African Great Lakes Initiative

Since its launch in October, 2005, the CFR has identified the Great Lakes region of Eastern Africa as a key geographical area of its outreach focus.  The reasons for this stem from Duke Divinity School’s already-established ties to communities in Uganda, Rwanda and the Sudan, as well as the fact that this deeply Christian region continues to experience some of the worst cases of war, genocide and poverty.

Against this background, the CFR organized a gathering of 45 key Christian leaders in Kampala in November 2006 to learn more about needs and to dream together about possible ways in which the search for peace, healing and reconciliation in the region could be strengthened and deepened in partnership with the Duke CFR.

The gathering has since become an annual event. The most recent gathering was in Burundi in January 2009, with participation from 100 African leaders from Christian-based organizations and institutions involved in ministries of reconciliation from Uganda, Sudan, the DRC, Rwanda, Kenya, Burundi, and Tanzania.