Italian Ambassador in Kenya Explores Collaboration on “matters of Interreligious dialogue”

The Italian Embassy’s interest in IRDIS and the agenda of interreligious dialogue, Fr. Maganya said, is informed by “the current global situation, this conflict and radicalization and all these terrorists and violent extremism” in which “the issue of religion is at the forefront.”

According to Fr. Maganya, a member of the Society of the Missionaries of Africa, the initiatives by IRDIS that have brought together members of different religions “especially Christians and Muslims” are appealing to the Embassy of Italy in Kenya because such encounters “diffuse tensions so that people come to know each other for peace building.”

IRDIS, officially inaugurated last November, has brought together members of different religions in organized conferences, the most recent one being a one-day interreligious convention that targeted women in view of empowering them through education.  

It was a planned visit after the Italian Embassy in Kenya, which supports TUC's Institute of Social Transformation (IST) for the program of MBA Global Business and Sustainability in partnership with the University of Milan in Italy, contacted the administration of IRDIS, Fr. Maganya disclosed in his interview with ACI Africa.

The particular interest during the Tuesday courtesy call, Fr. Maganya further said, was how the activities by IRDIS are “making impact and how the Italian Embassy in Kenya can also support some of our programs in terms of peace building, cohesion.”

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"There was interest shown in learning more about interreligious dialogue as a tool for peace building," IRDIS Advisor, Matthias Eder who coordinated the question and answer session during the visit told ACI Africa.

He added that the interest of the Italian Embassy in Kenya seems to fit in the plans by IRDIS to establish “a short course on interreligious dialogue and its history in Kenya, East Africa and beyond for embassy staff, international civil servants, Non-governmental Organizations staff that are not coming from within Kenya."

The Ambassador was also interested in learning about findings by IRDIS on relations between “the Muslim community in Kenya and (members of) other faiths,” Mr. Eder, a native of Germany, said.

The Ambassador was particularly keen to hear about the recent conference by IRDIS organized under the theme, “Religious Minority Rights and (Inter-)Religious Literacy from a Women’s perspective,” Eder recalled.

The interest seems to be informed by the fact that “the Italian embassy and the Italian government is chairing the efforts for interreligious dialogue in the world within the European Union,” the IRDIS Advisor reflected during the Wednesday, January 29 interview with ACI Africa.

On the way forward after the Ambassador’s courtesy call, the Director of IRDIS, Fr. Maganya revealed, “I see the next step will be a memorandum of understanding, a framework within which we can collaborate.”

“We were also trying to see if we can have a cultural exchange,” the native of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) cleric said, adding that he foresees a “collaboration that will capture the interest of the institute and that of the Italian embassy in Kenya.”

In its diverse programs, IRDIS also collaborates with the governments of Germany through the Agiamondo civil peace service program, Austria, as well as the Council of the Embassy of Iran.

Magdalene Kahiu is a Kenyan journalist with passion in Church communication. She holds a Degree in Social Communications from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA). Currently, she works as a journalist for ACI Africa.