**2. Methodology**

The data that inform this research were collected through two projects. The first was *The Faith-Based Conflict Prevention and Early Warning Scoping Project*, a collaboration between academics and the Anglican network of churches, the world's third largest church grouping. The project analysed the experiences of faith groups working to prevent conflict in Nigeria and the Solomon Islands through interviews, focus groups and participant observation at meetings and workshops, exploring what is distinctive about faith-based approaches. In the Nigerian cities of Jos and Kaduna, researchers engaged with 249 respondents across 30 organisations in 32 sessions, observing interfaith organisations as well as Christian-led initiatives. In Honiara, Solomon Islands, researchers interviewed 23 leaders from faith organisations and other entities, interacting with 98 additional respondents through workshops and faith group activities. Respondents included members of the Melanesian Brotherhood, an Anglican religious order of lay brothers unique for its large size and relative youthfulness, as the option to renew vows intermittently makes it a popular choice for young men to live in a spiritual community for a fixed time. In both contexts, respondents included a mix of ordained faith leaders and lay people, peacebuilding practitioners and development workers, community members involved in peacebuilding activities, and donors and policymakers.

Data also come from a second project, *From Early Warning to Response in Preventing Violence: Transforming Conflict Through Citizen Engagement*, in collaboration with the Action Support Centre (South Africa). Through participatory action research, the project investigated the e ffectiveness of information, communication and technology (ICTs) in conflict early warning and early response initiatives. This paper includes insights from Zanzibar, a semi-autonomous region of Tanzania, where the local partner was the Zanzibar Interfaith Centre.

A full analysis of the conflict dynamics in each area is beyond the scope of this paper, but extensive conflict analyses were conducted with partners in each country to situate the research, mapping conflict issues, key stakeholders and peacebuilding assets. In all cases, respondents identified multiple competing forms of conflict. In Nigeria and Zanzibar, respondents identified religious dimensions to conflicts, though this was not necessarily the central issue. Often, religion was the fault line upon which opinion was divided or a surface narrative framing other concerns. In Zanzibar, for instance, a prescient issue for respondents was unease with rapid modernisation and Westernisation, epitomised through mass tourism. Zanzibaris receive minimal financial benefit from this, whilst struggling to cope with the associated uncontrolled migration and perceived moral decay (Keshodkar 2013). According to local partners, religion intersects by providing an Islamic moral traditionalism as an alternative to "Western" immodesty and decadence. In all areas, religion was identified as one of many identity markers influencing peace and conflict dynamics, alongside others such as ethnicity, indigeneity and class.

For both projects, the interviews, focus groups and workshops were designed by a mixed team of academic researchers and faith-based research partners. For each session, responses were transcribed by two researchers who later validated their findings with each other. Data were grouped into themes by the team, and synthesised findings were later presented to a wider group of external stakeholders, both faith-based and secular, who have experience and expertise in the sector.

As the literature review will show, the academic exploration of faith-based forms of conflict prevention is in its infancy. An empirical approach, based on case studies, was chosen to gain an overview of the substance, extent and impact of faith-based conflict prevention initiatives. The format of knowledge exchange with faith-based partners was also important, as it provided ways to bridge contextual and thematic expertise, mitigate asymmetric power relationships, avoid extractive research, recognise colonial legacies and ultimately "do no harm". The methodology reflects a move towards participatory approaches and knowledge networking with religion and development (Bompani 2019) and peace studies (Verkoren 2006) more generally. These forms of research come with challenges, notably the possible influence of partners' biases on the research process and findings. Researchers were mindful of this and introduced checks and balances, including systematic research design and external feedback, but ultimately found that working within mixed academic/practitioner and secular/faith-based teams supported a research culture that was conscious of positionality, reflective and frank in assessing successes and failures.

In analysing faith-based forms of conflict prevention, both projects avoided seeking grand theories and narratives to "explain" the phenomenon. Scholars have often highlighted the pitfalls of making sweeping statements regarding the roles of religious actors in peace and conflict, instead recognising the overall "ambivalence of the sacred" (Appleby 2000; Philpott 2007). Ultimately, this article seeks to identify what faith-based forms of conflict prevention can be, rather than what they definitively are.
