About the Mobilization of Local Faith Communities Hub

The JLI convenes policymakers, academics and professionals to build and communicate evidence of religions’ and faith-based organizations’ roles in development work. Because of growing interest in environment related topics, JLI created a webinar series to discuss faith and climate work, highlighting faith-based programs, interfaith programs, applied research and advocacy.

Local communities globally are increasingly impacted by climate change. Local faith communities are involved not only in building awareness of the impact of climate change but also bringing religious and spiritual understandings of stewardship and care for our planet to the discussion. Additionally, faith-based NGOs are working in climate change mitigation, climate change adaptation support in communities and mobilizing faith communities to advocate for change. These organizations are developing climate-sensitive ways of operating in their humanitarian and development movements.

All webinar episodes are recorded and available on JLI’s YouTube channel and additional climate and faith resources can be found on JLI’s website.

Research study, July 2019

Demands for both sustainability and value for money means that traditional NGO approaches to implementing projects may no longer be appropriate. An alternative approach called Church and Community Mobilisation Process (CCMP) is gaining traction in many parts of the world. Anecdotal evidence suggests that CCMP is highly effective to see communities moving out of poverty. But there is a lack of comparative or cost-effectiveness research. This has inhibited many donors from investing in it.
This research study, conducted in Malawi with a local faith-based organisation, Eagles Relief and Development Programme (Eagles) sought to fill that gap. Eagles implements both CCMP and more traditional, participative projects. Data gathering methods used by researchers to compare the two approaches included:
1. Participatory research in eight communities
2. Semi-structured interviews with Eagles staff (leadership and staff of both CCMP and TA projects)
3. Document review, including financial analysis

Click here for more information

In 2017, Trócaire and Groupe URD undertook research on what ‘localisation’ of humanitarian aid means in practice. Working with Trócaire partners and the wider humanitarian community in Myanmar and in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the research examined localisation within the framework of the Grand Bargain. The final research report will provide recommendations to Trócaire on how to further strengthen partnership work with local actors in humanitarian settings.

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 en mesure de fournir une réponse plus efficace, durable et globale. Le PMR reconnaît que « les acteurs confessionnels pourraient contribuer à la planification et à la mise en oeuvre des arrangements pour assister les réfugiés et les communautés d’accueil, notamment en matière de prévention des conflits, de réconciliation et de consolidation de la paix, ainsi que dans d’autres domaines pertinents ». Le rôle critique et global que jouent les acteurs confessionnels, ainsi que leur potentiel pour une prestation de services efficace méritent une analyse plus complète et nuancée.

Cette note politique produit plusieurs recommandations fondées sur les rôles multiples que la foi et les acteurs confessionnels jouent aux différentes étapes et lieux du déplacement forcé. Cette note est en accord avec la section « Arrangements pour le partage de la charge et des responsabilités » du PMR et ses trois points de la sous-section « Domaines nécessitant de l’appui » :« Accueil et admission », «Satisfaire les besoins et soutenir les communautés » et finalement « Solutions ».

la Mise en Oeuvre du Pacte Mondial Sur les Réfugiés (en anglais)

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 الاتفاقية الدولية بشأن اللاجئين، “انه يمكن للجهات الفاعلة العقائدية دعم التخطيط وتقديم الاجرءات لمساعدة اللاجئين والمجتمعات المضيفة, بما في ذلك في مجالات منع النزاع / والمصالحة/ وبناء السلام وغيرها من المجالات ذات الصلة”. فإن دور الجهات الفاعلة العقائدية الحاسم و الشامل – فضلاً عن قدرتها على تقديم الخدمات بكفاءه – يجعل من المسوغ اجراء فحصا اكثر اكتمالاً ودقة

يقدم ملخص السياسة هذا مجموعة من التوصيات قائمة على الدليل المتعلق بالأدوار المتعددة التي تلعبها العقيدة و الجهات الفاعلة العقائدية عبر مختلف مراحل وأماكن التهجير القسري. ان هذا الملخص يتماشى مع اقسام الاتفاقية الدولية بشأن اللاجئين فيما يخص ترتيبات المشاركة بتحمل الاعباء والمسؤولية ومجالاتها الثلاثة التي تحتاج للدعم: الاستقبال والقبول, تلبية الاحتياجات ودعم المجتمعات, والحلول

Read the English Policy Brief here

اضغط هنا للمزيد من المصادر حول الاتفاقية الدولية بشأن اللاجئين

Since the dawn of history, faith has provided a foundation from which social norms develop – an estimated 83.6 percent of the world’s population considers itself affiliated with a faith. This underscores the critical role that religious leaders can play in addressing humanitarian and development issues.
This is particularly relevant in Southeast Asian countries, which are highly disaster prone and also where faith plays a very important part in the daily lives of people.

There are two major roles that faith can play in this scenario- a) changing behaviours and mindsets and b) influencing policy and planning. Faith leaders not only enjoy a high level of influence amongst the general public, but usually also amongst policymakers and legislators. They often have a large following and their messages are actually listened and adhered too, often ‘religiously’, quite literally. Being community-based, they are also amongst the ‘first responders’. In addition, their spiritual messages also hold the strong power of healing in post-disaster trauma situations. Faith can thus be instrumental at all stages of humanitarian work- pre and post, as well as during the emergency.

See the article on the conference website

On October 16 -18, over 185 participants and 85 organisations gathered at the General Curia for the Society of Jesus in Rome, Italy for the Faith Action for Children on the Move – Global Partners Forum. The Forum was co-organised by a partnership of 14 organisations including; ACT Alliance, ADRA International, Anglican Alliance, Arigatou International, Islamic Relief Worldwide, International Partnership on Religion and Sustainable Development (PaRD), Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities (JLI), Mennonite World Conference, Micah Global, Salvation Army, Seventh Day Adventists, World Evangelical Alliance, World Council of Churches, and World Vision International.
The purpose of the forum was to engage religious and faith-based organisations, communities and children to dialogue on issues facing Children on the Move. The forum also worked to build consensus and develop a high-level action plan around the three main themes:

1. Spiritual support for children and their caregivers to promote healing and resilience
2. Creating a continuum of protection for children on the move
3. Building peaceful societies, opposing xenophobia, racism, and discrimination

Journal: Migration and Society

Local faith actors are deeply involved in assisting refugees around the world. Their place in refugee response, however, can be in parallel with and, at times, in disagreement with the efforts of international humanitarian organizations. Focusing on the interactions between local faith actors and refugees and local faith actors and international organizations, the lenses of hospitality and hostility are used to analyze the tensions between these types of actors. Through a review of the literature and interviews with 21 key informants, Dr Wilkinson shows processes of marginalization. This occurs to the extent that local faith actors lose their positions of host to the dominance of the international humanitarian system, and feelings of hostility ensue. This demonstrates to international actors why they might be ill received and how they can approach partnerships with local faith actors in more diplomatic ways.

See button for link to journal article

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 durable response.

While the GCR does acknowledge that: “Faith-based actors could support the planning and delivery of arrangements to assist refugees and host communities, including in the areas of conflict prevention, reconciliation, and peacebuilding, as well as other relevant areas,” the critical and comprehensive role that FAs play – as well as their potential for efficient service delivery – warrants a fuller and more nuanced examination.

