Many religious actors implement programmes related to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Yet many religious actors would benefit from building their understanding of:

• how to use research evidence to increase their influence in the international humanitarian and development sectors,
• how faith engagements are understood in those sectors,
• what the research evidence says about the role of faith engagement,
• how basic research training can help religious actors understand how to create and use evidence for programming, policy and advocacy.

For religious actors, being able to speak up with an evidence-based approach in donor, policy and practice spaces will significantly contribute to more equal partnerships and improved social action.

It is with these objectives in mind that the Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities (JLI) embarked on a multi-year process of synthesising evidence and using evidence for training, including a one-year pilot aimed at the development and implementation of training on religions and development research course. The pilot project was implemented in collaboration with five Anglican colleges and seminaries in Africa and Asia. This learning paper summarises the approach and key learnings of the pilot, with a view to share insights gained from our collaboration with others working on similar initiatives in the areas of teaching religions and development, improving evidence literacy and strengthening research capacity.

More info on the page dedicated to the training course here!