Share this article

The Inter-Religious Family Festival, set for June 29, 2024, at Kololo ceremonial grounds is a collaborative initiative involving civil society and governmental entities. It celebrates traditional African family values, promotes interfaith harmony, and aims to advance peace and development through education, community building, and cultural appreciation.

President Yoweri Museveni will be the chief guest at the Inter-Religious Family Festival, slated to take place on June 29, 2024, at Kololo ceremonial grounds.

A collaborative initiative of civil society and governmental entities including the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda, Global Peace Foundation.

The Government of Uganda and its key ministries, Parliament of Uganda, Private Sector Foundation Uganda, Family Peace Association, Uganda National Promoters Federation, Integrity Uganda, Uganda Musicians Association, and Global Peace Women, the festival will explore best practices in interfaith peace building and highlight the power of deep-rooted African traditions of family and spiritual values to advance freedom and a vision of a twenty-first century African renaissance.

The festival is organized to celebrate traditional African family values and diverse religious and cultural heritage and traditions; foster respect and appreciation for religious and cultural diversity for building stable and secure families and Africa; promote interfaith and intercultural harmony and cooperation for sustainable peace and development; and support development efforts through model programs and best practices in family strengthening, community peace-building, values and skills-driven education, public health, youth development, environmental conservation, and local tourism.

The festival also aims to strengthen parenting skills development, nurture and put in place a mechanism for conflict resolution in families, communities, and at the region level

Establish an annual family festival as an inclusive space for dialogue with key stakeholders, including adolescents and young people, duty bearers, policymakers, and governments for Africa’s Renaissance; remote and popularize a values-based, competence-driven, and innovative rooted education model as a pathway to the African Renaissance; and establish a Religious Freedom Roundtable as a platform for deeper reflection on the role of faith institutions and kingdoms as catalysts for peace and revival of the African Renaissance.

According to the President of the Global Peace Foundation Uganda Chapter, Peace Service Ambassador Milton Kambula, the festival will highlight the significance of traditional extended family values and interfaith cooperation in advancing freedom and the vision of a twenty-first century African renaissance.

“We are meeting to celebrate the vision of one family under God, a path for reviving the African Renaissance. We are motivated that once again Africa is becoming the center of world peace, and kings and religious leaders uniting and building the capacities of families and communities can help us raise a new population that can build a new Africa for the future,” he said recently.

In African religious and cultural traditions, the family has always been a sanctuary of love, guidance, and support. This understanding is central to traditional African extended family relationships and is expressed in the Ubuntu philosophy that affirms, “I am because we are, and since we are, therefore I am.”

“The spirit of Ubuntu is the foundation of traditional African values that all religious communities cherish and uphold today,” said the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda in a statement.

“This festival seeks to inspire all people to uplift our shared origin and spiritual heritage in our common humanity. Participants will celebrate their spiritual and human inter connectedness and together demonstrate that regardless of tribe, religion, or nationality, we are all one family under God,” it added.

The festival will advance a deep-rooted understanding of traditional African values of family and faith as a means of mitigating identity-based conflict, youth radicalization and extremism, and other social ills that limit progress on the continent.