This policy brief provides a set of recommendations based on evidence concerning the multiple roles that faith and faith actors play across different stages and spaces of forced displacement. The brief is aligned with the GCR’s sections on Arrangements for Burden- and Responsibility-sharing and its three Areas in Need of Support (Reception and Admission, Meeting Needs and Supporting Communities, and Solutions)

• Read the Arabic Policy Brief (ملخص للسياسة: الجهات الفاعله العقائدية وتنفيذ الاتفاقيه الدولية بشأن اللاجئين)
• Read the French Policy Brief: Note Politique
• Read the supporting ‘Resource Brief’ that provides a reading list of articles related to faith, refugees, and the Global Compact
• Related Webinar

Mozambique’s Interfaith Program against Malaria (PIRCOM) developed the volunteer, Christian and Muslim sermon guide. They provide basic facts about malaria prevention and health seeking behavior, providing scriptural texts in support of the actions that a family should be taking. These public health counsels are then followed by suggested sermons on the topic.

Click Link to Christian Sermon Guide: Manual de Sermoes Cristaos – PIRCOM

More about the PIRCOM Program

Learning from the Missionary Sisters of the Holy Rosary’s effective responses to the EVD crises in Liberia and Sierra Leone 2014-2016

The Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) epidemic which struck West Africa in 2014 presented unprecedent-ed challenges for the international humanitarian response. Learning from the successes and failures of the response effort is important for designing future crisis interventions.

Previous research on Ebola in West Africa suggested that human behaviour is a major factor in determining the spread of the disease. Understanding and influencing changes in behaviour at individual and community level can thus be an important factor in its prevention and containment.

The studies reported in this Learning Brief focus specifically on the work of the Missionary Sisters of the Holy Rosary (MSHR) in Liberia and Sierra Leone during the Ebola crisis from 2014 to 2016. Misean Cara staff members travelled to both countries in 2016 to gather data on the Sisters’ Ebola response initiatives from multiple sources. The data sets were analysed and reports written up in 2017 (Misean Cara 2017a, 2017b). This Learning Brief synthesises the findings and conclusions from both studies.

Reflections on missionary and wider faith-based approaches to development

Misean Cara is an Irish and international faith-based missionary movement working with poor, marginalised and vulnerable communities in more than 50 developing countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. Its 91 members are drawn from the breadth of the Irish missionary movement; between them have a presence in over 100 countries worldwide, and implement an estimated 4,000 projects annually. They do not necessarily see themselves as development workers in the commonly understood sense of the term, but they do the work of development and humanitarian relief. Informed by their identity as missionaries, inspired by the Gospel, and responding to God’s call to work for a better life for all, they adopt a particular approach to the work that they do.

Conceptual Framework and Current Development Context

July 2018

The missionary approach to development interventions is driven by the Christian inspiration and ethos of the global movement of missionary organisations1 (see Figure 1, above). Specific features of the missionary approach make it unique within the development sector, while it also incorporates other features that are common to a wider range of international development agencies. The ultimate aim of the missionary approach is to enrich and transform the lives of poor, vulnerable and marginalised people across the globe

Gauteng City-Region Observatory

This is a case study of the violence of May 2008 was by far the most devastating event of its kind since apartheid ended in 1994 in South Africa. Although not exclusively, a considerable number of foreign nationals were attacked and killed. They lost their belongings as their houses were burnt and property looted. Media reports revealed that by the end of May 2008, 62 people had been killed and thousands of people displaced. Although the violence manifested itself in xenophobic attacks, the underlying causes of the violence go beyond xenophobic tendencies and also include poor service delivery, high levels of unemployment, poverty, corruption and competition for resources chand/or opportunities.

Link online

This essay examines local and international Christian efforts on Mount Kilimanjaro to educate children. A prevailing idea among people who live on the mountain is that children engender trust and trade. This idea is illuminated through the adage ‘Take the gift of my child and return something to me’ and is embedded in the concept of Chagga trust. The latter is both an ethical mode and a social entity. Local ideas of children and trust partly overlap with but also differ from American evangelical missionaries’ views of children as needing to be safeguarded. Analysis of differences reveals that while religious missions have long played a role in providing education, the dynamics of privatization have changed the manner in which local leaders and international missionaries interact. Previous interactions were regular and routine; today’s are fewer, more contractual, and more formalized. The analysis presented here broadens and qualifies existing research that simply states that evangelicalism and the privatization of education helps the poor.

The field of mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) in humanitarian emergencies has
shown remarkable development over the last two decades.1 Mental health was once a notable omission from the health priorities to be addressed in the context of humanitarian response (Ager 1999; PWG
2002). Humanitarian work was focused principally on addressing material needs, implicitly judging non-material needs as of lower priority in acute emergencies and more challenging to address, being subject to local cultural variation (Harrell-Bond 1986). Now, however, MHPSS has been firmly
established—viewed within a broader framing of the psychosocial well-being of communities impacted by crisis—as a key sector of humanitarian response (Mollica et al. 2004).

The place of MHPSS within prioritized humanitarian action has been noticeably codified since the establishment—and widespread endorsement—of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Guidelines on MHPSS in Emergency Settings (2007). These guidelines specify a “minimum response” to a range of mental health and psychosocial issues, which are conceived of with respect not only to health but also to broad cross-sectoral concerns in such areas as water and sanitation, food and nutrition, and education. With these IASC guidelines now translated into many languages, and key principles from them adopted within the revised Sphere Standards (Sphere Project 2013) governing humanitarian response, MHPSS activities may now be considered “mainstream.”

Nigeria’s vibrant and dynamic religious landscape plays many roles in the nation’s life and development. It is also a factor, albeit a complex one, in conflicts and violence that many see as linked to religious divides. Religious institutions have deep historic roots and are unquestionably a vital part of communities at all levels. They have shaped Nigerian social and political approaches, notably in health and education, and play significant political and economic roles, both within Nigeria and internationally. Nigerians look to religious leaders for moral direction and practical support. Religious actors are significant for virtually every development challenge facing Nigeria, from governance structures to gender relations, regional balance to community resilience, and educational curricula to climate change. This report provides an overview of Nigeria’s religious landscape in relation to major development issues. Supported by the International Partnership on Religion and Sustainable Development (PaRD), the report is part of a broad effort to explore these questions in the context of five countries.

This article originally appeared on the Georgetown University website.

Resilience—the ability to anticipate, withstand and bounce back from external pressures and shocks—is an increasingly important construct in shaping humanitarian strategy by the international community (DFID 2011; UNICEF 2011; USAID 2012). Local faith communities (LFCs)—groupings of religious actors bonded through shared allegiance to institutions, beliefs, history or identity (Samuels et al. 2010)—are often central to local processes of identity and connection that comprise the social fabric of communities disrupted by disaster or conflict. Although their role in individual and community resilience is thus potentially of major significance, until recently there has been little attention paid to appropriate means of engaging with LFCs in the context of responses to humanitarian situations, including processes of displacement. However, there are some indications of the international humanitarian community acknowledging the case for more effective engagement with faith-based institutions, especially with regard to their potential reach into local communities (e.g. DFID 2012). Notable in this regard is the convening of the recent United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) High Commissioner’s Dialogue on Faith and Protection (UNHCR 2012).

UNICEF defines religious communities as ‘both female and male religious actors and …systems and structures that institutionalize belief systems within religious traditions at all levels from local to global’ (2012: 7). In turn, UNAIDS identifies three levels of faith-based communities: ‘formal religious communities with an organized hierarchy and leadership’, ‘independent faith influenced non-governmental organisations… and … networks’ and ‘informal social groups or local faith communities’ (Samuels et al. 2010). Religious and faith-based communities therefore comprise diverse actors and networks situated across diverse sites. As defined for the purposes of this study, local faith communities—such as congregations, mosques and temples—are those whose members reside in relatively close proximity, such that they can regularly meet together for religious purposes, often in a dedicated physical venue. Within more secularized societies, a wide range of local, civil society structures will not be religious in nature. In such contexts, LFCs may be meaningfully distinguished from other local groups, allowing for some conceptual distinction between the capacities brought by locality and those brought by faith-engagement. However, in the majority of humanitarian settings, with high levels of religiosity and with faith-related structures comprising the significant majority of civil society, such a distinction may not be particularly meaningful (El Nakib and Ager 2014).

