Resources

Over the past several decades, an increasing number of refugee children and families have involuntarily migrated to countries around the world to seek safety and refuge. As the refugee population increases, it is becoming more important to understand factors that…

War, conflict, political uprisings and other hardships displace countless families each year. More than half of the world’s estimated 19 million refugees are children (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR], 2007). Some children grow up in refugee camps and…

The Syrian crisis has brought to the forefront the enormous challenges that families face in the context of war and displacement. To date, over 7 million people are internally displaced; at least half of those internally and externally displaced are…

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…

End of Project Management Report September 2016 to February 2018 Children as Peace Builders in Damara Sous prefecture Locations: Gbago, Dombe, Bossele, Damara, Binima, Oumba, Tangue, Vangue, Gbozo, Guerengou Project Goal: To increase access to livelihood assistance to conflict-affected children, especially…

Several US and international migration and refugee focused organizations have recently issued a statement on the global compacts to present a framework for ongoing dialogue with policymakers and other government officials.

The Vatican's Section on Migrants and Refugees (Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development) has prepared this 20-point plan in response to the global compacts.   For more from the Vatican Migrants & Refugees Section see www.migrants-refugees.va

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…

Making the Global Compact on Refugees work for children Recommendations following Draft 1 of the Global Compact on Refugees

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…

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.…

Interaction Between the Two Compacts is a Protection Solution Statement by the International Catholic Migration Commission Global Compact on Refugees High Commissioner’s Dialogue on Protection Challenges 12-13 December 2017 by Mantalin Kyrou, Policy Officer' Other faith-based contributions

As submitted for Formal Consultation 1

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…

HIV services provided in the country of Kenya and the percentage of those services provided by the faith-based sector.  This work was carried out as part of a Joint Initiative between the U.S President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the…

Church of Uganda Training Handbook CHURCH OF UGANDA A TRAINING HANDBOOK FOR RELIGIOUS LEADERS AND CHURCH INSTITUTIONS CHRISTIAN-BASED APPROACH TO: Maternal and Child Health Sexual Reproductive Health HIV and AIDS Gender Gender Based Violence Family Planning This hand book offers…

Lutheran World Federation- UNHCR Thematic Discussion on the Global Compact, Nov 2017 Insights from the inter-agency project to provide 'faith-sensitive' guidance to the humanitarian sector through the tool ‘A Faith-sensitive Approach in Humanitarian Response: Guidance on Mental Health and Psychosocial…

General Remarks by H.E. Archbishop Bernardito Auza Apostolic Nuncio, Permanent Observer of the Holy See
First round of the intergovernmental negotiations on the Global Compact on Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration: Preamble, Vision and Guiding Principles

Maximizing a Health System Approach for an Improved Epidemic Response Recommendations from IMA’s Experiences Containing Ebola Outbreaks in the DRC IMA World Health’s work on the frontlines of strengthening fragile healthcare systems often brings us in contact with new infectious…

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.  

ZERO DRAFT 5 February 2018

The World Evangelical Alliance, Global Task Force on Refugees - "Proposals for a Global Compact on Refugees" submitted to UNHCR, December 2017.

The advent of a signed peace accord in Colombia between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels and government brought the promise of an end to five decades of armed conflict. Unfortunately, on October 2, 2016, in a referendum…

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,…

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…

Good health underpins social, human, and economic development, as well as security. The emergence and spread of drug-resistant disease destabilizes this foundation. Drug-resistant disease, also known as antimicrobial resistance (AMR), occurs when microorganisms (such as bacteria, fungi, viruses, and parasites)…

Although faith based organizations (FBOs) have had a long presence teaching health personnel and delivering health services to many rural and remote populations in the developing world, their poor visibility for this work can be due to several factors. FBOs…

Thematic discussion 4
Panel One: How can we support voluntary and sustainable return?

Statement by Croatia
14th November 2017Thematic discussion 4
Panel One: How can we support voluntary and sustainable return?

