Resources

This article examines the role of local faith actors in institutional responses to refugees (henceforth refugee response), first in relation to global policy guidelines and frameworks promoted through the Global Compact for Refugees (GCR) affirmed by the UN General Assembly…

The European Union funded project, Awareness with Human Action (AHA!), supported the efforts of activist Mohan Rabidas, founder of the nonprofit Jagoron Youth Forum. Rabidas’ involvement with the tea estate communities is well documented in Bangladeshi news media.1 The AHA!…

Large-scale health emergencies like COVID-19 oftentimes result in widespread humanitarian impacts. Due to their long-standing relationships and involvement within local communities, along with extensive networks and support from faith-affiliated institutions, faith-based NGOs carry a unique advantage in reaching the most…

A joint resource from the Anglican Consultative Council and the Anglican Alliance COVID-19 has had, and is having, a significant impact on communities around the world. As a result, governments are putting different measures in place to control the outbreak.…

Series 3: Resource Guide for Religious Leaders and Faith Communities Certain groups of people are at greater risk of complications and death. These include the elderly and those with underlying health conditions such as diabetes, asthma, and heart disease. People…

It becomes ever clearer that climate change is the greatest challenge that we and future generations face; a true horseman of the apocalypse. This book comes at a crucial time. Without swift, decisive action, the consequences of climate change will…

For use by all Seventh-day Adventist Churches Pastors and Elders may use these guidelines as they lead their churches in various countries as well as in radio and television interviews and social media. They can also serve as sermon guidelines…

As COVID-19 continues to require physical distancing (also known as social distancing), it is important to understand the effects these conditions are placing on vulnerable people caught in abusive relationships or human trafficking situations, as well as survivors of both.…

“Created in Gods Image” Southern Africa Faith Leaders Support Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights for All We, as members of the faith community, believe that we cannot stand by and watch when our people are without information on Sexual and…

This study analyses the needs, hopes and agency of older people in Rwanda in the context of a planet that will soon have more older people than under 16s and a nation where the number of over 65 year olds…

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…

Dealing with climate change is vital for Islamic Relief to fulfil its mission of addressing the root causes of poverty. Climate change is a threat to us all but it is already having a devastating impact on the poorest and…

G20 Interfaith Forum Japan 2019 7-9 June 2019 Faith actors, reflecting their deep moral convictions, vast global networks, daily lived experience with communities across the world, and their witness for the most vulnerable and those left behind, call the leaders…

Religions for Peace worked with the Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities to devise a guide to action for religious leaders and faith communities. This guide includes introductory information on global responses to refugees and migrants, reflections on…

THE OPPORTUNITIES AND LIMITATIONS OF CLIMATE RISK INSURANCE FOR THE PROTECTION OF VULNERABLE POPULATIONS In autumn 2015, the international community drew up 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These were followed by National Action Plans established at the national level to…

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…

For millions of refugee girls, education is out of reach. Despite substantial increases in access to girls’ education around the world over the last two decades, refugee girls remain left behind. In countries affected by conflict, girls are 2.5 times…

Afin de maximiser les opportunités considérables qu’offre le Pacte mondial sur les réfugiés (PMR), la communauté internationale doit reconnaître l’expérience et les capacités des acteurs confessionnels et lever les obstacles qui se posent aux partenariats avec ces acteurs afin d’être…

من اجل تحقيق الحد الاقصى من الفرص المهمة التي تقدمها الاتفاقية الدولية بشأن اللاجئين يجب على المجتمع الدولي ، ان يعترف بتجربة وقدرات الجهات الفاعلة العقائدية وكسر الحواجز القائمة امام الشراكات لتمكين استجابه دائمة وفعالة وأكثر شمولية . وبينما تقر…

This targeted resource brief provides a selection of works published by academics, NGOs, and faith actors (FAs) on the role that faith plays in contexts of forced displacement. The resources are grouped into the three main areas in need of…

To maximize the significant opportunities presented by the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR), the international community must recognize the experience and capabilities of faith actors (FAs) and break down existing barriers to partnerships to enable a more comprehensive, effective, and…

The predicament of refugees is a common concern of humankind. Refugee situations have increased in scope, scale and complexity and refugees require protection, assistance and solutions. Millions of refugees live in protracted situations, often in low- and middle income countries…

Sept 2018 As faith-based organizations working with refugee communities across the globe, ACT Alliance, Catholic Relief Services, Jesuit Refugee Service/USA and Islamic Relief recognize the important role that the GCR can play in building the political will to address the…

July 2018  

This booklet from Jesuit Refugee Service presents teaching, reflections and guidance of Pope Francis regarding migrants and refugees. It contains a Message from Pope Francis and twenty action priorities in two versions. One is meant for active pastoral engagement with migrants…

Speakers: • Daniel Endres, Director of the Division of Resilience and Solutions UNHCR • Ojot Ojulu, Assistant General Secretary, Lutheran World Federation (LWF) • Alastair Ager, Director, Institute for Global Health and Development, Queen Margaret University • Ann Reggie Jaj,…

There is a growing interest within academic and policy circles surrounding the roles played by local faith communities (LFCs) and faith based organisations (FBOs) in responding to displacement.i This trend contrasts with some of the significant negative and secular assumptions…

The declaration, known as an Affirmation of Welcome, is the first to involve UNHCR and a spectrum of faith-based groups. It sets out principles to guide faith leaders in providing welcoming environments for refugees and displaced people, and those without citizenship, including through promoting community understanding and tolerance, and combatting xenophobia.

