Tony Blair said: "As changemakers for current and future generations, young people have the opportunity to establish a new vision of inter-religious interaction that places protecting the welfare of the world's poorest at its centre."
Training begins with a two-month intensive initiative that includes fieldwork with primary health care partners fighting deaths from malaria in Africa. Fellows will return to their home countries for 8 months to mobilize young people of faith to raise awareness and resources to promote the Millennium Development Goals. They will particularly focus on fighting deaths from malaria.
"In their 10 months of work, Faiths Act Fellows will reach tens of thousands of young people of faith with essential education about the devastating impact of malaria and the ways faiths communities can work together to make a real difference. Inspired by their different religious traditions, they will motivate and equip young people in congregations, schools and university religious student groups to lead their faith communities in spreading awareness of the MDG challenge, raising life-saving funds for the fight against deaths from malaria and promoting a new inter-religious dialogue of life and action.
To commemorate and join with others working towards the MDGs on this day, the Tony Blair Faith Foundation held a panel discussion in Los Angeles to talk about the positive contribution that young people of all faiths are making, and can make together, towards achieving those common goals. The interactive session, which took questions from the audience and from those submitted online in advance, discussed how more could be achieved by people coming together across faith divides in pursuit of these common goals, and ideas on how to take action together.