UNICEF and other child rights organizations* have a long history of partnering with religious communities of all faiths on a wide range of issues that affect children. Religious communities are uniquely positioned to promote equitable outcomes for the most vulnerable children and families. Their moral influence and extensive networks give them access to the most disenfranchised and deprived groups, those that international organizations and governments are sometimes less able to reach effectively. They are also grounded in philosophical frameworks that shape their call to community service into long-term commitments to achieving peace, justice and social equality.

Several key elements of the Convention on the Rights of the Child – the most widely ratified and comprehensive legal instrument for the protection of child rights – reflect values shared with the world’s major religious traditions. These include:

• A fundamental belief in the dignity of the child.

• An emphasis on the family as the best place for bringing up children.

• High priority given to children and the idea that all members of society have rights and duties towards them.

• A holistic notion of the child and a comprehensive understanding of his or her physical, emotional, social and spiritual needs.

Aside from the potential benefits that religious actors bring to partnerships, spirituality and religion can have a profound influence on children’s development and socialization and have the potential to reinforce protective influences and promote resilience. The beliefs, practices, social networks and resources of religion can instil hope, give meaning to difficult experiences and provide emotional, physical and spiritual support. Impact can be far-reaching when child rights efforts are grounded in the protective aspects of religious beliefs and practices in a community.

In spite of the positive roles religious communities can play, it is important to acknowledge there are sometimes concerns about working in partnership with these groups. Although the fundamental values of all the major religious traditions uphold the dignity and right to well-being of children, some beliefs, attitudes and practices associated with religions promote or condone violence and discrimination against children. Whether these are actual religious tenets, or religion is misused to justify harmful beliefs and practices, they can violate a child’s physical, emotional and spiritual integrity. There may also be apprehensions that faith-based organizations will pressure aid recipients to convert or only provide aid to those with similar religious views.

* In this guide the term ‘child rights organizations’ refers to non-religiously affiliated NGOs and networks. Child rights organizations that are affiliated with religions are included here under the term ‘faith-based organizations

Unskilled migrant workers and their families represent a crucial human resource in Sabah (Malaysia) as cheap labour, but also as religious believers. Christian organizations belonging to various denominations have started to cater to this community in recent years by providing educational services. Based on an ethnography of two schools led by charismatic South Korean missionaries and patronized by a Lutheran church with roots in Sabah, this article argues that ‘salvation’, as it is understood and practiced through education in these institutions, falls short of empowering migrants as a whole and rather contributes to reproducing their subordination as a community within Sabahan society.

Mobilisation of Local Faith Communities Learning Hub Webinar:

Sustainable Development Goals and role of religion and local faith communities

21st-23rd March 2018

United Nations Strategic Learning Exchange on Religion, Development and Humanitarian Work under the patronage of HRH Prince El Hassan bin Talal, in Amman, Jordan

The Strategic Learning Exchange (SLE) is a partnership effort stewarded by the UN Interagency Task Force on Religion and Development, together with the International Partnership on Religion and Sustainable Development (PaRD), the Humanitarian Leadership Academy, the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organization (JHCO), the King Abdullah Center for Dialogue (KAICIID), World Vision International (WVI) and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ Jordan). This SLE focused on the religion and role in addressing the SDGs with special focus on MENA region.

SLE Amman Agenda

SLE_Amman_Concept_Note (English)_

SLE_Amman_Concept_Note_(Arabic)

More information about the event from JLI Partner PaRD see here

Chapter exceprt from Jörg Haustein & Emma Tomalin, ‘Religion and Development in Africa and Asia’ in Routledge Handbook of Africa–Asia Relations ed. by Pedro Carvalho et al. London: Routledge, 2017, pp. 76-93

See also – Religions and Sustainable Development Network

A Thematic Paper for the Progress Study on Youth, Peace and Security

Prepared by the Soka Gakkai International

September 2017

As a global movement of Buddhists dedicated to peace, the Soka Gakkai International (SGI) has worked on the activities for abolishing nuclear weapons issue for more than a half century, often with the engagement and even leadership of youth. In 2007, the SGI launched the “People’s Decade for Nuclear Abolition”5 (herein after referred to as the People’s Decade), a grassroots campaign aimed at rousing international public opinion against nuclear weapons and expanding the network of people who share the common goal of eliminating them from our planet. Largely initiated and led by youth, numerous activities, including workshops, symposia, exhibitions and petition drives, have been conducted over the years around the world under the banner of this campaign. The campaign has been raising awareness among the general public about the dangers of nuclear weapons while also empowering youth as protagonists who can contribute meaningfully to nuclear disarmament.

As this year marks the 10th anniversary since the launch of the People’s Decade, it is an opportune time to reflect on findings gleaned through the campaign and contribute them to the Progress Study on Youth, Peace and Security.

Guidance on mental health and psychosocial programming

This guidance has been developed in phases. A desk review looking at the literature relevant to faith-sensitive psychosocial programming, followed by fieldwork in LWF and IRW country offices (Kenya, Jordan and Nepal), led to initial draft of the guidance, closely aligned with the existing IASC Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings (2007). This draft guidance was then reviewed by a wide range of humanitarian actors and others and was pilot tested in a variety of settings.

Project Leads:

Michael French (LWF), [email protected] | www.lutheranworld.org

Atallah Fitzgibbon (IRW), [email protected] | www.irworldwide.org

Project Consultants: Wendy Ager, Rebecca Horn and Alastair Ager

Project Advisory Group Members:

LWF, IRW, Church of Sweden, HIAS, IFRC Reference Centre for Psychosocial Support, UNHCR, World Vision, independent advisors

See LWF press release here

James Choi and Lincoln Lau for Mobilisation of Local Faith Communities Hub Webinar in May 2018

This process is based on Tearfund’s experience in the Philippines, in response to Typhoon Haiyan (2013). Typhoon Haiyan (locally named Yolanda) hit the Philippines on 8 November, 2013. Humanitarian assistance focused on some of the hardest hit areas in the Eastern Visayas region – Tacloban, Leyte and the nearby province of Samar. The typhoon also moved towards Central and Western Visayas. The majority of affected areas experienced storm surges, coastal flooding and strong winds. This included Cadiz City in the province of Negros Occidental.

Their experience in Cadiz City may be different from your area and would encourage you to adapt this process to suit your needs.

Click here for the Tearfund DRR presentation – Developing a Disaster Risk Reduction Plan with Local Government in the Philippines – created to help local government, civil society organisations and communities who are interested in developing a disaster risk reduction (DRR) plan.

For more information please contact [email protected]

Frequently, community based strategies include engagement with local faith leaders. However, there have been few systematic attempts to document how faith leaders themselves define their roles in these initiatives. This study examined local faith leaders and their spouses, in flood affected areas of Malawi, who had been oriented to child protection issues through World Vision workshops aimed explicitly at relating protection concerns to religious teachings. Many participants reported that attending a workshop had been transformational in terms of their perspectives regarding the protection of children.