Statement by Croatia
14th November 2017

Panel Two: How can we ensure a whole-of-society response to large movements of refugees and protracted situations? Statement from SOVEREIGN MILITARY HOSPITALLER ORDER OF ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM OF RHODES AND OF MALTA

Religious beliefs and leadership can play important if complex roles in family planning decisions at many levels, but there are significant gaps in understanding how these influences affect family planning policies and programs. The World Faiths Development Dialogue (WFDD), in…

Joint Media Report This Report of the Joint Media Project of the Soka Gakkai International (SGI) and the International Press Syndicate (INPS) Group is a compilation of independent and in-depth news and analyses by IDN from April 2016 to March…

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…

On 9 September 2013, crisis broke out in Zamboanga, with rebel group Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) advancing on the city. The ensuing fighting between the MNLF and the Armed Forces of the Philippines, resulted in the occupation and subsequent…

This manual is designed for facilitators of the ‘Do No Harm for Faith Groups: Christian-Muslim Edition’ workshop for partners. The participants in these workshops are religious leaders and faith-based organisation (FBO) staff who work closely with the host organisation. The…

This manual is designed for facilitators of the ‘Do No Harm for Faith Groups: Christian-Muslim Edition’ workshop for partners. The participants in these workshops are religious leaders and faith-based organisation (FBO) staff who work closely with the host organisation. The…

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…

Community-led Health and Wellbeing Project in partnership with the Diocese of Niassa in Mozambique since 2011. This project is funded through the Australian Government’s Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP) as well as from donations from Anglicans in Australia. The goal of this project is that communities…

Thematic Paper for the Progress Study on Youth, Peace and Security Prepared by the Soka Gakkai International September 2017 Despite the internationally shared understanding that nuclear weapons are inhumane and thus should never be used, they continue to be framed…

The Tropical Storm Beatriz that passed through the state of Oaxaca in Mexico left more than 150 landslides, mudslides and floods causing human casualties, material damages and leaving entire communities uncommunicative for more than 2 weeks. The drinking water was…

Food for the Hungry has partnered with USAID to implement a Title II DFAP to improve livelihood and health and nutrition of individuals within vulnerable households in Eastern DRC. FH’s creative social and behavior change communication techniques, and innovative market-oriented…

A special issue focusing on both operational and ethical approaches to healthy timing and spacing of pregnancy, along with several other articles on faith based partnerships and developing community health workers. Click here for full journal

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…

Development in Practice has recently published a special edition issue on Faith and Health in Development Contexts- July 2017. See Full Journal Here Preview of Articles in the special edition: Guest introduction: faith and health in development contexts Christopher Benn Faith…

The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) has offices in 17 countries across Asia, the most disaster- prone region of the world. ADRA recognizes the importance and urgency of increasing resilience to disasters through an inclusive, integrated community-managed disaster risk…

This toolkit presents an overview of how youth programs across the globe accommodate religion, identifying positive outcomes and challenges from case studies in the field. The toolkit starts by examining the different types of programming engaging young people and their…

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…

This manual is designed for facilitators of the ‘Do No Harm for Faith Groups: Christian-Muslim Edition’ workshop for partners. The participants in these workshops are religious leaders and faith-based organisation (FBO) staff who work closely with the host organisation. The…

Episcopal Relief & Development Nets for Life Program Have you ever wondered: how do mosquito nets get to the homes beyond the end of the road? Follow along to learn how Episcopal Relief & Development and its partners in Ghana,…

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…

A Basic Guide for Busy Practitioners Peacebuilding, governance and gender (PBGG) integration constitute a core competency for CRS and our partners around the world. In addition, CRS considers protection, especially of vulnerable groups at risk of exploitation and abuse, to be…

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) developed this training in response to very practical needs in the field and has implemented it successfully in two distinct settings: (1) a conflict context in which development grants would be forged by a consortium of organizations, and…

In South Kivu in the Eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), various church actors have chosen to involve in advocacy and mobilization through a formalized civil society structure known as La Société Civile (LSC). In this article,…

The purpose of this study is to assess the barriers and enablers to community acceptance and implementation of safe burials in Sierra Leone. The Ebola virus continued to spread in Sierra Leone partly because communities were initially resistant to Burial…

The purpose of this report is to document and discuss the asset-based work of Mukuru on the Move (MOTM), a program developed in collaboration between the Interfaith Health Program (IHP) at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA and St. Paul’s University,…

