Resources

Religions for Peace (RfP), the global multireligious network, is a founding partner of the Interfaith Rainforest Initiative (IRI), which focuses on mobilizing religious actors to protect the critical tropical forest basins of the Amazon, the Congo, and Southeast Asia. WFDD…

This review outlines the findings of a literature analysis conducted by the World Faiths Development Dialogue  on behalf of Religions for Peace, focused on the intersections between religion, gender, and climate change in three rainforest regions: The Amazon, Congo Basin,…

Religions for Peace and the World Faiths Development Dialogue explore the manner and extent that both latent and manifest gender roles are reflected in the approach to the Interfaith Rainforest Initiative and its management. By probing this often-neglected dimension of…

The current policy brief highlights the significant potential that religious teachings and religious teachers and clerics can have in combating intimate partner violence (IPV) and how this could be leveraged by means of a case study and select published literature.…

The 2022 Evidence Summit brought together more than 430 faith actors and faith-based organizations (FBOs), donors, and peacebuilding practitioners across 12 unique sessions to explore evidence on strategic engagement and partnership with faith actors and FBOs in the peacebuilding, development,…

Niger is a secular country with a Muslim majority. The communities live in harmonious peace and cultivate the spirit of living together regardless of ethnic or religious differences. Freedom of worship is a reality in the country. However, in recent decades,…

In a bid to promote a peaceful society, free from violent extremism and all forms of violence, young women peace efforts have been greeted with physical assaults and other forms of abuses, capable of affecting them mentally. This is besides…

Religion is a positive force for peacebuilding and preventing violent extremisms (PVE). Indeed, religious institutions and actors play an important role in building peace yet underutilized instruments in the prevention and resolution of violent extremisms. The objective of this research…

The distinctive roles of women and youth, as well as the various entities which support them, deserve particular attention. Religious actors play especially significant yet often poorly understood roles in responding to the pandemic emergencies. The European Union funded AHA!…

The disruptions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic have challenged social cohesion across the world but with particular force across the South Asia Region. Heightened intergroup tensions are linked in historical factors and to inequalities but in the current crisis a…

Women Leading Change emerged out of the 2021 17 Rooms flagship process- a partnership between The Rockefeller Foundation and The Brookings Institution. In Room 5, led by Blessing Omakwu and Jean Duff, we explored the opportunities to accelerate the positive…

The G20 Interfaith Forum (IF20), which has convened annually since 2014, brings important dimensions to the G20 process. It shares some features with other engagement groups but has distinctive aspects that relate, above all, to the widely diverse landscape of…

COVID-19 is a tragic and overwhelming story of a global health crisis that shook the world leaving a trail of suffering and death. According to the WorldOMeter the global rates of infection and deaths continue to rise and as of…

Lessons from civil society organizations funded by the UN Trust Fund to end violence against women Learning from practice brief series: Issue No. 2 This brief aims to explore why and how to engage faith-based and traditional actors in VAWG…

This report evaluates contemporary interreligious dialogue activities in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq. In order to do so, it introduces a theoretical framework for analyzing interreligious dialogue activities in the Middle East and presents a cross-national analysis of contemporary dialogue…

An Exploration of InterAction's NGO Members' Interfaith Collaboration Religion has long been a conduit for charitable acts and work within the NGO sector. Because of similar values and principles, members of the faith community have a strong and inherent bond…

This publication aims to highlight the actual and potential roles of faith actors in contributing towards an effective and holistic response to child displacement in Europe and Central Asia. These roles range from providing shelter and other material support to…

Report following the ‘From Faith to Action’ online conference, 10 - 11 December 2020 The “From Faith to Action” initiative focuses on children escaping conflict, persecution, natural disaster or poverty, and brings together UNICEF and stakeholders from faith-based communities who…

A CSW Side Event hosted during the 65th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, where speakers shared their experiences, challenges and potential solutions for working as / or with religious actors to further gender equality and…

