ACROSS THE NATION, WE ARE UNITED IN OUR DEDICATION TO CREATING DIALOGUE

Zaka Foundation for the Promotion of Peace and Dialogue  (ZAPPAD) registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission in the Federal Republic of Nigeria on 9^th July, 2018  (CAC/IT/NO 114255) was born out of a burden for peace and dialogue to foster peaceful co-existence thereby enhancing nation building, freedom of religion, respect for human dignity and regard for sanctity of human lives. Nigeria and the world at large today is plagued by religious, ethnic and all forms of crisis. There is no disputing on the fact that crisis particularly religious and ethnic violence has led to stunted development, hampered nation building activities and obstructed peace and stability of every nation of which Nigeria is not left behind.

All parts of the country particularly Northern Nigeria has had her fair share of conflicts and its attending consequences. The category of conflicts exists mostly in the Northern part of the country where the main protagonists are Hausa/Fulani Muslims and Christian ethnic minorities, etc. Though the causes of religious violence differ from one environment to another, but the targets and effects has remained the same, viz. women and children and destruction of lives and properties respectively. The spate of this violence in the past decades has resulted in varying degrees of Internally Displaced Persons, violation of Human rights and Gender Based Violence. Hardly does a day pass without news of killings and destruction of properties worth billions of naira. The audio-visual, print and social media are awash with gorry pictures of people gruesomely killed and the female folks/children heartlessly abused.

The founder who is a religious leader, a Fellow (African Region 2018 cohort) trained by King Abdullah Bin Abdul Azeez Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID), and a member of the Central Coordination Council with the Interfaith Dialogue Forum for Peace (IDFP); in addition to several trainings gotten from his years of experience as the State Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Kebbi State Chapter, and other trainings on peace and Dialogue; was moved by passion for peace to start this Organization.

The organisation targets the youths, women/children and religious leaders (and any stake holder as the case may be). The reasons are: The Youths are usually used as stooges to disrupt peace, the women/children are usually at the receiving end of each crisis and religion has always been the cause of strife while the religious leaders are the only group accorded high respect enmasse in this generation.