This case study is one of a series produced by the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University and the World Faiths Development Dialogue (WFDD), an NGO established in the World Bank and based today at Georgetown University. The goal is to generate relevant and demanding teaching materials that highlight ethical, cultural, and religious dimensions of contemporary international development topics. This case study highlights the complex institutional roles of religious actors, and positive and less positive aspects of their involvement on issues for vulnerable children—notably, how international organizations proved poorly prepared in engaging these ideas and religious institutions in a systematic fashion. Earlier case studies on female genital cutting (FGC or FGM) and the Ebola crisis focus on the complex questions of how culture and religious beliefs influence behaviors.

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