2020 G20 Interfaith Forum May 27, 2020 The COVID-19 crisis highlights the urgent need for G20 leaders to support and protect tropical rainforests. Destruction of these forests poses an existential threat to the future global climate: deforestation results in emission…

A G20 Interfaith Forum Policy Brief (Draft) October 12, 2020 Hate Speech: A Global Phenomenon that demands collaboration and engagement of religious and non-religious leaders In a continuously globalising reality, hate speech has increasingly become a powerful factor in the…

A new Kiswahili language publication called “Utangulizi wa Sheria ya Kimataifa ya Kibinadamu ya Kiislamu” (“Introduction to International Humanitarian Law in Islam” / “muqaddimah fi ‘l-qanun ad-duwali al-insani fi ‘l-islam”), a reference work that was authored in Arabic by Professor…

“Prayer was the rope of survival.” “Religious needs are my primary needs.” “I wish I had been asked.” These statements were shared by displaced women in Iraq, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey in three independent, coordinated research studies in 2019 led…

Praxis Series Paper No. 11 is written by Rick James. It focuses on the Mothers’ Union (MU), an international Christian organisation. Founded in 1876, MU aims to support families around the world. Between 2017 and 2019, MU undertook a major,…

Series on Preventing Violence against Women During the COVID-19 Pandemic Guidance Note 5 provides programmatic suggestions for adjusting your SASA! program to better align with, and address, emerging realities during the pandemic. Note: we use “SASA!” to represent all SASA!…

In the absence of any effective medicine or vaccine, COVID-19 remains a global threat. Social and political sciences inform us about patterns of behaviour among individuals, communities, societies and states in times of crisis and conflict. In such situations, policymakers…

Becoming One is a religious couples’ counselling programme designed to prevent intimate partner violence (IPV). It is delivered by Faith Leaders who teach communication skills, emotional regulation, shared control over finances, sexual consent and pleasure. Couples attend 12 in-person group…

Learning Exchange with Jessica Baumgardner-Zuzik from Alliance for Peacebuilding June 17, 2020 Presentation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TH7pVwINFk&feature=youtu.be Jessica Baumgardner-Zuzik, Senior Director of Learning & Evaluation at Alliance for Peacebuilding, presented on the Eirene Peacebuilding Database, AfP's #CreativityInCrisis video series, and the Effective Inter-religious…

The aim of this cross-sectional study is two-fold. First, it investigates the barriers experienced by sexually exploited Cambodian women when integrating into Christian churches. Second, it explores pastors’ perspectives towards sexually exploited women integrating into churches. A mixed-method approach to…

Council on Foreign Relations Webinar, May 14, 2020 Mary Evelyn Tucker, senior lecturer, senior research scholar, and codirector of the Forum of Religion and Ecology at Yale University, discusses religion and climate change. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbzc3XxzZZ4&feature=youtu.be You can access the webinar and transcript here.

“We will walk every step with our Children” Southern African Faith Leaders Commit to Respond to Teenage Pregnancy We, the faith community in Southern Africa (African Traditional Religion, Baha’i faith, Christian and Muslim) view children as whole human beings who…

The Interfaith Alliance for Safer Communities conducted a survey with faith leaders across the world to gauge their levels of awareness and understand the challenges that they face, in order to develop the right tools and knowledge resources to better…

This manual is designed to help trainers in conducting workshops for religious leaders and women leaders of faith on gender-based violence and HIV. Training is organized into four sessions and includes instruction for various activities to be included as part…

Tremendous progress against AIDS over the past 15 years has inspired a global commitment to end the epidemic by 2030. Of the 37.6 million people living with HIV, 20.9 million are accessing HIV treatment as of July 2017. Through support…

The Public Health, Religion and Spirituality Bulletin is a publication of the Public Health, Religion, and Spirituality Network. The Bulletin aims to be a place to highlight research, teaching, and practice, past and present; share ideas, resources, and opportunities; house…

