Rt Hon Tony Blair
Quartet Representative to the Middle East & Patron of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation
Rt Hon Tony Blair served as British Prime Minister for 10 years between 1997 and 2007. During a decade in office he was at the centre of domestic and international politics. His experience in Northern Ireland, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan highlighted the growing importance of faith in this globalised world. As faith motivates billions of people around the world, understanding its trends and its impact can be as important as understanding a nation’s GDP, its business and resources.
Mr Blair started his own spiritual journey whilst a student at Oxford in the 1970s. Throughout his life he has witnessed the positive contributions of faith communities through efforts such as the provision of healthcare, education and aid in developing countries; and the Jubilee Debt campaign, the great mass movement which did invaluable work to help the poor of the world. But he has also seen the negative ways that faith can motivate people.
In order to provide a positive alternative to those who use faith as a means to divide, Tony Blair established the Tony Blair Faith Foundation immediately after leaving office. The role of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation is to help harness the power of religion in a positive way and to promote peaceful co-existence between people of different faiths. Mr Blair believes interfaith action can help to address the challenges globalisation brings and that good relations between different faiths are key to tackling prejudice, misunderstanding and extremism.
There are three main projects run by the Tony Blair Faith Foundation; The Faith and Globalisation Initiative, Face to Faith and Faiths Act.
The Faith and Globalisation Initiative was established in September 2008 and is a global network of universities which undertakes academic teaching and research to help emerging leaders, decision-makers, opinion-formers and the wider public analyse the impact of religion on the modern world. Mr Blair was appointed honorary Fellow at Yale University where the first ever course on Faith and Globalisation was established, and taught its course for 3 years. The course has since been taken up by 7 other universities in 5 continents across the world.
Mr Blair’s commitment to education in office has continued since. The Foundation’s global schools programme, Face to Faith, is now active in 16 countries across the world. The programme uses modern technology to enhance dialogue and understanding between young people of different faiths and cultures.
He also supports multi-faith young leaders. The Tony Blair Faith Foundation’s 30 Faiths Act Fellows spearhead a global health campaign to mobilise different religious communities to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals. He was closely involved in drawing up these goals while in office and believes that faith communities have an important role to play in helping to meet and honour the commitments made in 2000.
Tony Blair was appointed as Quartet Representative to the Middle East in 2007. His other charitable work includes: the Tony Blair Sports Foundation, the Africa Governance Initiative and the Climate Deadlock initiative. He also Chairs the JP Morgan International Advisory Council.
