Resources

Promising Practices For Engaging Local Faith Actors To Promote Uptake Of Covid-19 Vaccination - Lessons Learned from Four Countries: Ghana, Indonesia, Sierra Leone, Uganda. Engaged local faith actors (LFAs)1 have long contributed to promoting and achieving increased immunization uptake, coverage,…

Engaging Faith Actors To Boost Immunization Uptake And Combat Vaccine Hesitancy - Evidence and Promising Practices Local faith actors are generally recognized for their role in influencing health in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), including immunization uptake, coverage, and equity.…

Effects of faith actor engagement in the uptake and coverage of immunization in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) - Phase 1 Global Landscape : Evidence Summary This report summarizes evidence about vaccine hesitancy trends for both COVID and non-COVID immunizations.…

In November and December 2021, over 80 Inter-Religious Council (IRC) and Faith-Based Organization (FBO) nominees from eight countries were trained as national Mind-Heart Dialogue teams and equipped to support the Faith and Positive Change for Children (FPCC) initiative. Facilitators were…

Since 2015, over 5 million refugees from Syria have sought safety and protection in cities, towns and camps across Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey. Key responders have included local faith communities, whose members have provided material and spiritual support alike to…

Series 4: Resource Guide for Religious Leaders and Faith Communities Violence against children and women increases during emergencies, conflicts, and health crises. The COVID-19 pandemic is no exception. Infection prevention measures that require staying at home have brought on a…

The COVID-19 experience offers fresh perspectives about religious roles in public health and in broader efforts to promote human well-being. Public health officials have understood and engaged with religious factors during the COVID-19 emergencies with greater awareness of their actual…

How do adaptations to COVID-19 inform strategies for enhancing local faith leadership in health and development? The changes COVID-19 imposed on faith actors' ways of working, while challenging, also released creativity and innovation. It opened new avenues for partnership with…

This book illuminates the intersection of religion and gender within the development sector, exposing challenges in both policy and practice and suggesting implementable solutions. This book argues that a better understanding of the religion–gender nexus is needed by development sector…

The GIIN’s Faith-Based Investing repository is a curated set of publications and online resources designed to demonstrate the business and impact case for faith-based investing. The repository includes research, case studies, webinars, books, and other resources to enable and motivate…

In recent decades, more studies have emerged that examine the relationship between religion /spirituality, marital functioning and mental health. The scholarship on domestic violence (DV) / intimate partner violence (IPV) and religion does not appear to have integrated this evidence…

Towards Achieving Positive Change for Children, Families, and Communities This guide is primarily for UNICEF staff who aim to engage more strategically with faith actors, particularly for social and behaviour change and high-level advocacy, but also for wider programmatic efforts.…

This guide was updated in 2024. The updated version is available here in English. Supporting faith leaders and organisations to influence attitude, behaviour, and social change that protects and empowers children, families and communities. This guide is for ‘Champions’ of…

The study explores the role of religion and local faith actors in peace building and reconciliation from Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Christian groups and denominations during the COVID-19 pandemic in Sri Lanka. A mixed method approach was employed in this…

Almost all religions reflect on the creation of the universe, or universes, in different forms and with varying degrees of clarity or detail. Common across most religions is an agreement that “creation” is an act of God and should be…

In many contexts, faith leaders are a key reference group within programs who have specific, recognized, and institutionalized power in a community. As power holders they are seen to hold considerable influence over the emergence of social norms, have a stake in maintaining or reinforcing existing…

This article is based on qualitative semi-structured interviews with managers of Danish Red Cross-operated asylum centres regarding religion and religious freedom at asylum centres. Three main findings are reported. First, asylum centre managers view religion as largely irrelevant while having…

Localisation, as it aims to shift power in the humanitarian system, will involve the increased inclusion of local faith actors, those national and local faith-affiliated groups and organisations that are often first, and last, responders in crises and have been…

A Review of Training Materials for Religious Leaders Religious leaders and communities can play a significant role in reducing HIV-related stigma. In order to strengthen that role, training materials and toolkits for religious leaders have been developed and used in…

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…

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all countries irrespective of their state of development. In countries with traditional societies, religious leaders have been acknowledged as key stakeholders in community engagement activities, including disease prevention. A community-level prevention model was established in…

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…

The Muslim training manual for Gender Champions in the Masculinities, Faith and Peace (MFP) project This Masculinites, Faith and Peace (MFP) manual introduces the training for Muslim Gender Champions and faith leaders. It provides a detailed activity guide for use…

The Transforming Masculinities manual is designed to be interactive and self-reflective to enable participants to explore, discuss and reflect on their own attitudes, beliefs and behaviours regarding gender equality and sexual and gender-based violence. They can then lead others through…

This guide enables trained Gender Champions to facilitate community dialogues. These small group discussions are first held in separate men’s and women’s groups and then in a combined session. They cover topics of gender norms and roles, as well as…