In November 2023, Search launched SHIFT, a 14-month initiative supported by USAID under the Asia REF project, that aims to empower youth and religious actors to respond to issues of freedom of religion in Indonesia.
Context
Although Indonesia’s constitution guarantees religious freedom, followers of religions outside of the six ‘official’ religious denominations that receive state support and governance assistance often face discrimination in areas like civil services, education, and employment, with notable violations that include disrupted worship and discriminatory laws. Identity politics exacerbate these issues, especially around elections, leading to increased blasphemy accusations and violence. The Religious Harmony Forum (FKUB) aims to mediate conflicts but is criticized for underrepresented minorities and women. In addition to those underrepresented minorities and women, those handling the religious freedom on the ground have been dominated by senior religious leaders and giving little to no space for youth to get involved. As a result, the approaches being used to address the issues lack creativity. To address this issue, there is a need to strengthen interfaith dialogue that involves progressive youth including those from underrepresented minorities and women in promoting inclusivity suggested to improve religious freedom and harmony.
Theory of Change
IF youth and local religious actors are equipped with the skills and knowledge to promote positive narratives and protect religious freedom AND engage in sustained collaboration, THEN they are likely to take action to promote and protect religious freedom, resulting in increased awareness, sensitivity, and respect for religious rights among target communities, THEREBY leading to greater religious freedom and harmony and a reduction in violations of religious freedom.
Core Objectives and Activities
Along with local partners, Search seeks to strengthen the capacity of youth leaders and religious actors to promote religious freedom and tolerance through a transformative approach and respond to religious freedom violations in three target areas (Greater Jakarta, Greater Bandung, and Cirebon). This will be achieved by first strengthening the respective capacities of young leaders and religious actors, supporting youth to find creative ways, using arts and culture to build interfaith tolerance, and training religious actors to use alternative/ non-adversarial approaches to resolve disputes (alternative dispute resolution, or ADR), particularly religiously motivated ones. Capacity-strengthening activities will be followed by opportunities to practice their newly-gained skills in the field, where Search will support groups of youth to collaborate with communities and religious actors in the creation of meaningful works of digital art and culture that promote FORB and tolerance, as well as providing opportunities for religious actors to collaborate with youth in developing ADR initiatives in their communities. This collaborative approach will allow youth and religious actors to innovate and deliver concrete impacts to their communities.
Expected Results:
- Youth leaders and religious actors increase their knowledge and skills in promoting religious tolerance and rights.
- Youth leaders and religious actors collectively take action to protect religious freedom or belief in target areas.
- Youth leaders contribute/ catalyze to promote religious tolerance through creative approaches on social media.
