On October 29, 2020, JLI held a webinar where Prof. Cecelia Lynch, Professor of Political Science at the University California, Irvine, presented on her new book, “Wrestling with God: Ethical Precarity in Christianity and International Relations.” In this new book, Prof. Lynch investigates Christian ethical decision-making and acting in international exchanges both from a historical perspective and through to “contemporary Christian humanitarian negotiations of religious pluralism.” You can find a preview of the book here.
Prof. Alastair Ager, Director of the Institute of Global Health and Development at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, responded and commented on the themes brought up in Prof. Lynch’s work and tied them into his own and others’ work on religions and humanitarianism.
Click here to register and view the list of upcoming webinars
On 4th September 2020, the PaRD Gender Equality Work-Stream launched a new series of critical dialogues at the PaRD Annual Forum 2020. The focus for the series is on ‘Visioning a Just World Post-COVID19: Religion, Sustainable Development and Gender Justice’. Speakers included: Dr. Nora Khalaf-Elledge (Joint Learning Initiative consultant), Pragya Adhikari (Islamic Relief Nepal), Dr. Marianna Leite (Christian Aid) and Mike Battcock (UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office).
On September 10, 2020, JLI held a webinar where Diana Rayes, Charité University of Medicine and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, presented on “Faith-based coping among Arabic-speaking refugees seeking mental health services in Berlin, Germany.” Susanna Trotta, Research Associate at JLI, responded and a Q&A session followed.
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On May 14, 2020, JLI held a webinar where Philipp Öhlmann presented on the first chapter of his book with Wilhelm Grab and Marie-Luise Frost, “African Initiated Christianity and Sustainable Development”. Ignatius Swart, University of the Western Cape, responded. Attendees participated in a discussion following the presentation.
On April 16, 2020, JLI held a webinar where participants shared their reflections on the implications of the current situation for religion and development research, including the field in general but also their own research. Participants also shared practical resources and adaptations that have been useful to research and teaching at this time. Olivia Wilkinson, JLI Director of Research did a brief presentation of JLI’s Faith and COVID-19 Resource Repository with Berkley.
On March 12, 2020, JLI held a webinar where Prof. Emma Tomalin presented on her new publication, “Global aid and faith actors: the case for an actor-orientated approach to the ‘turn to religion’.” Kathleen Rutledge, PhD Candidate at Queen Margaret University responded. Attendees participated in a discussion following the presentation.
On February 13, 2020, JLI held a webinar where Dr. Olivia J. Wilkinson discusses her book: “Secular and Religious Dynamics in Humanitarian Response.”
Her book investigates the ways in which the humanitarian system is secular and understands religious beliefs and practices when responding to disasters. The book teases out the reasons why humanitarians are reluctant to engage with what are seen as “messy” cultural dynamics within the communities they work with, and how this can lead to strained or broken relationships with disaster-affected populations and irrelevant and inappropriate disaster assistance that imposes distant and relatively meaningless values.
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On December 2nd, 2019, JLI officially launched its scoping study on the role of local faith actors in anti-modern slavery and human trafficking. This launch is the first of a series of upcoming webinars which will dive deeper into the individual themes discussed in the scoping study.
Speakers:
Christa Foster Crawford, J.D: Freedom Resource International Payap University Faculty of Law
Key findings can be found in the executive summary of the scoping study on the role of local faith actors in anti-modern slavery and human trafficking
Dr. John Frame: Lead researcher for the scoping study
Presentation: Scoping Study Methodology & Research Gaps (15:05-22:52)
Read the full full scoping study for more information about Dr. John Frame’s research methodology.
Toluwanim Jaiyebo: International Project Advisor with the Anti-trafficking and Modern Slavery Team of the Salvation Army
Presentation: Scoping Study Framework Overview (10:56-14:55)
The JLI Anti-trafficking Hub will have a series of webinars in 2020 on key themes. To be informed of future webinar information and engage in the online collaboration sign up as a member here.
Co-Presidentes del Centro de Aprendizaje sobre Violencia contra la Niñez: Dra. Carola Eyber (Universidad Queen Margaret) y Rebeca Rios-Kohn (Arigatou International)
UNICEF Malawi, Religions for Peace and the Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities held the second WorkRock of the Faith and Positive Change for Children Global Initiative on Social Behavior Change (FPCC). The partners gathered for five days to discuss and work for change for children. The opening ceremony on Monday included remarks from Rudolf Schwenk, UNICEF Country Representative who stated that UNICEF wants to develop specific calls to action to end child marriage with power and authority of faith leaders…wish for a safe and supportive environment within churches, mosques and places of worship for other faiths
LET THEM DREAM – Wati Nungu
I remember conversing with a 5 year old little girl
Who wanted to know what colors make up the rainbow?
And this is what I told her
I told her that each one of her dreams is the color that paints the skies
And that she is a seed of light
So when she blooms she must do so with no apology
She needed to believe that the dreams in her belly deserve to be born
And see the light of the day
But this is what I was afraid of telling her
That by the time she is 9
She will begin to get crooked stares from
Men old enough to father her
And comments such as
Mwanayu koma nde akukula bwino
By the time she is 13,
She will be told that her dreams do not serve God’s purpose
That she was created only to manufacture babies
And to serve her master
They will murder her dreams
And force her into marriage
There will be nothing godly or heavenly about the way that she screams
You are hurting me (repeat 2 times)
Mukundipweteka (repeat 2 times)
But they will not care
As long as their ego and lust are satisfied
When she fights back,
She will tell be told sshh
Do you not know that this man is rich?
Sshhh
He is will take us out of poverty
Sshhh
This is the way of tradition
Sshhh
Do not fight the ways of those who came before you
Sshh
And you will be silent
Because well, it is not your daughter,
Not your sister, not your niece
When are we going to learn?
That the man that has the power to do something
Yet does nothing
Is just as guilty as the culprit
When are we going to learn,
That we throw ourselves deeper into the darkness
Every time we murder the dreams of these little seeds of lights?
We owe it to this nation
We owe it to them
To let them dream
The PAC also signed a communique which details action steps for the initiative in Malawi. The event helped to build action plans for efforts to tackle issues related to child protection, especially child marriage. Partners gained new perspective of working for/with children to dig deeper into social norms and practices.
