Resources

Mobilisation of Local Faith Communities Learning Hub Webinar: Sustainable Development Goals and role of religion and local faith communities  

Chapter exceprt from Jörg Haustein & Emma Tomalin, 'Religion and Development in Africa and Asia' in Routledge Handbook of Africa–Asia Relations ed. by Pedro Carvalho et al. London: Routledge, 2017, pp. 76-93 See also - Religions and Sustainable Development Network

Adaption and innovation: meeting humanitarian needs in fragile and conflict contexts There is no simple roadmap for operating in fragile and conflict-affected contexts. The nature of these contexts requires constant learning, adaption and revision. And although contexts vary considerably, World…

World Vision's series of Church Engagement Fact Sheets to provide a learning resource that helps World Vision staff understand how we partner with churches to accelerate change in communities to transform children’s lives. The  document includes a total of 66…

A review of two pilot projects for children and young people Since 2014, World Vision has operated a humanitarian response programme supporting internally displaced Iraqi families in the Kurdish Region of Iraq (KRI). Within this, WV KRI has been implementing…

James Choi and Lincoln Lau for Mobilisation of Local Faith Communities Hub Webinar in May 2018  

The Role of Local Faith Communities in Refugee Response 08.05.2018 Resources for refugee response are increasingly squeezed as the number of displaced people around the world grows. Yet within local communities there are already strong bases of diverse human, cultural…

This note to religious communities developed by Arigatou International for the World Day of Prayer and Action, outlines the scope and consequences of child marriage. It also provides examples of practical action, which religious communities can take all year long…

Report developed by the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children on armed violence in the community. See section 5.6.1 for the role of community and religious leaders and actors.

Aiming to actively engage the faith based organizations as key actors to end up the violence against the children, the Mozambican Religious Council established the Religious Platform for Child Wellbeing in Mozambique with World Vision support. The Platform will focus…

The impact of the Interfaith Peace Platform on the peace process in the Central African Republic Geneva Liaison Office of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) Together with Imam Oumar Kobine Layama, president of the Central African Islamic Council, and Archbishop…

DECLARATION “Conference on the Role of Religions and Religious Leaders in Confronting Corporal Punishment of Children in the Family and Educational Settings” Qom – October 20, 2011 During 19th - 20th October 2011, religious leaders from different faiths in Iran…

To a large extent, governance capacity and community resilience explains the nature and structure of the response. In this report, three case studies – from Angola, Mali, and Honduras – of actual responses to climate change and conflict are presented.…

Frequently, community based strategies include engagement with local faith leaders. However, there have been few systematic attempts to document how faith leaders themselves define their roles in these initiatives. This study examined local faith leaders and their spouses, in flood…

Policy brief from Tearfund- Queen Margaret University Research Social connections and levels of trust among displaced and settled communities in Kurdistan Region of Iraq Full article on the study

Local Faith Communities in Urban Displacement: Evidence on Urbanization and Localization Brief Author: Olivia Wilkinson Design: Stacy Nam Key points: Local faith actors should be recognized as legitimate “local,” “civil society” actors A greater familiarity with the structures of local…

JLI Mobilisation of Local Faith Communities- March 2018 webinar slides Webinar Agenda: Hub Introduction and 2018 Work (Andrea Kaufmann) Role of Local Faith Actors in the context of the localisation agenda (Catriona Dejean) Lauren Kejeh, Tearfund and Lydia Tanner, The…

Guidelines for church leaders in areas where disasters (earthquakes, fires, flood etc.) are common. Chapters include:  Introduction Chapter 1 – The local church and disasters Chapter 2 – Organising ourselves Chapter 3 – Risks, needs and capacity assessments Chapter 4 – Displaced people…

“Churches’ Commitments to Children” is an open invitation to the WCC member churches and partners to address the needs of children as an integral part of the ecumenical commitment to the pilgrimage of justice and peace. The present document has…

Can a Protestant Christianity education program teaching about health, livelihoods, religious values impact poverty? New working paper published from groundbreaking randomized control trial (RCT) to measure impact of faith and religion in the Philippines. This trial was an initiative between Innovations for Poverty…

Tearfund qualitative research summary with survivors of sexual violence Who: 485 women survivors were interviewed through a participatory research process undertaken in six countries between 2013 and 2016. Where: These countries were Democratic Republic of Congo (also in French), Central…

Engaging with Faith Groups to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls in Conflict-affected Communities Globally, one in three women have experienced physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is particularly prevalent and hard to…

Brief from the Center for Security Studies in Zurich Religion is a factor in conflict and further understanding of the relationship is needed to resolve these conflicts. Challenges and opportunities in mitigating religious conflicts and effective approaches.  

