Resources

Este es un documento de una serie de dos sobre la acción de las comunidades de fe para poner fin a la violencia contra los niños y niñas. Su objetivo es informar a los actores religiosos, profesionales del desarrollo, formuladores…

Journal: Migration and Society Local faith actors are deeply involved in assisting refugees around the world. Their place in refugee response, however, can be in parallel with and, at times, in disagreement with the efforts of international humanitarian organizations. Focusing…

Ending Violence Against Children Scoping Study Brief 1. This is one brief in a series of two on faith-based action to end violence against children globally. These briefs are intended for faith actors, development practitioners, policymakers, and donors. Both briefing…

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…

In 2005 Dybicz concluded his review with: “This is how far best practice research has reached: interventions based upon theory” (p. 768). The interventions which Dybicz wrote about were aimed at serving children and adolescents living and working in the…

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…

At an event on June 25, 2014, USAID unveiled an action plan “Acting on the Call: Ending Preventable Child and Maternal Deaths” to save the lives of 15 million children and nearly 600,000 women by 2020 – a milestone in President Obama’s goal to joint the world in ending extreme poverty, hunger and child death in the next two decades.

The action plan delineates how 24 priority countries will dramatically accelerate progress in maternal and child survival.

Over 70,000 Burmese refugees have resettled in the United States in the past decade. While Burmese adolescents quickly acculturate into American society, their perspectives on health are not well-known. The purpose of this study was to identify adolescent Burmese refugee…

As part of a USAID-funded global Strengthening High Impact Interventions for an AIDS-Free Generation Project, IMA’s role is to engage faith communities to increase community knowledge, and demand for and access to HIV services.

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

From 2011 until June 2016, the Australia Africa Community Engagement Scheme (AACES) program worked across eleven countries in Africa (Ethiopian, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe), in three general sectors (food security, maternal and…

This report on the observations of field staff working in a variety of countries where girls are commonly married before they are fully physically or emotionally grown. The report illustrates the causes and human costs of early marriage in 15 countries…

This article examines education policy for Syrian refugees in Lebanon, drawing on 44 stakeholder interviews conducted in March 2016. Findings indicate that the idea of children’s rights, enshrined in international conventions, combined with foreign aid, encouraged the creation of a…

The report highlights findings from our research and recommendations from the pilot of the Bridge Builder Model for humanitarian organisations and donors seeking ways to increase localisation in humanitarian response. This is a two-way, capacity-sharing model aimed at bringing together…

A common value shared across diverse people of faith is the belief that each person, regardless of age, has infinite value, dignity and worth. The responsibility to care for and protect vulnerable children also forms an explicit mandate in many…

Early Diagnosis and Treatment for Children and Adolescents Living with HIV: Urgent Call by Religious and Faith-Inspired Organizations for Greater Commitment and Action   As professionals engaged in the response to the continuing and grave challenges posed by the HIV…

For over five decades, USAID has partnered and collaborated with civil society actors, of which faith-based, faith-inspired and local community organizations play a vital role towards achieving developmental goals. The United States writ large is an extraordinarily generous country. Faith-based…

Channels of Hope for Child Protection (CoH CP) is a programme methodology that motivates and builds capacity in faith communities to address harmful traditional practices toward children, to support and advocate for children’s rights, to become better child protectors, and to ultimately strengthen the local child protection system.

CoH CP relies on Scripture-based guiding principles, interactive activities and scientific information. It builds on the desire of faith leaders and communities to be better parents within their own families. More than that, it aims to ensure that children can celebrate who they are and become who they were created to be with the love, respect and help of their parents and faith communities.

Channels of Hope for Maternal Newborn and Child Health (CoH MNCH) is a programme methodology that catalyses faith communities and individuals to act on their God-given responsibility to honour, uphold and restore the dignity and value of every human being, to help ensure that even the most vulnerable experience fullness of life. Once catalysed, congregations work with World Vision to meaningfully engage with sustainable, community-based MNCH interventions and advocacy.