The idea for a joint declaration emerged from a meeting hosted by UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres in Geneva in December 2012 with religious leaders and faith-based NGOs.

Taking place between February and April of this year, drafting of the Affirmation involved a coalition of leading faith-based organizations and academic institutions. The text draws upon principles and values of welcome shared by religions including Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism.

May 2018 Share responsibility, shared humanity: a communique from the International Refugee Congress

People destabilized by armed conflict, including refugees, internally displaced persons, in particular, women and children are at increased risk of exposure to HIV infection (United Nation General Assembly 2001). The above quotation suggests that internally displaced persons in general and…

Rights without borders Locations: Grenada, Lebanon, Mexico, USA, Brazil, Uruguay, Rwanda, South Africa, Italy, Thailand, Australia Program overview: Primary care (but not exclusive) to children, young people and their families. Promoting education through extra schooling support, non-formal education and ongoing formation…

Statement by members of the U.S. Catholic Working Group on the Global Compacts on Refugees and Migration   Click download button for statement

Released June 26, 2018  

Education for Refugees and the forcibly displaced Jesuit Relief Service USA

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…

This handbook describes some innovative examples of how many faith- based organisations and local community groups around the world are responding compassionately and effectively to the urgent needs of orphan children. It also provides basic information on family-based alternatives to…

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

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…

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

This report describes the results of a yearlong qualitative study on religious leaders’ understandings and responses to issues of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). Conducted by the Science, Religion, and Culture Program (SRC) at Harvard Divinity School with the support…

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…

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.

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

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 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…

The population of Syria and Iraq is feeling the toll of the armed conflicts in their countries. The new report "The Protection Needs of Minorities from Syria and Iraq" from the Norwegian Church Aid and World Council of Churches, highlights…

This publication is collection of testimonies in English and in Japanese, from the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. Written by Masahiko Murakami, Ken'ichi Kurosawa, Yoshihiro Matsumoto's stories might be appropriate. Mikio Yamane's testimony introduces our organizational activity. Published by Soka Gakkai…

Development Across Faith Boundaries investigates the dynamics of cross-faith partnerships in a range of development contexts, from India, Cambodia and Myanmar, to Melanesia, Bosnia, Ethiopia and Afghanistan. The book demonstrates how far FBOs extend their activities beyond their own faith communities…

Road Map to Resilient Communities: Church Agencies Network, Disaster Operations.

Matthew Frost delivers opening remarks of the Religious & Faith-based Communities Perspectives Panel. To watch the video, please click the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRaCrT3dnJY

This brief argues that the vast majority of refugees and asylum seekers are hosted by poorer countries and almost four million have been welcomed by countries which themselves have experienced armed violence or are in conflict. To read the material,…

A strategic review of Oxfam's work in Haiti between 2011 and 2014. To download this and other Oxfam resources, click here: https://www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/research-publications/

Disaster response tends to progress in recognizable stages through a cycle that ideally begins with advance preparedness. Warning signs may precede the impact of disasters like tornadoes and hurricanes, allowing time for additional protective measures, though other events, such as…

When conflict broke out in Syria in 2011, people began to flee their homes in search of safety for themselves and loved ones. Four years on, millions of families have been uprooted in what is one of the world’s worst…

Grandmothers play a critical role in family and community life in societies all around the world, especially in caring for young children and advising and educating younger women on all aspects of family well-being. In many non-western societies, grandmothers have…

More than 65 million people are displaced globally, outpacing the international community’s ability to respond. Not only are more people displaced today, but they are displaced for longer, with the average duration of protracted refugee situations at the end of…

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…

Julie Clague’s presentation to the UNFPA faith meeting for the UN General Assembly, September 2014: ‘A Call to Action: Faith for Sexual and Reproductive Health in the Post 2015 Development Agenda’. It offers a Catholic perspective on ‘Sexual And Reproductive Health And Reproductive Rights: Religious and Cultural Contexts for Development Effectiveness Post 2015’.

The toolkit has been designed to be a practical resource for our staff and is designed to be used in tandem with existing guidelines. We hope, insh’Allah, that this toolkit will not only be used by Islamic Relief staff, but also by colleagues from other agencies who are working with Muslim communities towards building lasting peace. To this end we have included a separate ‘Introduction’ for readers who are less familiar with Islam and Muslim communities.

This toolkit draws from current knowledge and best practice across the field, but approaches each area of work from an Islamic perspective and offers suggestions to the reader on how they might approach programming in conflict-affected areas from that basis. The tools included should be considered as facilitating (not as an alternative to) context specific approaches. Readers are actively encouraged to re-design and amend tools and approaches to reflect the knowledge and experience of their beneficiaries.