Collaborating for Sustainable HIV Community Care The Faith, Health Collaboration and Leadership Development Program (FHCLDP) is a multi-sector team-based model that builds partnerships among FBOs, HIV treatment programs, and civil society organizations. The collaboration supports sustainable, community-based HIV prevention and treatment services…

On May 28-30, 2012, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) organized a regional consultative forum in Limuru, Kenya, PEPFAR and Faith-Based Organizations: Partners in Sustaining Community and Country Leadership in Global HIV/AIDS. In collaboration with the Centers…

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…

Religious leaders could help improve uptake of male circumcision in HIV-prevention effort Education of religious leaders had a substantial effect on uptake of male circumcision, and should be considered as part of male circumcision programmes in other sub-Saharan African countries.…

Presentation by Dr Jeff Haynes Centre for the Study of Religion, Conflict and Cooperation, London Metropolitan University, UK at the Third Annual Symposium: The Role of Religion and Faith-Based Organizations in International Affairs in NY. Focus: How do FBOs affect…

The presentation offers an overview the World Council of Council of Churches' Ecumenical Framework for Peace. The 27 pages of the PowerPoint contain diagrams, figures and texts that explain the relationships between ecumenism and peace under the umbrella of the…

The U.S. and other Western governments are now turning to strategies known as countering violent extremism, or CVE. According to the White House, CVE addresses “the root causes of extremism through community engagement.” Instead of fighting violent ideology with bombs,…

The scale of the 2014 Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in West Africa presented unprecedented challenges for the international humanitarian community, and learning from the successes and failures of the response effort is important for designing future crisis interventions. Lessons…

On World AIDS Day, the World Council of Churches launched Leading by Example: Religious Leaders and HIV Testing, a interfaith campaign that encourages religious leaders to inspire getting tested for HIV and especially to lead by example and have themselves tested for…

In July 2015, The Lancet published a series on faith-based health care. The Executive Summary states that “this Series argues that building on the extensive experience, strengths, and capacities of faith-based organisations (eg, geographical coverage, influence, and infrastructure) offers a…

Stakeholder Health: Insights from New Systems of Health, was developed in 2016 with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, is a review of best practices in the areas of community health improvement, as well as clinical and community partnerships,…

Authors: David Boan, Benjamin Andrews, Elizabeth Loewer, Kalen Drake, Daniel Martison, Jamie D. Aten Wheaton College, Humanitarian Disaster Institute, Psychology Department Abstract: Distributive justice is an important theme in community and international psychology, overlapping with many related concepts of peace, equity,…

World Relief (WR) adapted its proven Care Group approach, a peer support approach traditionally used for child survival interventions, to address TB prevention, detection, and support for treatment adherence in southern Mozambique from 2009-2014. A cascade training model designed to…

The study titled Tradition- & Faith-Oriented Insider Mediators (TFIMs) in Conflict Transformation – Potential, Constraints, & Opportunities for Collaborative Support,  conceptualises and contextualises a specific set of religious and traditional peacemakers as tradition- and faith-oriented insider mediators (TFIMs). The study…

In May 2012, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), in collaboration with St. Paul’s University (SPU) and Emory University’s Interfaith Health Program (IHP), hosted a consultation on the role of faith-based organizations (FBOs) in sustaining country and…

Over the past years in Senegal, AJWS has supported 17 grassroots organizations building a movement to bring lasting peace to the region of Casamance, which has been plagued by violent conflict for over 30 years. To achieve peace and better…

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…

Gender, Religion and Humanitarian Responses to Refugees Policy brief summarises key points and recommendations for policy, practise and research emerging from debate and discussion that took place at the workshop- 13th May 2016 It is a time for open and…

The  Review of Faith and International Affairs has just published a special series on Religion and Development See Journal here edited by Jill Olivier with a grant from JLIF&LC through DFID support Includes the following articles: Innovative Faith-Community Responses to HIV…

This article will examine hybridity as it relates to three different spheres of influence within the operational environment. Firstly, experts increasingly focus on today's hybrid threats often stemming from radically inspired terrorism. Secondly, whole of government efforts to stabilize and…

In January 2014, during the worst violence in the Central African Republic’s most recent civil war, Mercy Corps launched a unique humanitarian program in the country’s two most socio-economically vital cities, Bangui and Bouar. The program set out to help…

