Resources

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.…

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…

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,…

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 MRC Policy Brief looks at: The Scale of the problem; Why the problem? and What can be done?

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…

Rape as Torture in the DRC: Sexual Violence Beyond the Conflict Zone analyses evidence from 34 forensic medical reports written by specially trained doctors at Freedom from Torture and indicates that rape is being used as torture by state security forces in prisons across the country to stop women speaking out about politics, human rights and, in some cases, rape itself.

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…

The Collective Action for Adolescent Girls Initiative (CAAGI) is a two-year pilot funded by Christian Aid, and jointly implemented by Development and Peace Initiative (DPI) and Gender Awareness Trust (GAT). The project aims to improve significantly the choices and opportunities…

The Collective Action for Adolescent Girls Initiative (CAAGI) is a two-year pilot funded by Christian Aid, and jointly implemented by Development and Peace Initiative (DPI) and Gender Awareness Trust (GAT). The project aims to improve significantly the choices and opportunities…

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.

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…

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…

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…

This article draws on a public lecture ‘Recent Scholarship in Religion, Ethics and Reconciliation: Shame, Silence and Human Dignity’, at the Faculty of Theology, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, 29 August 2012.

hildfund Australia and Papua New Guinea have launched a report looking at violence (including sexual violence) against women and children in Papua New Guinea and calling for an end to the violence.

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…

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…

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…

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…

This manual has been created to guide trainers in equipping faith leaders to address the harmful traditional practices (HTPs) of female genital cutting (FGC) and early marriage (EM) with their congregants. As such, the manual has been tailored to meet…

Center for Interfaith Action on Global Poverty The center, with funding from the GHR Foundation, published an evaluation and analysis of NIFAA's early work in 2011, two years after NIFAA's founding. The report demonstrated NIFAA "offers a sustainable and replicable…

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…

This report summarizes the USAID | Health Policy Initiative, Task Order 1 project titled The Role of Religious Communities in Addressing Gender-based Violence and HIV, which was designed and implemented by Futures Group International and Religions for Peace. Recognizing the importance of collaborating to prevent and reduce gender-based violence (GBV) and HIV among women and girls, the Initiative partners formulated the project to improve the capacity of religious leaders and faith-based organizations (FBOs) to respond to GBV and its links to HIV.

Following the declaration that President Mwai Kibaki was the winner of the Kenyan presidential election held on December 27, 2007, a period of post-election violence (PEV) took place. In this study, we aimed to identify whether the period of PEV in Kenya was associated with systematic changes in sexual assault case characteristics.

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…

The purpose of this study was to explore the needs of survivors of sexual violence in South Africa. Despite sexual and gender based violence receiving increasing public attention globally, those affected remain
largely silent. Rape statistics do not begin to explain what victims experience and many survivors, particularly those who experience rape by their partner, do not report the rape. Survivors are often invisible and isolated. The wider public can have a negative, judgmental attitude towards them, particularly if they are commercial sex-workers.

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…

Early and Child Marriage, AJWS India Restrictive beliefs about gender often make it difficult for girls and women in India to gain access to high education or the job market. These barriers reinforce the idea that a girl’s best option…

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…

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…

As part World Vision's external launch of 'It takes Nepal to end child marriage' campaign, and given the causes and consequences of child marriage, discussion on various aspects were conducted in three parallel thematic sessions. The discourse book captures the…