Working effectively with faith leaders to challenge harmful traditional practices Study Speakers Dr Elisabet le Roux is the Research Director at the Unit for Religion and Development Research Dr Brenda Bartelink is an anthropologist and scholar in the Academic Study of Religion…

The Forum on Localizing Response to Humanitarian Need was held on Oct 16-19 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The Forum was organized as a follow on from the World Humanitarian Summit, responding to and reinforcing the localization of aid/Grand Bargain discussions, and…

Abid Gulzar from World Vision on behalf of the Advocacy Working Group for the Localization of Humanitarian Response Forum to the ICVA meeting in Bangkok in December  

Based on the Fez Process As efforts to prevent atrocity crimes and their incitement are most likely to succeed when different actors are working in collaboration, the Plan of Action also includes recommendations for other actors, including States and state…

The Role of Religion in Preventing Violence November 8, 2017 The Cordoba Foundation of Geneva, in partnership with the Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers, the Peace Research Institute Oslo, Inclusive Peace & Transition Initiative, and the World Council of Churches, is…

Alliance for Peace Annual Conference: Peace Now More than Ever Session: Beyond a Leap Of Faith: Evaluative Reflections on the Practices of Monitoring and Evaluating Inter-Religious Peacebuilding October 13, 2017 Panelists Peter Woodrow, Executive Director of CDA Collaborative Learning Projects James Patton,…

SECULARIZATION VS THE ROLE OF RELIGION IN HUMANITARIAN AID Until the late seventies secularization was understood, almost universally, to be irreversible, equated with modernization and progress. Religious institutions seemed to have lost much of their influence. Religion had little or…

The aim of the presentation is to highlight the role of faith-based actors in conflict related humanitarian response by drawing on specific experiences from Norwegian Church Aid's work and partnership with two of our many local FBO partners namely The…

This report presents the conclusion of a preliminary study aimed at shedding light on the role of Sunni Muslim religious discourse in the Syrian crisis and understanding how to assess this discourse and turn it into a tool to end…

Progress Study on Youth, Peace and Security Prepared by the Soka Gakkai International October 2017 In March 2011, the northeast region of Japan known as Tohoku1 was hit by a natural disaster of enormous magnitude: The Great East Japan Earthquake.…

The following policy brief focuses on lessons learned around attitudes toward engaging faith more broadly.

This case study will briefly examine MERATH’s localized approach, including a spotlight on child-focused programming in education in emergencies in Lebanon and child protection in Syria, providing quantitative and qualitative evidence of its community-level impact based on focus group discussions,…

The aim of this report is to highlight evidence regarding the roles and impact that Local Faith Communities (LFCs) play in relation to urban refugees, with the aim of informing interconnected conversations around localisation and urbanisation. The international community is…

World Vision Central African Republic (World Vision CAR) has been implementing a variety of social cohesion and peacebuilding programmes as a part of its larger response to an ongoing humanitarian crisis. World Vision began operations in the CAR in 2014.…

The current crisis in Central African Republic (CAR) is often framed in religious terms, with a ‘Muslim’ Seleka group seizing power in the majority-Christian country in early 2013, then with ‘Christian’ militias called the ‘anti-Balaka’ rising up to counter this.…

10/3 Joint Learning Webinar For more information on the webinar see post below https://jliflc.com/2017/09/joint-learning-webinar-oxfam-america/ [embed]https://youtu.be/rvA0qTXXM48[/embed]

This paper seeks to examine how Palestinian children’s agency integrates Islamic religious idioms in daily life to combat Israeli oppression. While children are often seen as objects that are merely subjected to political and cultural processes, this research shows that…

The Organization of African Initiated Churches (OAIC) and International Care Ministries (ICM) have partnered up to learn from each other on monitoring, evaluation, and learning for organizations working through local faith communities. We spoke to Rev. Nicta Lubaale (OAIC) and…

A curated list of academic references around faith and ending violence against children. This is an ongoing resource list that will be updated periodically.

