The state of evidence on the effective religious/multireligious/interreligious action

Research insights can help us understand how interreligious action is effective or can become more effective. The evidence base is the collation of all the research that helps us understand this topic. But what is the state of this evidence base on interreligious action? Do we have enough good research on the topic or are we struggling to get a reliable evidence-based picture of what’s going on? This roundtable session will bring together debates on the state of the evidence on religions in peace and conflict research, asking both what we know about interreligious action and what can be done to improve our evidence.

Questions we will address include:

What is the state of evidence on the effectiveness of engaging with multi/interreligious actors in HDP?

What are some of the findings and outstanding questions on the state of evidence from the previous Evidence Summit?

What are the ongoing debates about the state of the evidence? Is there or isn’t there a paucity of evidence on HDP activities of multi/interreligious actors?

What is the difference between how donors and multi/interreligious actors perceive and understand what “evidence” is?

How can religious actors from non-western and non-Abrahamic faiths contribute to the evidence base? Is there evidence in other languages and epistemologies that we are overlooking or missing? What are they?

What emerging research is forthcoming? What are some of the intersectional and interdisciplinary analyses of the complexity of religion in HDP?

What are some methodologies that are appropriate to evaluate the impact of multi/interreligious actors?