The key child protection issues identified by participants included child marriage, lack of attendance at school, child labour (including forced labour), harsh physical punishment and sexual abuse. Many faith leaders − and their wives − became active in addressing child protection issues as a result of the programme, although the form of this action varied widely and was significantly influenced by their varied status and capacities

KEY IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

Faith leaders can be effective community based advocates for child protection both embedded
within, and equipped to challenge, shared religious beliefs and practices

Faith leaders are not a homogenous group and strategies to engage with them need to reflect their
widely varying status, resources and capacities

The wives of pastors and women who are leading ministries are a particularly powerful resource to
engage with local child protection issues

see article here

JLI Mobilisation of Local Faith Communities- March 2018 webinar slides

Webinar Agenda:

• Hub Introduction and 2018 Work (Andrea Kaufmann)
• Role of Local Faith Actors in the context of the localisation agenda (Catriona Dejean)

Lauren Kejeh, Tearfund and Lydia Tanner, The Research People presented on:

• Disasters and the local church

Nagulan Nesiah presented on:

• Episcopal Relief & Development’s faith engagement through asset-based approaches
• Sri Lanka case study in engaging local pastors in disaster risk reduction efforts

Webinar Video

Guidelines for church leaders in areas where disasters (earthquakes, fires, flood etc.) are common.

Chapters include: 

Introduction
Chapter 1 – The local church and disasters
Chapter 2 – Organising ourselves
Chapter 3 – Risks, needs and capacity assessments
Chapter 4 – Displaced people

And disaster specific preparation and response

Available in English, Spanish, French, Portugues and Nepali.

Click the link for all chapters and other languages.

Can a Protestant Christianity education program teaching about health, livelihoods, religious values impact poverty?

New working paper published from groundbreaking randomized control trial (RCT) to measure impact of faith and religion in the Philippines. This trial was an initiative between Innovations for Poverty Action and International Care Ministries lead by researchers, Dean Karlan (Northwestern University), James Choi (Yale University) and Gharad Bryan (London School of Economics and Political Science). The study study of International Care Ministries; program, an evangelical faith-based organization in the Philippines, is the first randomized trial of whether religious values education–can affect individuals’ wellbeing (includes health and economic outcomes) within the context of a broader poverty alleviation program.

The key question: Higher religiosity is associated with improved health and well being. Does increased religiosity also cause these outcomes to improve?

Abstract from working paper

To test the causal impact of religiosity, researchers conducted a randomized evaluation of an evangelical Protestant Christian values and theology education program that consisted of 15 weekly half-hour sessions. Researchers analyzed outcomes for 6,276 ultra-poor Filipino households six months after the program ended. The study finds significant increases in religiosity and income, no significant changes in total labor supply, assets, consumption, food security, or life satisfaction, and a significant decrease in perceived relative economic status. Exploratory analysis suggests the program may have improved hygienic practices and increased household discord, and that the income treatment effect may operate through increasing grit.

See IPA website for more information

ICM presentation on the Transform Program

JLI Mobilisation of Faith Communities Webinar with Lincoln Lau, PhD and James Choi, PhD

The role of local churches in humanitarian and development responses

Tearfund’s approach to humanitarian and development response is to work wherever possible
with and through the local church. This is because, as a Christian NGO, Tearfund considers
itself to have a specific calling to work alongside local communities of Christians to help bring
transformation to the lives of those living in poverty. Whilst acknowledging that the church
is a flawed human institution, and that no one is beyond reproach, Tearfund believes that,
at its best, the church is an organisation with the potential to help reshape the lives of the
communities it serves across the world.
This approach brings three key advantages to international development work, in that local
churches are:

• Integral
• Inspirational
• Influential

See below for the report or go to Tearfund’s website for more information on the faith-based approach

A brief look at Mennonite Central Committee’s Child Protection Programs through a quarterly compilation

Working effectively with faith leaders to challenge harmful traditional practices

Study Speakers

• Dr Elisabet le Roux is the Research Director at the Unit for Religion and Development Research
• Dr Brenda Bartelink is an anthropologist and scholar in the Academic Study of Religion at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands

Discussion led by  JLI GBV Hub co-chair Liz Dartnall (Sexual Violence Research Institute) with Hub coordinator Natalia Lester-Bush (Tearfund)

View Webinar for more details

View Full Study and HTP Study Toolkit

The Forum on Localizing Response to Humanitarian Need was held on Oct 16-19 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The Forum was organized as a follow on from the World Humanitarian Summit, responding to and reinforcing the localization of aid/Grand Bargain discussions, and designed to produce a body of evidence on questions of HOW to engage local faith actors, and actions to scale up their engagement as local partners.

142 people from 36 countries (see attendees) assembled to learn from Sri Lankan religious leaders and FBOs and from each other about local faith engagement in humanitarian response, and to discuss how to scale up engagement. About 40 local actors received a subsidy to attend.

The Forum would not have been possible without –

Our funders: GHR Foundation, USAID, World Vision International, Adventist Relief and Development, Church of Sweden, KAICIID, Islamic Relief USA, Episcopal Relief and Development, Soka Gakkai International, Finn Church Aid, Religions for Peace, World Evangelical Alliance;

Local Host Committee: Ven. Banagala Upatissa Thero (Co-Chair), Rev. Ebenezer Joseph (Co-Chair), Faizer Khan (Muslim Aid SL), Firzan Hashim (APAD SL), Dr. M. Saleem, Nagulan Nessiah (Episcopal Relief & Development, Kavitha Vijayaraj (Sarvodaya), Urmila Selvanayagam (World Vision SL) ; The International Planning Committee: ACT Alliance, Anglican Communion, Cadena, Finn Church Aid, Islamic Relief Worldwide, Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities, Network of Religious and Traditional Leaders, Muslim Aid, Muslim Charities Forum, Partnership for Faith and Development, Religions for Peace, Soka Gakkai International, Tearfund, World Council of Churches, World Evangelical Alliance, World Vision International ;

Partnership for Faith and Development: Jean Duff, Aeysha Chaudry and Cassandra Lawrence

Local Coordinating Team: Kevin de Silva (Bini Solutionz), Saabira Mohideen, Shevandra Wijemanne, Zainab Ismail, Nafli Mufthi, Sasmini Bandara, Rehana Dole and Vinu Wijemanna.

The brief summary report was published on 24th October 2017 as an immediate summary upon conclusion of the Forum. FULL BRIEF SUMMARY REPORT

The Full Summary Report on Forum Proceedings can be downloaded and viewed below can be used as a resource for examples of engagement and a source of information for future actions and advocacy.

Abid Gulzar from World Vision on behalf of the Advocacy Working Group for the Localization of Humanitarian Response Forum to the ICVA meeting in Bangkok in December

Salvation Army International Magazine

Salvation Army Website

Progress Study on Youth, Peace and Security

Prepared by the Soka Gakkai International
October 2017

In March 2011, the northeast region of Japan known as Tohoku1 was hit by a natural disaster of enormous magnitude: The Great East Japan Earthquake. The 9.0-magnitude earthquake, coupled with numerous aftershocks, a series of highly destructive tsunami waves and a nuclear reactor accident, claimed thousands of lives, while causing lasting damage to the
surrounding communities and survivors of the atrocity. Even today, more than six years later, many continue to live in temporary housing and endure ongoing uncertainty about the future.

The core activities of the SGA aim to promote awareness and understanding through dialogue to advance the following three themes:

1. Build a culture of peace and a world free of nuclear weapons
2. Strengthen ties of friendship in Asia through dialogue and cultural exchanges
3. Support post-disaster reconstruction efforts after the Great East Japan Earthquake

This discussion guide and toolkit provides ideas and approaches to enable you to think through your research partnerships; to encourage you to critically engage with issues such as the roles different actors play in partnership; and what types of evidence are valued, used and produced. We intend that it will open up space for more voices, perspectives and knowledge to inform research design, implementation and communication.

Christian Aid co-led with the Open University on the production of this resource, drawing from a seminar series that brought together academics and NGO staff to reflect on their experiences of research partnerships. This consortium engaged with questions of participation and the politics of evidence in academic-NGO research partnerships. It was funded by the ESRC and this publication is one of the outputs of the series.

