Publications

Using knowledge to counteract fundamentalism

Hivos partners from all over the world report an increase in fundamentalism. And with it, growing suspicion, discrimination and violence between different parts of the population. Hivos counteracts this trend with its knowledge programme ‘Promoting Pluralism’. For example, with four new working papers.

‘Some people are convinced that their norms and values are superior. They are so certain of this that they want to force others to live by their standards. They are no longer open to different perspectives. This fundamentalism leads to verbal and physical violence in many countries in the world, often with death as a result,’ explains Ute Seela, coordinator of Promoting Pluralism. ‘Particularly women, gays, lesbians, trans genders and people with HIV/AIDS are generally the victims of this fundamentalism. Hivos counteracts this trend with the option of pluralism: a way for people to accept, respect, discuss and attempt to understand their mutual differences. A pluralist realises that everyone has the right to be different.’

Solutions

Hivos works together with research partners from Indonesia, Uganda, India and the Netherlands in Promoting Pluralism. The programme is part of the Hivos Knowledge Programme, which is aimed at ‘knowledge activism’: creating, transforming, sharing and applying knowledge for social development. It integrates a wide variety of kinds of knowledge, ranging from academic insights to everyday experience of NGOs, in order to solve complex issues. These solutions are intended for social organisations and policy makers. Various working papers are published as part of Promoting Pluralism. For example about ethnic fundamentalism as a cause of the riots in Uganda, Indonesian methods to encourage pluralism or the relationship between religion and other value systems.

Download the working papers and contribute to the debate.