Religious teachings and grassroots religious teachers and clerics are important in the everyday life of faith communities, yet they largely remain an untapped resource in efforts to address intimate partner violence (IPV) in international development contexts and among migrant and refugee religious
minorities.

The current study derives from findings of long-term anthropological research with communities in Ethiopia and evidence collected from a programme implemented by project dldl/ድልድል that engaged Christian clergy to build their preparedness to respond to domestic violence in Ethiopia.

It draws from the case study, which suggests that theology-informed IPV trainings could enable religious teachers to become more active in IPV responses, provided that a) theological responses are embedded in the religious tradition that faith communities consider authoritative, and b) trainers are fully versed in the cultural context, theological tradition and IPV realities that the religious teachers they train are faced with in their everyday life.