Things have changed dramatically for the world’s women since Christian Aid was founded 75 years ago. On the whole, this change has been for the better, with significant progress on women’s rights and working towards gender parity. We have seen…

Introducing the Network for Dialogue: EMPOWERING INTERRELIGIOUS AND INTERCULTURAL DIALOGUE FOR THE SOCIAL INCLUSION OF MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES The Network for Dialogue was initiated in 2018 by the International Dialogue Centre (KAICIID) in order to bring faith and civil society…

iDove – Interfaith Dialogue on Violent Extremism Training and Training of Trainers Manual including Teaching Material In February 2017, the African Union Commission’s Directorate of Citizens and Diaspora Organizations (AUC-CIDO) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, commissioned…

Lo’u Si’omaga ma le Tusi P a’ia Contextual Bible Studies Tatala le Ta’ui a le Atua1 presents a series of Bible studies rooted in the importance of being relational in the Samoan culture. It embraces the belief that the self…

Journal of Advanced Research in Humanities and Social Science The Nigerian nation is faced with a lot of social, political, economic and religious problems. One of the social problems facing the country today is human trafficking. This paper examined the…

2019 Kofi Annan Faith Briefings at the United Nations July 15, 2019, New York City The 2019 Kofi Annan Faith Briefing was held during the High Level Political Forum and guided by the theme, “empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and…

Kenya AIDS Strategic Framework (KASF) 2014/15 – 2018/19 embraces a multi-sectoral approach to HIV programming and emphasizes the importance of participation and accountability in every sector in the HIV response. This calls upon communities to respond to HIV within their…

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…

This note on the 2019 G20 Interfaith Forum highlights what happened, with some analysis of key points. This ambitious effort aimed to bring together a “network of networks”, linking religious actors working on global issues within the broad framework of…

May 1st to 3rd, 2019 Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, Eigtveds Pakhus, Copenhagen At the closing of last year’s GAM held at Château de Bossey, Switzerland, the PaRD Steering Group gratefully accepted the invitation by PaRD member Ministry of…

Islamic Relief is working to end the harmful practice of female genital mutilation/cutting by raising awareness of gender justice from an Islamic human rights perspective.

UN Environment held its fourth Environment Assembly during 11-15 March 2019, with the themes of sustainable consumption and production, and innovative approaches to solving environmental issues. The Faith for Earth Initiative held its thematic dialogue in the Faith and SDG…

The articles that compose this publication come from presentations at the Women’s Human Rights Advocacy Training for Faith-Based Organizations and articulate both the religious aspect, grounded in theology, and the human rights dimension, with its standards and working methods. The…

Rethinking relationships: from violence to equality in the DRC, evidence brief. Key findings of endline survey undertaken across 15 communities in Ituri Province in the Democratic Republic of Congo about faith, gender norms and SGBV in conflict affected communities.' UK government…

This report results from a year-long study researching and analyzing gender based violence within Muslim Canadian Communities. Specifically, it looks at how the concept of honour and shame can have both negative and positive consequences with regard to either encouraging…

Policy brief based on the experiences of young members of the Anglican Student Federation in South Africa. Focuses on what role, if any faith has played in the construction of gender norms. It looks at the importance of context, rural…

The December 2016 international conference held in Nanjing to discuss the theme “Religion, Values, Ethics and Development” was one of the few in China to bring together both scholars of religion and faith-based development practitioners. Co-organized and hosted by the…

Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a global issue that affects women and girls from different backgrounds, faiths, and races. In recent, years, there has been an increased focus on Muslims and the Muslim faith. Reyhana Patel's research has…

In Africa, more than four in every 10 women of reproductive age want to avoid pregnancy. However, 47% of African women who do not want to become pregnant either use no contraceptive method or use traditional methods, which typically have…