From 2011 until June 2016, the Australia Africa Community Engagement Scheme (AACES) program worked across eleven countries in Africa (Ethiopian, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe), in three general sectors (food security, maternal and child health and water, sanitation and hygiene) and beyond. The A$83 million program has focused on empowering women, youth, children, people living with disabilities and others.

Implementing agency: Anglican Overseas Aid

AACES has been recognised for three distinguishing features;

• The partnership model for managing the program represented best practice, enabling greater impact along with learning and sharing of lessons
• Use of a diversity of strategies including strength- based, rights-based and endogenous development approaches made a significant contribution to both impact and sustainability
• Over 2.3 million poor women and marginalised people were positively impacted, representing substantive Value for Money

Final DFAT Review Report

Kenya Report

Ethiopia Report

Click download or see below for the Impact Report

JLI Scoping Study On Local Faith Communities In Urban Displacement:

Evidence on Localisation and Urbanisation

Refugees & Forced Migration Learning Hub

By Olivia Wilkinson & Joey Ager

The aim is to provide MHPSS practitioners, policy and decision-makers easily-accessible information on resources and tools related to mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) that are useful in the case of an emergency.

10/3 Joint Learning Webinar

For more information on the webinar see post below

Joint Learning Webinar with Oxfam America

The Organization of African Initiated Churches (OAIC) and International Care Ministries (ICM) have partnered up to learn from each other on monitoring, evaluation, and learning for organizations working through local faith communities. We spoke to Rev. Nicta Lubaale (OAIC) and Dr. Lincoln Lau (ICM) to find out more about their collaboration. See preview or click download for the interview summary

Christian Aid supports Gana Unnayan Kendra (GUK)  towards CHS Alliance membership

Gana Unnayan Kendra (GUK), a community-led development organisation combating poverty in Bangladesh, has recently joined CHS Alliance. This is largely due to the hard work of Nahed Chowdhury, widely known as ‘Lucky Apa’ in the humanitarian sector in Bangladesh, in partnership with Christian Aid.
In the last years, within the framework of Shifting the Power, a project aiming to strengthen national humanitarian and development agencies, Christian Aid has supported Lucky and her NGO to apply the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) and join CHS Alliance. Lucky has spearheaded GUK’s application process and guided other national agencies along the way.

The project is being delivered by a consortium led by ActionAid and the Catholic Agency for Overseas
Development (CAFOD), and including Christian Aid, Tearfund, Oxfam and Concern.

Despite the benefits of antenatal care, evidence from sub-Saharan Africa suggests that women often initiate these services after the first trimester of pregnancy and do not complete the recommended number of visits. This study examines the impact of mobilising faith-based and lay leaders to address the socio-cultural barriers to antenatal care uptake in northern Ghana in the context of a broader child survival project. A quasi-experimental design was used, and data were analysed using a difference-in-differences approach. The results presented in this article indicate the potential for faith-based and lay leaders to promote uptake of maternal and child health behaviours.

Click download for pdf

see here for online access

Full Development in Practice Journal

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 and palliative care: a partnership of care in low- and middle-income countries Elizabeth Grant, Mhoira Leng, Elizabeth Namukwaya, Ivan Odiit Onapito, Kellen Kimani & Julia Downing
• Network development for non-state health providers: African Christian health associations Jill Olivier, Frank Dimmock, Quentin Wodon
• Roles of religious actors in the West African Ebola response Katherine Marshall
• The percentage of HIV treatment and prevention services in Kenya provided by faith-based health providers John Blevins, Mimi Kiser, Emily Lemon, Ahoua Kone
• Faith-based HIV response in post-Soviet Eastern Europe: the case of Channels of Hope in Russia, Romania, and Armenia Elisabet le Roux
• Models of engagement between the state and the faith sector in sub-Saharan Africa – a systematic review Eleanor Whyle, Jill Olivier
• Female genital cutting in Egypt: drivers and potential responses Quentin Wodoen, Ali Yedan, Els Leye
• A comprehensive approach to providing services to survivors of sexual and gender-based violence in Democratic Republic of Congo: addressing more than physical trauma Cudjoe Bennett, Manka Banda, Lior Miller, Joseph Ciza, William Clemmer, Mary Linehan & Larry Sthreshley
• Whole-person health and development: two South Indian initiatives Katelyn N.G. Long, Gillian Paterson & Sara Bhattacharji
• The unhealthy divide: how the secular-faith binary potentially limits GBV prevention and response Elisabet le Roux, Lizle Loots

The  Review of Faith and International Affairs has just published a special series on Reconsidering Religious Radicalism

See Full Journal Here  

Includes the following articles:

• Reconsidering Religious Radicalism: An Introduction to the Summer 2017 Issue Judd Birdsall & Drew Collins
• Radicalism, Anxiety, and Inquiry Nicholas Adams
• Soteriological Uncertainty and the Development of Religious Resistance Identities Aidan Cottrell-Boyce
• Moderating Religious Identity and the Eclipse of Religious Wisdoms: Lessons from Hans Frei Ben Fulford
• Nationalism by Another Name: Examining “Religious Radicalism” from the Perspective of Iraq’s Christians Erin Hughes
• Apostasy and Counter-narratives—Two Sides of the Same Coin: The Example of the Islamic State   Göran Larsson
• Engaging “Moderates” Against “Extremists” in German Politics on Islam Tobias Müller
• “All Pretend an Holy War”: Radical Beliefs and the Rejection of Persecution in the Mind of Roger Williams Matthew Rowley
• Expertise and (In)Security: Lessons from Prison and Probation Contexts on Counter-terrorism, Trust, and Citizenship Ryan J Williams

Behind closed doors – voices against gender-based violence, human trafficking and modern-day slavery.

Launched at an event on Wed 28th June 2017 in the House of Lords hosted by Baroness Butler-Sloss and presented by the Revd Dr Carrie Pemberton Ford, of CCARHT in Cambridge.

This report was initiated in the autumn of 2015 to address the situation of women in relation to human trafficking and modern slavery. The project aimed to produce a final report on the challenges and opportunities facing the churches and the particular contribution which the Pentecostal Churches can play in relation to women at risk within their networks and the communities they serve.

The research project was funded through a legacy gift of the Leicester Free Church Women’s Council, and thus the focus of the report was specifically on challenges in these areas of exploitation experienced by women and children within the Pentecostal traditions.

Religion & Humanitarian Assistance in West Africa

Since the 1980s, programs of humanitarian assistance in Africa have for the most part operated along neoliberal lines. Faith and Charity examines how that approach has changed relationships between religious action, humanitarian assistance, and social change. Exploring the logics of economic liberalization, including the reduction of government spending and the rise of the private sector, the authors look at how these changes have also transformed the attitudes of individuals towards society and the economy in ways that privilege individual achievement over any kind of collective well-being

Channels of Hope (CoH) is an interactive, facilitated process to create a safe space for faith leaders and faith communities to learn, share and debate. It reaches to the root causes and deepest convictions that impact attitudes, norms, values and practices toward the most vulnerable. The process is grounded in guiding principles from participants’ holy scriptures. CoH is more than just workshops or education, it is life transformation. It is designed to move the heart, inform the mind and motivate a sustained and effective response to significant issues. CoH does not proselytise or change people’s doctrine, but equips faith leaders to apply their sacred texts to key social issues and encourage other faith leaders to do the same.

CoH mobilises and builds on the existing competencies of community leaders, especially faith leaders and their congregations, to respond to some of the most difficult issues affecting their communities. Through this process, they are exposed to additional capacity-building efforts that may strengthen their own responses.

CoH Website

CoH Child Protection Information Flyer

This report was commissioned by a consortium of UK-based international non-governmental organisations: ActionAid, CAFOD, Christian Aid, Oxfam GB and Tearfund.

