The Religious Leaders Training Course aimed to equip, train and support a network of Muslim and Christian established religious leaders (mentors) and emerging religious leaders (mentees) with appropriate gender balance to develop and take local ownership of initiatives to counter religiously characterized hate-speech and extremist narratives in their own communities. It was aligned to Kenya’s National Strategy to Counter Violent Extremism and relevant County Action Plans for Countering Violent Extremism. The course comprised two Christian intra-faith, two Muslim intra-faith modules and one interfaith module in each of Kwale and Garissa Counties.

Selected participants were picked from vulnerable Communities. Vulnerabilities include ‘Hot Spots’, a high number of Internally Displace People, high number of Refugees, high levels of Youth Unemployment, lack of structures or organization providing meaningful community engagement (i.e., sports clubs), a proliferation of problematic ideologies, diversity of religions, isolated or Inaccessible communities and insecure or unsafe communities due to a lack of security presence.  Local communities with Religious Leaders (Male and/or Female) of existing influence in Garissa and Kwale on a 70/30 basis in favour of women.

Religious organizations represented included Kenya Council of Imams and Ulama (KCIU), National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK), Organization of African Instituted Churches (OAIC), Evangelical Alliance of Kenya (EAK), Redeemed Gospel Church, and Kenya Muslim Development Initiatives (KMDI).