Gender-based violence (GBV) is a form of gender injustice which affects millions of girls and women in the world and is deep rooted in social gender norms and practices. GBV is a leading cause of death, illnesses and disabilities of…

This is the third and final part of Footsteps series based on the biblical idea of jubilee. In the Old Testament, the jubilee year was intended for the restoration of the Israelites’ relationships with God, one another and the land.…

Mozambique’s Interfaith Program against Malaria (PIRCOM) developed the volunteer, Christian and Muslim sermon guide. They provide basic facts about malaria prevention and health seeking behavior, providing scriptural texts in support of the actions that a family should be taking. These…

Association, Dissociation, Kindness, Justice and Compassion Responses to 50 faith-based arguments against peaceful co-existence and an introductory examination of Islamic textual evidence for peaceful interfaith relations See Da'wah Insititute Website

Learning to Play Together, the initiative featured in this booklet, sought to introduce ethics and intercultural learning into physical education using Arigatou International’s Learning to Live Together programme as a foundation. It was launched in Greece in 2011 by Dr.…

Religion is a powerful force in southern Africa, affecting all aspects of daily life and health (Anderson 2001, Chitando 2007a), particularly among rural women (Agadjanian 2005). Rural churches are a center for informal social interaction, shaping attitudes and behaviors of…

The objective of the Khutbah Guide is to increase knowledge on MNCH and to assign them on providing Khutbah on MNCH issues for Friday worship. The guide encourages Religious Leaders to also use this knowledge for premarital and duple counselling,…

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…

Brief from Musawah: a global movement for equality and justice in the Muslim family, which advances human rights for women in Muslim contexts, in both their public and private lives. Also see more information on Musawah's course on Islam & Gender Equality…

Protestant Pastors Survey on Sexual and Domestic Violence June 2014 Sexual and domestic violence inflicts deep emotional, physical, and spiritual harm on the individuals who endure it. It also inflicts long-term damage to communities by reinforcing discriminatory social, economic, and…

Recommendations from the University of New South Wales Forced Migration Network, (Australia) and the Australian National Committee on Refugee Women, for amendments to Annex I: Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF), from the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, UNGA…

University of Potsdam Germany 15-17 June 2017 website: g20interfaith.org see brief here More than a hundred experts and leaders from fields ranging from economy, law, politics, religion, development to humanitarian aid, coming from 30 different countries, gathered for the fourth…

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,…

The Capacity for Interreligious Community Action program (CIRCA) was a three-year capacity-building program financed by GHR Foundation and supplemented by Catholic Relief Services (CRS). The overarching goal of the program was to contribute to human development and more peaceful coexistence…

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

In Senegal, many people are uncertain what their religious traditions teach about birth spacing and family planning. the Cadre des Religieux pour la Santé et le Développement (CRSD) is an interfaith association of Senegalese faith leaders, to promote maternal and child health…

Summary: Global One conducted an analysis on the WASH needs of Syrian women in Lebanon and Syria. Utilizing three local partners; SAWA, URDA and Syria Relief Network, Global One gained data from 836 women in refugee and internally displaced persons…

Alliance for Peacebuilding, CDA Collaborative Learning Projects, and Search for Common Ground, with support from the GHR Foundation, This guide intends to improve the practice of inter-religious action for peace, by encouraging the regular application of monitoring and evaluation tools. Religious communities have…

2017 Update Christian Aid strategy to reaffirm and renew our commitment to prioritising gender justice, especially for women and girls, throughout the organisation and in our work.