The success of integrated sustainable development (ISD) entirely rests upon a firm foundation of sound analysis of the following: Start-up assessment, Well-being and assets, Structural causes of poverty, Vulnerabilities to shocks and climate change, Opportunity analysis.

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.

Policy note prepared for the UNHCR Dialogue on Faith & Protection in December 2012 based upon the JLI Scoping Report on LFCs and resilience.

There are many lessons that can be drawn from the movements of people with HIV, where they became key advocates in shaping the global response. The aim of this report therefore is to assess the depth and breadth of survivors needs in order to determine the legitimacy and potential
benefits of a survivor movement.

This report is a compiled from two pieces of research commissioned by
Tearfund’s HIV & Sexual Violence Unit. The full reports and researchers are:
– Sexual violence in South Africa and the role of the church by Elisabet
le Roux at the Unit for Religion and Development Research at
Stellenbosch University
– Breaking the Silence (full report) by Robyn Curran, Bongi Zengele and
Solange Mukamana.

A Technical Brief for the Capacity Project describing faith leaders’ impact in low-income settings.

The extent of faith-based organizations’ participation within the overall health systems of developing countries is unclear. Recent reports state that faith-based organizations play a substantial role in providing healthcare in developing countries, cited in some publications as up to 70% of all healthcare services. The data behind these numbers are sometimes difficult to pinpoint and seem at odds to national and regional survey data.

!is report has been produced as part of the Global Initiative for Faith, Health, and Development (GIFHD). GIFHD
seeks to serve as a bridge between faith and secular development communities, to give voice to the concerns and
capacities of the faith sector, and to advocate for the full engagement of the faith sector with governments, bilateral and
multilateral institutions, other civil society actors, and private philanthropy. !e Global Initiative is convened and
supported by the Center for Interfaith Action on Global Poverty (CIFA), a Washington DC-based organization committed
to building the collective capacity of the international faith community to increase its impact on poverty and disease.

This report presents findings from a mapping initiative that aimed to capture how faith-based organizations respond to violence against women and girls in the Asia-Pacific region. As a collaborative initiative between UNFPA and the Asia-Pacific Women Faith and Development Alliance (AP-WFDA), it sought to identify examples of strategies used by faith-based organizations. The report brings together the experiences of 58 organizations collected through an online survey, supplemented by in-depth interviews conducted with selected agencies. Importantly, the survey results represent only a small proportion of the faith-based organizations addressing violence against women and girls across the region.

This third volume in the series focuses on ways to ‘map’ (in the different uses of that terminology) faith-inspired providers, and on assessment of their cost for patients and the extent to which they succeed in reaching the poor.

This document examines whether and how FBOs’ approaches to development work are unique to NGOs engaged in similar activities in the same contexts.

This background paper presents regional strategies to strengthen the role of faith-based organizations in responding to HIV & AIDS. It brings attention to four key areas: access to essential services, building a supportive environment, strengthening the capacities of families and mobilizing and supporting community-based responses in addressing the needs of children affected by HIV and other vulnerable children in the EastAsia and Pacific region.

This background paper incorporates initial research carried out on the issue of faith, HIV and the
criminalisation of homosexuality.

This paper reflects on CAFOD’s thematic review and recommendation for HIV-related care and on the indications of how they will contribute to our HIV-related care and response work in the future.

The Final Report from the Joint Learning Initiative on Children and AIDS, founded by Dr Geoff Foster, which serves as a model for JLIF&LC Learning Hub approach to evidence gathering and communication.

This Report, a product of the JLI F&Lc Learning Hub on HIV AIDS and Maternal Health reviews the available data on the nexus between faith, maternal health and HIV AIDS development work, against the framework of specific questions. The report summarizes the evidence, discusses opportunities and challenges, makes recommendations for practice and for further research.

This review documents Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, and inter-faith initiatives in Cambodia and their varying response to HIV. This review highlights their contributions to HIV/AIDS and the important role they play in development of families, women, and children.

This literature review by ARHAP focuses on the intersection of religion and health in sub-Saharan Africa, mostly focusing on HIV/AIDS spanning a 10 year period. This review provides insight into how these systems interact and poses questions for further research.

A review of Tearfund partners in Chad and Malawi exploring how local, faith-based responses to HIV strengthen health systems. Research focuses on Christian organizations and national and local-level stakeholders.

A review of what is and is not known regarding faith institutions and their work to improve health in Africa.

A review of research from Malawi, DRC, and South Africa regarding practices and opinions of sexual health and couple decision making.

An overview of Catholic responses to HIV including challenges and successes

This report is part of an expanded partnership between the WHO and FBOs in facing health challenges, specifically HIV/AIDS.

A review of efforts of faith based providers working to improve maternal health.

World Conference of Religions for Peace (WCRP) in collaboration with UNICEF carried out a study to survey what religious groups are doing to meet the needs of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) and to develop an improved and detailed understanding…