Partnerships with national and local actors have long been identified as a source of problems in international humanitarian aid. Major evaluations of numerous high profile humanitarian crises – most notably that of the Indian Ocean tsunami – have identified insufficient investment in, and commitment to, such partnerships as the biggest hinderance to effective performance. The reality is that efforts to work with national and local actors do not play a central role in the majority of international humanitarian work. This amounts to a longstanding systemic issue for the sector as a whole, which has persisted despite the efforts made by individual agencies to invest time and effort in this area.

This study is the first output of a research project commissioned by five UK-based international humanitarian non-governmental organisations (INGOs) – ActionAid, Cafod, Christian Aid, Oxfam GB and Tearfund. The main purpose of the project was to look at the current and future potential of partnerships with national non-governmental organisations (NNGOs) in humanitarian response, based on lessons from across the commissioning agencies in four major emergency settings. The project is part of an ongoing effort to build the future of humanitarian assistance, which has already seen publications in 2011 from Christian Aid and Oxfam GB. The research process involved interviews with INGO and NNGO staff, workshops and meetings with INGO representatives, and a review of relevant documentation.

This Powerpoint presenation titled “Sarvodaya’s contribution to the SDGs
2015/16 and beyond” was presented at Sarvodaya’s Annual General Meeting on 17th December 2016. The presentation highlights and discusses some of the main goals of the SDGs that Sarvodaya works in.

Founded 59 years ago in Sri Lanka, Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement is a social development organisation. Coined by Mahatma Ghandi, Sarvodaya means the awakening of all and the Movement is inspired by Buddhist principles.

This scoping research conducted by Oxfam America in Partnership with Harvard Divinity School, combining a literature review and interviews of more than 45 stakeholders, set out to examine the varying approaches and effectiveness in local humanitarian leadership by secular and faith-inspired international humanitarian NGOs, their varying approaches to partnering and engaging with local faith actors, and their religious literacy.

Local humanitarian leadership is built upon the premise that humanitarian action should be led by local humanitarian actors whenever possible, yet this research finds that secular humanitarian INGOs do not engage systematically with local faith actors in their local leadership work. It also found that neither secular nor faith-inspired international humanitarian organizations have a sufficient level of religious literacy to enable them to understand the religious dimensions of the contexts in which they work and to effectively navigate their engagement with local faith actors.

To read the report from the website click also here.

A blog post with reflections on the topic can be found here.

The Government, Global Poverty and God’s Mission in the World declaration  emerged as one result of a two-day consultation sponsored by Bread for the World Institute, Micah Challenge, and the Center for Applied Christian Ethics, and held at Wheaton College, May 18-19, 2010.

The consultation involved a cross-section of roughly 80 invited evangelical Christian leaders in relief and development, church mission and advocacy, academia, and the media, with representatives from the Global South as well as Europe and North America. The purpose of the consultation was to strengthen the church’s understanding of how Christians should approach, inform, and develop their positions on U.S. foreign assistance policy. The consultation evolved to include broader reflections on U.S. (and other nations’) trade, aid, debt and other policies affecting global poverty.

The report can be found here.

This report summarizes and reflects on work that explored religious issues relevant for contemporary development challenges in several very different countries (Bangladesh, Kenya, Senegal, and Guatemala). All four countries face significant challenges of fragility, and development actors of many kinds, public and private, religious and non-religious, play critical roles. The country-level mapping work involved a combination of literature reviews, consultations with experts, and in-country fieldwork. This summary report highlights discussions at the October 2016 capstone conference at Georgetown University, which examined findings and conclusions of the three-year research program carried out with the generous support of the Henry R. Luce Foundation.

The report can be found here.

Building a Just World examines The Salvation Army’s contribution to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – the UN’s sustainable development programme between 2000 and 2015.

Using data collected by The Salvation Army during that period, this report aims to give a brief insight into the work being done in 127 countries around the world.

It also includes photographs, stories and an explanation of the Army’s holistic approach to addressing each MDG.

You can download or bookmark this publication here or read it here.

The Salvation Army also released the “Go and Do Something” report on mobilising for social justice, accessed here:

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 Teams carrying out safe, medical burials. This changed towards the end of 2014 when revised burial procedures were published and renamed the Safe and Dignified Burial Protocol. Confrontations with communities decreased and more requests by communities for the Burial Teams were noted.

The results of this study are expected to be used by national and international stakeholders to better respond to future epidemics in Sierra Leone and elsewhere.

Religious and faith-based organizations contribute substantially to international development as major donors to care for the most vulnerable.

Political pressure is increasing in some quarters to cut public spending on foreign assistance leaving religious and voluntary sectors to fundraise for aid. It is critical to understand faith-based entities are effective partners implementing government grants and are already secure substantial private resources for development assistance. Data are limited on the on revenues and expenditures of faith groups to international development. One publicly available source of data is the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) annual filings required of tax-exempt Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). This report uses publicly available IRS 990 forms of 71 of the largest US faith-based NGOs engaged in international development and aid activities to quantify the private and public revenues and expenditures from FY2011-FY2015.

As the just released Hudson Index of Philanthropy 2016 shows, US  private philanthropy significantly outpaces US Official Development Assistance (ODA)  as a proportion of total US contributions to total economic engagement with developing countries ( 12% vs 9%), and religious organizations contribute 14% of the total of that private philanthropy.

The Center for Faith and the Common Good (CFCG) has updated its analysis of data on US FB NGO financing for international development to include FY 2015. See here for more information on CFCG

The members of Christian Connections for International Health span the globe. They have long-term working relationships with numerous faith groups, health systems and governments. They are uniquely placed to hear and voice the concerns of both health professionals and ordinary citizens. Here CCIH has gathered statements about family planning, its history, and its current strengths and weaknesses in several countries of the Global South.

The focus of this volume is on religious actors as important social actors or drivers of change, particularly as promoters of social change, democracy and development. It is an acknowledgement of the vital role that religious communities and similar organised groups and their leaders play in achieving goals that Western policy-makers and development agents consider important for the progress of many non-Western societies, which are also often poor.

Muslim Platform for Sustainable Platform launched—to exchange knowledge and facilitate collaboration on Muslim understanding of and approach to achieving the SDGs. See more information below and their website:

Home

Disaster Ministry Handbook

Jamie D. Aten and David M. Boan, Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books, 2016. Dr. Jamie Aten is the founder and co-director of the Humanitarian Disaster Institute and Dr. Arthur P. Rech and Mrs. Jean May Rech Associate Professor of Psychology at Wheaton College (Illinois). Dr. David M. Boan is associate professor of psychology at Wheaton College and co-director of the college’s Humanitarian Disaster Institute. Churches can play crucial roles in disaster resilience and response. This book addresses the question of how local churches can assist in disaster risk and recovery globally, particularly in high-risk regions. Some churches are located in areas prone to disasters. Others have members who, although not living in high-risk regions, strongly desire to help others in disaster crises. The authors aim to prepare those with servant hearts from both perspectives by introducing them to the need for disaster assistance, suggesting reasons churches should get involved, and proposing ways that the local church is uniquely qualified to assist due to its structure and trust within the local community. Specifically, “the purpose of this book is to help churches learn how to plan, launch and sustain disaster ministries” (12).

Full Book Review

Preview Book

An Exploratory Study to Examine the Effectiveness of Community Based Ebola Virus Disease Prevention and Management Strategies in Bo District Sierra Leone

World Vision Sierra Leone and Johns Hopkins University Research Collaboration on World Vision’s Ebola Response in Sierra Leone. Johns Hopkins University: Anbrasi Edward, Casey Risko, Hossein Zare, Meera Pranav, Tiffany Tran

World Vision Sierra Leone: Allieu Bangura, Michael Belmoh, Raymond Owusu

The unprecedented Ebola Virus Disease outbreak in West Africa was first reported in Sierra Leone in March 2014 and rapidly spread, revealing the failures of the region’s chronically fractured and under-resourced healthcare system. By March 2016, the WHO had documented a total of 14,124 cases of Ebola, including 3,955 deaths, in Sierra Leone – more than any other country.