The Gender in Agriculture from Policy to Practice (GAPP) project is a pilot project (2013-2016) in the area of Gender in Agriculture that was implemented in nine municipalities of the department of Lempira in western Honduras. It was funded by…

The current crisis in CAR began in December 2012, when the northern-based Muslim Séléka forces overthrew the government, forcing then-president François Bozizé to flee the country. This led to the formation of Christian self-defense militia groups, the Anti-Balaka. Since then…

ADRA implemented a five-year project in South Kivu, DRC, called Jenga Jamaa II, beginning in 2012. The main goal of the project was to sustainably reduce food insecurity among vulner- able households in Fizi, Uvira, and Kalehe territo- ries in…

UN Women collaborated with the World YWCA to convene a discussion on religion and gender equality at the 60th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women. Led by UN Women Executive Director, Phumzile Mlambo- Ngcuka, and moderated…

Raising Voices - Uganda SASA! Faith is an initiative in which leaders, members and believers of a religion come together to prevent violence against women and HIV. It mobilizes faith communities and inspires everyone to live the faith based values…

A tenth anniversary guide for reflection and discussion The Kyoto Declaration has served as an invaluable resource for those engaged in multi-religious cooperation and advocacy for children. It explicitly recommends prohibition of corporal punishment and has provided a guide for…

The primary aim of this Resource Guide is to mobilize Faith-inspired resources to end Child Poverty. The Guide has been developed by Arigatou International's Interfaith Initiative to End Child Poverty, (End Child Poverty) - a multi-faith, child centered, global initiative…

Key messages from Islam and Christianity on protecting children from violence and harmful practices This book explores the approaches to preventing all forms of violence against children from the perspectives of Islam and Christianity. It is intended as a guide…

There is a growing awareness of the importance that faith and belief systems play in the lives of refugees, displaced persons and those affected by humanitarian crises in general. This was clearly articulated in the UNHCR High Commissioner’s Dialogue on…

Organisers: Working Group on Children and Violence of Child Rights Connect - Global Partnership to End Violence against Children - Office of the Special Representative to the Secretary General on Violence against Children - Office of the High Commissioner for…

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…

102 UNICEF offices provided information about their extensive work with faith communities over recent years. Partnerships included sensitization activities, capacity development, and support for advocacy and social mobilization. The mapping report concludes: “With evidence of UNICEF’s extensive engagement with religious communities in plain view, UNICEF must now turn its attention to maximizing the benefits of its partnerships with these critical actors”

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…

The book is a result of men and women of God reading the word of God and daring to ask critical questions about how we can be more faithful to God in how women and men relate. The book has been developed…

Religious leaders are in a prime position to change harmful attitudes about family planning. They are some of the most important and respected opinion leaders in Ugandan communities who can help shift social norms. By virtue of their status and…

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…

This publication aims to amplify the voices of Syrian women and add new texture to the portrait of their lives inside Syria and in neighbouring countries. To download this publication, and other UNFPA resources, click here: http://www.unfpa.org/publications  

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…

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.

Religion, Women’s Health and Rights: Points of Contention, Paths of Opportunities - a joint UNFPA –NORAD Paper This Report looks at the religious arguments around some of the most sensitive and contentious SRH-related issues, from the perspective of the major…

The World Faiths Development Dialogue, with financial support from the GHR Foundation, selected Kenya for a case study to identify and better understand the roles religion plays in building peace, with particular attention to inter-religious relations and collaboration. Kenya offers…

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 policy brief on "The role of faith communities and organisations in prevention and response to sexual and gender-based violence" was completed by Elisabet Le Roux, Stellenbosch University, on behalf of the Joint Learning Initiative on Faith & Local Communities Gender-based…

Religions for Peace and UNICEF, with input from religious leaders and
child protection specialists, have developed this guide as a tool to support
religious communities’ work to promote child rights and to prevent and
respond to rights violations, in particular violence against children.

Over the past decade, the issue of honour-related violence (including honour killing and forced marriage) has entered media and policy debates in immigrant-receiving countries like the Netherlands, Germany, Britain and Canada. In some of these countries, media debate has instigated policy debate.

This paper analyses how media, parliaments and other state institutions, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) conceptualize honour killing and honour-related violence in order to uncover how such conceptualizations inform policy responses.