Although many crime victims seek support from members of the faith community, faith leaders may feel unsure of their abilities to assist. This paper describes findings from a descriptive needs assessment that preceded a national project to link faith-based organizations…

Survey responses of 5,417 women were studied to obtain information about childhood sexual abuse, religion, and mental health. There were 653 (13%) who reported being sexually abused while growing up. When studying those who were sexually abused, it was found…

Partners: Tearfund and Queen Margaret University, supported by the Universities of Duhok and the American University of Kurdistan, in the Duhok Governorate Location: Kurdistan Region of Iraq Religions involved: Yezidi and Muslim research participants. Tearfund is a Christian faith-based organization. The research…

The  Review of Faith and International Affairs has just published a special series on Reconsidering Religious Radicalism See Full Journal Here   Includes the following articles: Reconsidering Religious Radicalism: An Introduction to the Summer 2017 Issue Judd Birdsall & Drew Collins Radicalism,…

Report conducted by Arigatou International GNRC and Goldin Institute (GI), on Experiential Stories of Former Child Soldiers (FCS), it is noted that the human race is losing close to 20,000 children daily on brutal wars. Children are conscripted against their…

Studies in Muslim-Christian Cooperation This publication presents case studies on interreligious action, highlighting specific approaches and tools that CRS staff members created and the networks they helped forge. They address shortcomings as well as successes and delineate lessons garnered from everyday experience. They…

This contribution from an insider Muslim author provides peace workers with a few resources from Islamic tradition that could be used when addressing a conflict rooted in an Islamic context. It presents briefly a number of basic Islamic concepts that…

Promotion of a culture of peace and interreligious and intercultural dialogue, understanding and cooperation for peace 26 September 2016 Report of the Secretary-General The present report provides an overview of the activities that have been carried out by the main…

Quranic schools (QS) play a central role in the education system in the Islamic world. Despite their relatively small numbers, QS teachers play a major role in introducing Islamic values to the public. Thus, working with QS becomes a key…

Interfaith initiatives respond to the violence and uneasy tensions of our times and interfaith efforts aim to confront the root causes, especially those that touch on religious beliefs and practices. Interfaith work looks to identify solutions in common values and…

Islam, like all religions, strongly influences social, economic and political spheres of life. Tenets that are perceived to be Islamic shape the status of and relationship between women and men. These tenets result in women – because they are women…

Role of Religion and Religious Leaders in Farmer-Pastoralist Conflict in Plateau State: An Inter-Religious Peacebuilding in Northern Nigeria (IPNN) Qualitative Research Report In the context of persistent, low-intensity conflict, which has characterized Nigeria’s Middle Belt for the past decade, Mercy…

From analysis to action: World Vision’s journey of rapid context analysis in humanitarian emergencies This briefing explains one of the tools that World Vision has developed in order to assess contexts rapidly: ‘Good Enough Context Analysis for Rapid Response’ (GECARR).…

This report provides an overview of the engagement with faith-based actors and faith-related activities by the members of the United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on Engaging Faith-Based Actors for Sustainable Development

Effective Inter-religious Action in Peacebuilding (EIAP) Guide for Program Evaluation Peter Woodrow and Michelle Garred, with assistance from Diana Chigas, and contributions from David Steele and Ricardo Wilson-Grau CDA Collaborative Learning Projects The Alliance for Peacebuilding and its partners in…

Presentation from Maryam Dada Ibrahim at Faith Works Africa: Partnerships for Peace and Prosperity on Conflict Prevention, Migration and Counter Violent Extremism. Includes next steps and recommendations in engaging faith based groups.

