tolerance, and understanding while diminishing the risk that individuals could be manipulated for political purposes. We don’t give aid; we strive for dialogue and tolerance, empowering communities to stand up for peace.

Our Vision

We foster a strong community-centered platform grounded in a culture of peaceful coexistence among people from different backgrounds as a pillar for peace, stability, democracy, and sustainable development.

Our Mission

We promote intercultural and interreligious understanding and empower communities in peacebuilding activities that contribute to living together in dignity and dialogue.

Our Goals

We have identified the following goals to accomplish over a five-year period in Burkina Faso, Canada, and Sierra Leone:

Through fundraising and resource mobilization efforts, FIIDI implements these programs with local and international partners. This approach enables communities to participate in, and eventually, take ownership of our initiatives to sustain programs. FIIDI creates partnerships with local and international institutions, organizations, and associations in order to better identify and serve programs’ beneficiaries on a complimentary basis.

To follow our country strategic direction please click Burkina Faso, Canada, and Sierra Leone.

Our Approach

As capsulated in its purpose, FIIDI is making an effort to implement its set goals in the following areas:

Dissemination of up-to-date information related to cultural and religious violence, tolerance, acceptance, and dialogue from a human rights perspective through newsletters, meetings, multimedia, manuals, booklets, leaflets, and posters.

Becoming a facilitator and key player in the fight against acts of violence based on religion or belief through:

Expert Consultation
Partner activities
Seminars, workshops, and training

Support for effective and responsive advocacy and lobbying activities to promote cultural and religious tolerance, acceptance, and dialogue as well as promoting and protecting human rights, through:

Research & Documentation: Aims at purposeful monitoring, research, and documentation of acts of violence based on religion or belief and the publication of annual reports.
Advocacy: Developing effective media linkages, raising awareness about the problem of cultural and religious violence to human rights and peace activists, decision-makers and other stakeholders within Africa and around the globe to ensure better attention and timely action.
Capacity Building: Equipping FIIDI staff and other human rights and peace activists with skills that enable them to enhance the efficiency of their work and become leaders in the fight against cultural and religious violence through improved personal capacities and familiarity with national, regional and international human rights norms.
Human Rights and Peacebuilding Education: Inform, sensitize and educate the public on internationally recognized human rights and peacebuilding skills to strengthen intercultural and interreligious dialogue through workshops and the use of journals, newsletters, brochure, posters, training manuals and report.
Building Alliances: This program promotes information sharing, partnership building, hosting interns/volunteers and development of expertise at national, regional and international level for the effective implementation of our goals.

Our Activities

The mission of FIIDI is to promote intercultural and interreligious understanding and to empower communities in peacebuilding activities that contribute to living together in dignity and dialogue.