The World Interfaith Harmony Week is held annually in the first week of February, and is celebrated from the 28^th of January to the 4^th of March, as a platform to promote culture, peace and tolerance between different religious and spiritual traditions.

This interfaith dialogue is a contribution to the World Interfaith Harmony Week by bringing together diverse religious and spiritual leaders and faith actors to provide theological reflections on the importance of nurturing the spiritual development of children in the early years and the role of religious communities to protect children from violence and promote their holistic well-being.  

Children’s spiritual development is an often under-researched and missing element in holistic early childhood development, and a key domain for building prosocial skills and nurturing ethical behaviors. Through doing so, children learn to live together, appreciate diversity and develop a sense of interconnectedness with themselves, others, nature and God, the Divine, Transcendent or Ultimate Reality.

As a direct contribution to interfaith efforts and to nurturing children’s spiritual development, the International Consortium on Nurturing Values and Spirituality in Early Childhood for the Prevention of Violence has developed a Toolkit to nurture the spiritual development of children in the early years as a contribution to their protection from violence and for the promotion their holistic well-being. During this webinar, religious leaders and faith practitioners come together to discuss how we can challenge violence against children and explore spiritual development as a central tenant of holistic child development that acts as a protective factor against violence and contributes to their well-being.