World Vision was actively engaged in implementing preventive activities and case management in 25 of its Area Development Programs, which included 25 Chiefdoms in Bo, Bonthe, Pujehun, and Kono in Sierra Leone. Its Ebola response strategy was designed to work in close collaboration with the Government of Sierra Leone to reach a population of 1.6 million through the establishment and mobilization of an extensive network of community providers established, including teachers, paramount chiefs, and faith healers, over a twenty-year period. A review of district level EVD records indicated that not a single Ebola-related fatality was documented among the 59,000 sponsored children or family members supported by World Vision during the outbreak.  Although the Ebola outbreak was successfully contained, the processes were not formally documented nor the impact of impact of World Vision’s effort was not formally documented or assessed.  The remainder of this report is based on findings from a study commissioned to bridge this knowledge-to-practice gap by capturing community members’ perceptions of the effectiveness of specific strategies employed by World Vision in order to increase the evidence of what works in responding to similar outbreaks throughout the West Africa and beyond.  This report is a collaboration between World Vision and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Protecting and Honouring the Dead report

Webinar resources from WVI: one-year ebola free reflections

Read more about WV and Ebola

Read Ebola Summary below: or on WVI website

Tearfund’s Bridging the Gap: The Role of Local Churches in Fostering Local-Level Social Accountability and Governance forms part of a suite of resources that Tearfund produced to help demonstrate the impact of their Church and Community Mobilisation (CCM) advocacy work. Additional information on this work can be found on Tearfund’s International Learning Zone (TILZ) page. Click on the download link for the full report

Additional resources include:

• short visual summary
• a short blog post reflection on CCM advocacy
• a short film
• advocacy guide

Summary of the Mobilisation of Local Faith Communities Hub, Trinity College Dublin, 8-9 December 2016

Hub co-chairs:

Christo Greyling, World Vision International

Catriona Dejean, Tearfund

Trócaire and Groupe URD research project

This is a research project looking into localization and specifically reinforce the capacity of its local partners and share the essential aspects of humanitarian action with them. Trócaire aims to reinforce humanitarian aid in the least accessible areas (for geographical or security reasons), and improve ownership and resilience amongst the local population.

Channels of Hope research findings presentation-

Building the evidence base on the role of local faith leaders to critical issues to enhance outcomes towards SDGs

*Presentation for Dec 2016 Mobilization of Local Faith Communities Hub meeting

Christo Greyling

Dec 8 and 9, 2016

What do we do now? Setting the scene for the Mobilisation of Local Faith Communities Hub Meeting Discussion Presentation

• includes feedback ppt

The sharpening focus on global health and the growing recognition of the capacities and scope of faith-based groups for improving community health outcomes suggest an intentional and systematic approach to forging strong, sustained partnerships between public sector agencies and faith-based organisations. Drawing from both development and faith perspectives, this Series paper examines trends that could ground powerful, more sustainable partnerships and identifies new opportunities for collaboration based on respective strengths and existing models. This paper concludes with five areas of recommendations for more effective collaboration to achieve health goals.

OAIC Livelihoods Programme:towards evidence based action to end hunger.

Presentation by Nicta Lubaale to the JLI capacity building hub, 8th Dec 2016

December 2016 presentation about Islamic Relief’s current program activities for the Mobilization of Local Faith Communities Hub.

Presenter – Neelam Fida

Mother’s Union (Anglican Alliance)- JLI Presentation 07.12.16

JLI Mobilization of Local Faith Communities Presentation

Robert Dawes

The Salvation Army Presentation 081216

Mobilizing Local Faith Communities

Lt Colonel (Dr) Dean Pallant,

Director: The Salvation Army, International Social Justice Commission

Review of Samaritan Purse’s Church and Community Mobilisation Programme Presentation

• Samaritan’s Purse started church mobilisation programming in 2005
• Presentation for Dec 2016 Mobilization of Local Faith Communities Hub meeting

See below for presentation by Jodi Blackham

ICM Evidence Presentation Dec 2016 Case Study

Evidence on Programs of Contributions of LFCs to Community Development and Humanitarian Needs

Lincoln Lau

This document introduces the Channels of Hope approach to engaging Faith Leaders for challenging harmful practices and enacting social change in their communities, providing a summary of evidence regarding the effectiveness and impact of the five Channels of Hope programmes: HIV/AIDS, Gender, MNCH, Ebola and Child Protection.

‘Channels of Hope’ (CoH) is World Vision’s signature programme for catalyzing faith leaders and their communities to transform children’s lives in the world’s hardest places. It was first developed over a decade ago by the Christian AIDS Bureau for Southern Africa as a compassionate Christian response to the devastating effect of HIV & AIDS. Since then CoH has evolved to address other difficult and often taboo issues that affect the rights and wellbeing of children and has been used in over 50 developing countries. Channels of Hope is both a methodology and a mobilization process.

Evaluation Report for 2013-2015

The Eagle process envisions and equips the local church “to have a vision and passion for being salt and light in their community, enabling the church and community to work together to address common needs by using their own shared resources” (Eagle manual p3).

It aims to support communities in Uganda to take initiative and improve relationships (with God, each other and the environment), gender equity, livelihoods and health. Mothers’ Union Uganda is pioneering this approach so it can fulfil its mission to transform communities by promoting stable marriages, family life and children’s protection more effectively and sustainably.

Mother’s Union Uganda Information

Religious NGOs are important sources of humanitarian aid in Africa, entering where the welfare programs of weakened states fail to provide basic services. As collaborators and critics of African states, religious NGOs occupy an important structural and ideological position. They also, however, illustrate a key irony—how economic development, a symbol of science, progress, and this-worldly material improvement, borrows heavily from other-worldly faith.

Through a study of two transnational NGOs in Zimbabwe, this book offers a nuanced depiction of development as both liberatory and limiting. Humanitarian effort is not a hopeless task, but behind the liberatory potential of Christian development lurks the sad irony that change can bring its own disappointments.

Link to book website (click download)

Link to other commentary

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 unique opportunity to improve health outcomes”.

The series includes:

• Understanding the roles of faith-based health-care providers in Africa: review of the evidence with a focus on magnitude, reach, cost, and satisfaction – by Jill Olivier, Clarence Tsimpo, Regina Gemignani, Mari Shojo, Harold Coulombe, Frank Dimmock, Minh Cong Nguyen, Harrison Hines, Edward J Mills, Joseph L Dieleman, Annie Haakenstad, Quentin Wodon. For article click here.
• Controversies in faith and health care – by Andrew Tomkins, Jean Duff, Atallah Fitzgibbon, Azza Karam, Edward J Mills, Keith Munnings, Sally Smith, Shreelata Rao Seshadri, Avraham Steinberg, Robert Vitillo, Philemon Yugi. For article click here.
• Strengthening of partnerships between the public sector and faith-based groups – by Jean Duff and Warren Buckingham. For article click here.

• Faith-based delivery of science-based care – by William Summerskill, Richard Horton. For article click here.

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, spanning eleven chapters. The chapters range from a review of the social determinants or drivers of health to leadership for new partnerships between health systems and communities, relational information technology, community health navigation, financial aspects of partnering with community in a new ‘social return on investment’ model, leadership, implementing resiliency models integrated across hospitals and the broader community.

