Promoting Pluralism and Peaceful Coexistence Through A Master Trainer Program

This paper reports on the results of the HardwiredOrganization's Master Trainers program, focusing on the Master Trainers' experience with training their first cohort of teachers. A mixed method research model was used to collect quantitative data on the teachers' pre-post change in their understanding of freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief, and qualitative data on the effect of the training on both the master trainers and the teachers they trained. In this paper we investigate how the Master Trainers moved from being a trainee to training others. Findings indicate that the process and the conceptual change in the cohorts trained was positive especially in light of constraints of an international pandemic causing extreme limits on movement to and within the area. Not only did the Master Trainers gain greater confidence in their own ability to train teachers but found the impact of the training to have a powerful effect on many who had no idea that they have the right to practice their religious beliefs and that there are human rights that allow them to do so, including many forms of religious expression that they thought were not permitted in public and they should do only in secret. At the same time the teachers trained showed significant pre post gains in conceptual change regarding knowledge, attitudes, and behavior about the human right to freedom of conscience, religion or belief