Faith Communities

The World Economic Forum recognizes the importance of integrating religious perspectives into efforts for shaping global, regional and industry agendas.

Since 2001, the World Economic Forum has been engaging various faith communities in inter-faith dialogue, most notably through our Community for West-Islam dialogue, a dynamic community of business, political, religious, media and opinion leaders engaged in dialogue to promote understanding across different segments of society in the West and Muslim world. During this period, we have made significant achievements through constructive dialogue, support for action-oriented projects, awards to recognize significant contributions in this domain and, most recently, an Annual Report on the State of Dialogue.

The current work of the Faith Communities at the World Economic Forum has expanded beyond the focus on interfaith dialogue, embracing a broad agenda that explores the interactions between faith, religion, business, society and politics. The religious perspective is now integrated in a structured manner into the majority of the World Economic Forum's core work through the following workstreams:

Community of Global Religious Leaders
This influential global community engages leaders from the world's major religions in dialogue with each other and other stakeholders shaping the global agenda, such as political leaders, business leaders, Young Global Leaders and NGO leaders.

Global Agenda Council on Faith
The Global Agenda Council on Faith is a community of thought leaders and experts exploring the challenges that lie in the interactions between religion and society, religion and peacebuilding, and religion and business, and works on identifying the most efficient and actionable solutions to these challenges.

Benchmarking Series
In 2008, the World Economic Forum launched the first in the series of benchmarking reports focused on the state of dialogue between the Islamic and Western worlds Islam and the West: Annual Report on the state of Dialogue. In 2009, this report will embrace a broad agenda, exploring the key issues in the area of business, religion and multicultural workforces.

Community Partners
- HRH Prince Hussam bin Saud bin Abdulaziz al Saud, Chairman, Zain Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia
- Khalid Abdulla-Janahi, Chairman, Ithmaar Bank, Bahrain

Community Supporters
- Khalid A.Alireza, Executive Director, Xenel Group, Saudi Arabia



Contact

For further information, please contact:
faith@weforum.org