This brief presents an overview of the QuIP in three steps: the background to the QuIP and its main aims; the data collection and analysis methodology; and QuIP in the context of other approaches to evaluation. Each section can be read independently.

For a video on QuIP methodology from Dr James Copestake please see this video

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, compassion, and more. Refugees, who often experience pervasive injustice, offer insights into the development of justice when they create a just community. The United Refugee and Host Churches (URHC) is a network of churches in Kakuma Refugee Camp (Kenya) and the surrounding Turkana community founded and operated by refugees and local Turkana people. Founded in 1996, this group addressed ongoing conflict and distrust in the refugee camp by establishing a system of procedural and distributive justice. This qualitative study identified and described the methods used by the URHC to restore a sense of justice and reduce conflict in the camp. The project team interviewed 23 URHC members and leaders and, from those interviews, identified eight core themes describing strategies used by URHC. We discuss each of themes in depth as well as the association’s work as an example of applied distributive and procedural justice. We then conclude by highlighting several implications, program impact, and recommendations for future research.

World Vision’s Mobilizing for Maternal and Neonatal Health through Birth Spacing and Advocacy (MOMENT) project focuses on improving maternal, neonatal, and child health (MNCH) by increasing community-led advocacy, political advocacy and US/Canadian funding for global health. The community-led advocacy, through Citizen Voice and Action, and its Channels of Hope models, focuses on engaging faith leaders to promote and increase MNCH and Healthy Timing and Spacing of Pregnancies/Family Planning (HTSP/FP) services to improve child survival and women’s health, prevent unintended pregnancies, and reduce child and maternal morbidity and mortality.

For example in Kenya-

The program trained 200 faith leaders with the tools to respond compassionately and practically to their congregations and communities with accurate information about HTSP/FP that can save the lives of women and children. They have organized over 360 church volunteers to spread the word in their communities. In 2015 alone, the faith leaders referred 4,288 women to family planning services. More than half (2,819) are now using a method of contraception that is right for them.

For more information please see the World Vision website and brochure

Act alliance annual report, which includes numbers and values for 2015.

To read the report directly in the organization’s website, click here: http://actalliance.org/documents/act-alliance-annual-report-2015/

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 and how far NGOs partner with religious actors. It also considers the impacts of these cross-faith partnerships, including their work on conflict and sectarian or ethnic tension in the relevant communities.

To get the book, click here: https://www.routledge.com/Development-Across-Faith-Boundaries/Ware-Clarke/p/book/9781138690424

Global interfaith network that brings together religious leaders and faith organisations of diverse faith backgrounds to focus on a common agenda of family health and wellbeing

http://faithtoactionetwork.org/our-network/

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 model to address this pressing health issue” according to  Andreas Hipple, Director of Programs at the Center for Interfaith Action on Global Poverty.

For more on the center- http://www.nigerianinterfaith.org/blank or contact Bishop Sunday Onuhoa

Over an 18 month period, the Center for Interfaith Action (CIFA) engaged religious leaders in Ethiopia and Nigeria to change attitudes and behaviors surrounding the issues of early marriage (EM) and female genital cutting (FGC). Through interfaith models and toolkits, created from CIFA’s in-depth formative research in those two countries, religious leaders have been empowered as advocates for stopping these harmful traditional practices. The percentage of faith leaders involved in this project who opposed early marriage and FGC more than doubled as a result of CIFA’s intervention. Based on these compelling program results, CIFA is equipped to take anti-FGC and EM interfaith programs to scale in Ethiopia, Nigeria and other priority countries, and to leverage the powerful voices of faith leaders (FLs) to champion the elimination of these harmful traditional practices.

This excel spreadsheet contains all of the recommendations recorded by each of the discussion groups during the five working sessions of the conference: Health Systems Strengthening, Ebola & HIV, Sexual and Gender-based Violence, Humanitarian and Disaster Relief, and Large Scale Engagement of Religious Communities. These recommendations were recorded by the group facilitator and copied verbatim into this document. A synthesis of these recommendations may be found in the conference proceedings.

The contents of this report have been drawn from 40 interviews with senior development professionals held during February and March 2015. A small number of members of faith-based organisations
(FBOs) also took part. The exercise was commissioned by the Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities (JLIF&LC) to understand the key opportunities and challenges that could be addressed through the forthcoming conference on public sector partnering with FBOs.

Cover page and table of contents may be viewed at Emory University’s page on Religion and Public Health Collaboration here.

Book may be purchased at Oxford University Press’ website here

Description from Oxford University Press:

Frequently in partnership, but sometimes at odds, religious institutions and public health institutions work to improve the well-being of their communities. There is increasing awareness among public health professionals and the general public that the social conditions of poverty, lack of education, income inequality, poor working conditions, and experiences of discrimination play a dominant role in determining health status. But this broad view of the social determinants of health has largely ignored the role of religious practices and institutions in shaping the life conditions of billions around the globe. 

In Religion as a Social Determinant of Public Health, leading scholars in the social sciences, public health, and religion address this omission by examining the embodied sacred practices of the world’s religions, the history of alignment and tension between religious and public health institutions, the research on the health impact of religious practice throughout the life course, and the role of religious institutions in health and development efforts around the globe. In addition, the volume explores religion’s role in the ongoing epidemics of HIV/AIDS and Alzheimer’s disease, as well as preparations for an influenza pandemic. Together, these groundbreaking essays help complete the picture of the social determinants of health by including religion, which has until now been an invisible determinant.

Report of an independent mid-term evaluation of the Faiths United for Health program, a pilot program of the Nigerian Inter-Faith Action Association (NIFAA) that uses an interfaith action approach to train Muslim and Christian religious leaders to educate and motivate Nigerians to undertake behavior change in the fight against malaria. This report details NIFAA’s promising early work to mobilize religious leaders to use their influence to increase usage rates of insecticide-treated bed nets, as well as increasing other action against malaria. Produced with funding support from GHR Foundation.

In December 2013, representatives from 12 faith-based organisations came together to explore and articulate a theory of change for faith group and community mobilisation. The process examined assumptions about what success looks like and how we contribute to change; and specifically analyzed the role of faith, drawing on any existing evidence base. A small working group then met together in July 2014 to draw together the theory of change. Throughout the process, the group was careful to surface both similarities and differences. The theory of change diagram captures the core underlying beliefs that the group hold in common, while the narrative explains the diagram, fills in more detail and highlights areas of debate and that need further learning and testing.

World Vision’s HIV and AIDS response strategy focuses on building the capacity of communities to prevent the spread of HIV and on providing care and advocacy for people living with HIV and for orphans and vulnerable children (OVC). The Channels of Hope (CoH) methodology, one of World Vision’s three core HIV and AIDS response models, is used to mobilise the infrastructure, organisational capacity, pool of current and potential volunteers, and unmatched moral authority of local churches and faith communities towards positive action on HIV and AIDS. Once they have been mobilised, World Vision works with churches and faith-based organisations to co-ordinate and equip sustainable, community-based HIV and AIDS programmes with an emphasis on reaching OVCs in need of care and support.

In the communities where WV works, many serious issues often limit improved child well-being (CWB). These might include violence against children, poor birth spacing, gender inequality, early marriage, wife inheritance, malnutrition, early marriage, gender-based violence, HIV infections, TB and malaria, trafficking, and more.

The central argument in the paper is that development is primarily about safeguarding and enhancing the dignity of human beings. Human dignity originates from God who has singled out humankind from other creations and favoured it in several ways. We are the only creatures that contain the Divine spirit which was placed in humankind by God during creation (Qur’an, 15:29). God has also distinguished humans from the rest of creation by endowing us with intellect (‘aql). Further, God has given humans the custodianship (khalifa) of the rest of creation on earth.

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.