Alliance for Peacebuilding (AfP), in collaboration with CDA Collaborative Learning and Search for Common Ground (SFCG) recently convened a group of 30 leading experts to discuss how to better measure the effectiveness of inter-and intra-religious action for peacebuilding. The meeting…

Click here to read what IMA World Health is doing related to Faith-Based Organization (FBO) Engagement: http://imaworldhealth.org/faith-based-organization-fbo-engagement/

Statement from FBOs regarding unmentioned faith in the Sendai Framework for DRR 2015-2030 during WCDRR 2015 in Sendai Japan. To see the document, and other publications by the Humanitarian Forum Indonesia, click here: http://www.humanitarianforumindonesia.org/Download/SeminarMaterial.aspx

The Syria crisis alone is the worst humanitarian crisis since the second world war. The following eBook, shows a basic  explanation of the refugee crisis, how life as a refugee destroys children's future and steps anyone can take to make a difference. To…

This case study provides an overview of how a peace movement led by lay religious women inspired people across ethnic and religious lines and helped bring an end to the Second Liberian Civil War (1999-2003). The study examines this Liberian…

Since the conflict began, more than 1,900 Palestinians – including women and children – have died and hundreds of thousands have fled their homes. Over 1.5 million people are without reliable access to basic services and the public health system…

This case study focuses on several situations in Kenya, Senegal, and Cambodia where religious attitudes and actors are directly involved in specific challenges facing children, notably the roles that religious beliefs and religious communities play in appreciating the challenges of…

This report, published with the Cambridge Institute on Religion and International Studies (CIRIS), offers background on the January 2016 Marrakesh Declaration on the Rights of Minorities in Predominantly Muslim Majority Communities. Muslim scholars and politicians issued the Marrakesh Declaration as…

Islamic Relief report, Invisible Lives, outlining how a lack of livelihoods options, chronic underfunding and the threat of violence, is making life difficult for Syrian women refugees living in neighboring Iraq and Lebanon.

The case study reviews the religious landscape in Kenya and provides an overview of the various types of violence, pointing to the complex overlapping of ethnicity and religion. The difference between types of conflict and their causes are explored, with…

This article explores the role of Religious Leader Engagement (RLE), a capability under development in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) and operational focus of the CAF Chaplain Branch. It stands as a recent contribution to the Comprehensive Approach. Full length…

"Faith-based Interventions in Peace, Conflict and Violence: A Scoping Study" was launched at the World Humanitarian Summit on May 23, 2016 at the JLIF&LC & Soka Gakkai International Side Event "Evidence on Religious Groups' Contributions to Humanitarian Response". For more…

Report from the Second Donor-United Nations-Faith Based Organizations' (DUF II) Policy Roundtable This technical report focuses on the role of religious actors, and religious considerations in the SDG agenda, particularly as they pertain to gender equality, peaceful coexistence and security…

In 2016 the Secretary General presented a report titled  One Humanity: Shared Responsibility. The report identifies five core responsibilities that will be the focus of discussion and proposed action. The JLIF&LC has prepared evidence briefs linked to each of these responsibilities. Each…

The Online Information Platform for the WHS Side Event hosted by JLIF&LC, Soka Gakki International, and others is available at www.jliflc.com/whs.

This article underlines the need to move beyond the exhausted notion of all religions preaching peace to studying the specific manner in which violence is legitimised in each religion. This is the first step liberal secularists need to take if…

With the unexpected and disconcerting reemergence of religion as a first order cleavage in global politics, scholars and policy makers have been scrambling to bring some analytical order to the phenomenon. In this article, the author seeks to show why…

Article by Saferworld Bangladesh, January 2016 By involving religious leaders and using their influence in the local community, a Saferworld project in Bangladesh has been able to more effectively address safety and security issues and promote peace, write G.M. Shoeb…

Reflections and recommendations on "Working on Religion, Peace and Conflict in Theravada Buddhist Countries" arising from an exchange between peacebuilding practitioners held 19-21 March 2015 in Bangkok, Thailand. The reflection contains four pages. They include highlights and summarized recommendations.

The aim of this Toolkit is to help lower the discomfort of USAID staff in making the analytical and programmatic connections between conflict, religion and peacebuilding. The Key Issues section provides additional arguments for why development practitioners should—and can—address religion…

Melton, Gary B. PhD; Anderson, David PsyD In both popular and professional discourse, religious institutions are often perceived as sources of risk to children either as places where children are unusually vulnerable to abuse or as belief systems that sometimes…