The consultation titled “Religion and Development Post-2015: Challenges, Opportunities and Policy Guidance” was hosted by UNFPA in its capacity as Convenor of the UN- IATF-FBO and co-sponsored by George Mason University, City University London and Digni, a religious umbrella organization from Norway. The roundtable event took place on 12-13 May 2014 in New York. The nexus of religion and development concerns both faith-based organizations (FBOs) as well as so-called secular ones. It is critical to recognize the diversity within religious organizations and actors and not seek to essentialise, over-simplify or categorize. This is especially the case because religion embodies layers of ambiguities, potentials and risks – whether as ritual, institution, non- governmental organization, leader or service provider.

Strategic thinking about religion and development requires a transformational shift in the attitudes of secular development actors — starting from simple stakeholder analysis undertaken from a presumed position of secular predominance, to considerations of a level playing field based on complementarity and parity between actors. The work of development has always been the domain of faith-based entities. The ‘intruders’ may well be so-called secular organizations.