Child Focused Community Transformation (CFCT) is Food for the Hungry’s (FH) model for transformational development. At the heart of the CFCT model is the welfare of the most vulnerable population in most societies - children. The CFCT model grew out…

Faith leaders are well-positioned to address violence against children, but the extent to which they do so is unclear. This mixed-method study examined faith leaders’ child protection practices, attitudes towards child rights, and views around physical punishment in Senegal, Uganda,…

The Rohingya Refugee Crisis is a children's emergency. Over a five-month period, 655,500 people have fled widespread violence in Myanmar, 58 percent of which have been children. Since arriving in refugee camps in Bangladesh, many of these children have reported the…

This guide book is an update of Child Care in Islam, which was previously published by Al-Azhar in cooperation with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in the year 1405 Hijrah (1985 AD). The previous document constituted an important advocacy…

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 Christian Sermon Guide provides christian leaders with messages about maternal, newborn, and child health that can be incorporated into sermons and thus disseminated into local communities.

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…

“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…

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…

This 2014 Progress Report details the global movement to end preventable child deaths by accelerating progress on maternal, newborn and child survival. In support of the United Nations Secretary General’s ‘Every Woman Every Child’ strategy, “A Promise Renewed” brings together public, private and civil society actors committed to advocacy and action for women, newborns and children.

An Exploratory Study to Examine the Effectiveness of Community Based Ebola Virus Disease Prevention and Management Strategies in Bo District Sierra Leone World Vision Sierra Leone and Johns Hopkins University Research Collaboration on World Vision's Ebola Response in Sierra Leone.…

Promoting respectful relationships, equitable communities, child spacing and social cohesion This resource has been adapted for Gender Champions who have been trained using Tearfund’s Transforming Masculinities toolkit and are working with Muslim communities as part of the Masculinities, Faith and…

This paper examines the interplay between the destructive and healing forces within human communities, as reflected in the life of children. This work stems from over 30 years of being involved as a participant/near-miss survivor/therapist, in a society exposed to…

We recognize different faith traditions may approach matters of mental illness from different perspectives. Some faith communities may not believe that modern medicine of the sort described in this Guide can play a legitimate role in well being. The purpose…

Faith communities and faith-based organizations have a long history of caring for children and adolescents living with and affected by HIV. However, these efforts have not been well documented and hence their contributions have not been well understood nor resourced.…

Experiencias Adversas de la Niñez y Fortalezas Familiares durante la Niñez y su relación con Factores de Riesgo para la Salud La Universidad Nacional de Avellaneda y World Visión, a través de su Iniciativa Argentina se unieron para desarrollar el…

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…

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…

16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence As the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence campaign takes off, it is an opportune time to revisit the role of faith and theology in addressing domestic violence. The article discusses the…

Eagles Relief and Development Programme - Malawi How this story represents an international-local faith partnership in Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL): International Christian donor & National faith-based Christian organisation, partnerships with local churches in Malawi. Living Waters Church established…

The Early Childhood Development Program is a volunteer-implemented program that improves the holistic wellbeing of children and their families living in HIV/AIDS prevalent areas. Focus areas include child health, nutrition, and livelihoods strengthening activities for vulnerable families.

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,…

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

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  

Religion plays a significant role in the lives of most people, including nonbelievers. Religious belief systems and institutions pervade almost every segment of human society and influence attitudes and behaviors that shape how we view and relate with the world…

Violence against children is shaped by social norms which are frequently underpinned by faith-related beliefs and values. There is renewed global recognition of the role of religions in legitimating or challenging harmful attitudes and practices, and this highlights the relevance…

This toolkit is published by ACT Alliance EU, Caritas Europa, EU-CORD and Islamic Relief Worldwide  to give EU decision-makers a concise practical tool to encourage engagement of local religious leaders and faith communities in pandemic response and the post-recovery phase.…

This report provides a thorough overview of the contributions of faith-based health systems and health facilities to the provision of HIV services in Kenya. The substantial contributions of faith-based health systems to healthcare services have been well-established; however the scope…

Report of an independent mid-term evaluation of the Faiths United for Health program, a pilot program of the Nigerian Inter-Faith Action Association (NIFAA) that uses an interfaith action approach to train Muslim and Christian religious leaders to educate and motivate Nigerians to undertake behavior change in the fight against malaria. This report details NIFAA’s promising early work to mobilize religious leaders to use their influence to increase usage rates of insecticide-treated bed nets, as well as increasing other action against malaria. Produced with funding support from GHR Foundation.

The Seminar on Role of Faith Actors in Implementing the Global Compact on Refugees, that took place in Beirut on June 18, 2019, sought not only to bring together leaders and faith-based organisations from the three main sects together, but…

The December 18, 2020 event was hosted by the Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities (JLI) and co-sponsored by the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University and the World Faiths Development Dialogue (WFDD)…