OMNIA seeks to become a powerful and effective peacebuilding network in the world. It will establish Interfaith Peacemaker (IP) teams as public institutions in numerous villages and neighborhoods in the countries where it works.
The teams comprise religious and civic leaders and people of faith trained to build power by acting on issues that arise from the ground that are urgent, relevant and winnable.
Consistent victories enhance their power, which they use to dismantle structures of injustice and violence, and to build alternative structures that result in justice and peace.
By 2027, OMNIA will launch 1000 IP Teams in 12 countries.
Our Mission
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OMNIA is an anti-supremacist organization.
Please click here to read OMNIA's Declaration on Anti-Supremacy.
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Everything that OMNIA does arises from the context and is not imposed from above or outside. Even values such as justice, anti-supremacy, and anti-patriarchy that on the surface may seem clear, are in fact, complex and contested at the local context. Each context has different priorities and value judgments to which OMNIA pays attention.
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“Listening to, Learning from and Living in deep solidarity with those in the Margins”
This principle articulates three essential skills for OMNIA participants. Interconnected with contextuality, everything that OMNIA does is weighed against the L3M principle.
The following is a helpful definition of margin: “Margin is not a place of weakness or denigration. Margins are places where new creative and controversial energies are generated. Those typically do not come from the centers of power and privilege whose main concern is to maintain the status quo.” Margins are “places pulsating with critical activity, alive with argument, controversy and creative discourse” (Gayatri Chakravorthy Spivak, 1990).
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OMNIA will not impose or offer an outsider’s sense of charity or advocacy. However, it recognizes the power imbalance between contexts (for example, the capacity of US based OMNIA teams to raise money far exceeds the capacity of those in other contexts). Those from more privileged contexts will not impose their wishes on others in marginalized contexts but find solidarity with those less privileged in their own self-interest, working with them to build their self-determination and agency.
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This is what IP Teams do, and in doing so, they demonstrate social cohesion. IP Teams are becoming a recognized social infrastructure in local communities. They demonstrate egalitarian values and stand against systemic oppressions, dominations, and violence.
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IP Teams have a high degree of discipline, accountability and peer-agitation built into the structure. Team members are clear about the goal that is before them, and work in partnership with each other. Self-critical reflection that seeks to improve behavior and performance is valued.
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OMNIA recognizes the complexity of systemic power dynamics. Systemic oppressions surreptitiously infiltrate people’s minds and social structures. Conscientization exposes this oppression, domination and violence, and creates strategies to work against it.
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Key to building power is relationships. OMNIA’s peacemakers will build relationships not only with individuals, but will build alliances with organizations, networks and movements, particularly those movements of resistance to the oppressive status quo.
Our Values
Every Village a Peace Village
Our goal is to establish an Interfaith Peacemaker Team in every village in the countries where we work.
Just as villages across the world have a religious communities, a school, a clinic, and a police station, they need an Interfaith Peacemaker Team.
That provides religious leaders and people of faith a structure with which to collaborate across traditions, join with civic, political and business leaders and work together to build power for peace.