This file contains the message of Shahabeddin Mohammadi Araghi, Under Secretary General,  Iranian Red Crescent Society, speaking on behalf of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. The message included the Fundamental Principles, which outline the ethical basis…

This case study on the 2014 Ebola epidemic highlights the complex institutional roles of religious actors and positive—and less positive—aspects of their involvement, and, notably, how poorly prepared international organizations proved in engaging them in a systematic fashion. Link to…

The United Refugee and Host Churches (URHC) is an association of churches in Kakuma Refugee Camp (Kenya) and the surrounding community of Turkana founded and operated by refugees and local Turkana people. Originally founded in 1996, this group addressed ongoing…

KAICIID Mapping Dialogue for Peace: http://www.kaiciid.org/what-we-do/knowledge/mapping-dialogue-peace The Peace Mapping Programme aims to: display the breadth of interreligious dialogue (IRD) activities promoted by international organizations; analyze the many ways its practitioners engage in interreligious and intercultural understanding, and promote peacebuilding, either directly…

On 10 April 2014, the UN Security Council unanimously decided that a peacekeeping mission would be sent to the Central African Republic in September 2014. This is a remarkable step, one which until recently was considered implausible. What is even more extraordinary…

This paper is written for policy makers and conflict transformation practitioners working on conflicts with religious dimensions. It aims to support policy and practice by providing a conceptual framework to strengthen analysis of the role that religion plays in conflict.…

This research brief attempts to contribute on the current challenge in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Based on a series of interviews with foreign fighters and their families, the researchers find that traditional approaches to stabilization and development are unlikely…

This paper discusses Islamic traditions of peace and conflict resolution, and argues that nonviolent and the peaceful resolution of conflicts has been an integral aspect of Islamic tradition since the time of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). This paper also discusses…

Was religion a friend or foe in the post-conflict statebuilding endeavours of Iraq and Afghanistan? An under-explored area in academia and policy circles alike, religious institutions are important non-state actors that wield considerable influence and can draw upon extensive resources.…

The British Academy's latest international policy report explores how the role of religion in conflict and peacebuilding has all too often been depicted in binary terms, which have obscured the complexity of the subject. The report argues that religion is…

Responding to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s World Humanitarian Summit initiative, the Sovereign Order of Malta set up a Symposium to consider the question: 'Do faith-based institutions have an added value in humanitarian action particularly in conflict situations?’ Two high level…

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…

http://www.usaid.gov/news-information/videos/%E2%80%9Cfaith-works-honoring-contributions-faith-community-peace-and-prosperity

Andrew Tomkins, Jean Duff, Atallah Fitzgibbon, Azza Karam, Edward J Mills, Keith Munnings, Sally Smith, Shreelata Rao Seshadri, Avraham Steinberg, Robert Vitillo, Philemon Yugi http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(15)60252-5/abstract

Faith leaders, as trusted and respected members of their community, have played a hugely significant, and often unsung, role in the Ebola crisis. In the midst of confusion, fear and panic, communities have often turned to them for guidance. They…

This brief presents the key results of a 2012 review, undertaken as a partnership between the Tony Blair Faith Foundation and the World Faiths Development Dialogue. The resulting report, of which Lynn Aylward is the primary author, is entitled “Global Health and Africa: Assessing Faith Work and Research Priorities.”

Preventable child deaths outrage everyone. Immunization campaigns save millions of children’s lives and therefore unite widely divergent communities. But the untapped potential for partnerships to extend vaccination coverage, especially involving religious actors, is large. Two critical challenges are important and offer great promise: extending newer vaccines (notably against rotavirus and pneumococcus) and reaching underserved populations (“the fifth child”). The support and cooperation of religious communities, at global and national levels, is essential for both—leaders and communities can help address challenges and prevent the grave problems that arise when religious leaders oppose vaccination (such as in Pakistan and Nigeria). In building partnerships there are four priorities: (a) informing populations and building trust; (b) focusing on underserved populations; (c) overcoming barriers to vaccination campaigns in tumultuous countries like the Democratic Republic of the Congo where faith networks are especially vital players; and (d) helping through holistic health approaches to “connect the dots” among different public health and welfare efforts to meet the needs of people and communities.