Faith and Development

Helen StawskiArchbishop of Canterbury’s Office

Brussels 28th May 2013

Recent interest in Faith and Development

Research into faith and development

Recognition of faith assets

Contribution to MDGs Conferences and

dialogues Faith literacy Funding streams

Archbishop Rowan Williams meeting Dr Margaret Chan Director General of the World Health Organisation

Faith “assets” Influence and trust: 75% of Africans report that

religious leaders are the people they trust most (Gallup 2005)

Reach: There are roughly 100,000 faith-inspired organizations working on health and development in Africa – less than 1% international NGOs (TBFF 2012); vast, uncounted congregational networks

Delivery: Christian Health Networks account for between 30-60% of health services in some African countries (Chand & Patterson 2007)3

Research

Religions and Development (DFID) Berkley Centre Washington & World Bank International Religious Health Assets Programme

(Cape Town) Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local

Communities Faith at the UN -University of Kent UN internal mapping processes UN Alliance of Civilisations Special additions of journals e.g. Refugee Studies

Centre Faith in Humanitarianism- Autumn 2011; Development In Practice – Summer 2012

Faith literacy and dialogue

UNFPA (2010) Culture Matters UNICEF (2011) Partnering with Religious

Communities for Change UNAIDS (2011) FBO Strategic Framework Wilton Park (2011) Faith and Development UNHCR (2012) High Commissioner’s

Dialogue on Faith and Protection DFID (2012) Faith Partnership Principles

Definitions of LFC/FBOs Local worship communities (e.g., churches,

mosques, synagogues, temples, etc.) Denominational leadership (e.g., bishops, clerics,

ayatollahs, lamas, etc.) Scholars, theologians and religious educators Mission workers Youth faith or inter-faith groups Women of faith networks Faith-based or faith-inspired organizations Denominational, ecumenical and intra-religious

institutions, umbrella organizations & networks Inter-faith institutions

UNICEF 2011

Trends in Development

Focus on local and sustainable

Towards new partnerships

Effectiveness and efficiency

informed by data & value for

money

New development goals post- 2015

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Social Capital of LFC/FBOs

Presence Influence Knowledge Mobilisation Communication Physical assets

Participation

Types of participation

Participating in policy dialogues Post MDG dialogue National transitional dialogues

Participating in service delivery Health Education Relief

Learning Hub:HIV/AIDS and Maternal Health

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What is the impact of faith groups on HIV and Maternal Health, with special attention to PMTCT and skilled birth attendants?

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Hypothesis: Faith communities shape the HIV response through both attitudes change and service provision

Data Point 1: 98% of religious leaders surveyed in Kisumu, Kenya believe that their communities are influenced by what they say about HIV and health behaviors (CIFA 2012)

Data Point 2: The Catholic Church estimates that it alone provides 26.7 percent of all HIV care in the world (Barragan 2006)

Data Point 3: The World Health Organisation estimates that 1 in 5 HIV responses is faith-related (WHO 2006)

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Hypothesis: Maternal health services are commonly provided by faith-based actors

Data Point 1: In Uganda, 50% of maternal health and child services are provided through faith-based institutions (USAID & Access 2007).

Data Point 2: 90% of faith-inspired health facilities in sub-Saharan Africa offer maternal and newborn services (Chand and Patterson 2007)

Data Point 3: Faith groups provide 70% of nursing and midwifery training in Malawi and Uganda, and between 30 to 55% in Tanzania and Zambia (Pearl, Chand, and Hafner 2009)

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Hypothesis: Faith groups influence demand for and uptake of maternal and child health services

Data Point 1: Faith community engagement helped improve the percentage of pregnant women who received a course of IPT under direct observation from 43% to 94% in Kasese District, Uganda (USAID & Access 2007)

Data Point 2: Faith-based interventions in Mozambique, Kenya, Uganda, the DRC and India found that these programs couple outreach to the broader communities with clinical services (Chand & Patterson 2007)

Data Point 3: Religious and spiritual beliefs were seen to be a key barrier to exclusive breast feeding from a 2010 barrier analysis in Burundi (Francisco 2010)

Resilience

Emergency Response – Basic Services

First 36 hours – first response – in remote places -‘Pseudo state interlocutor’.

Promoting community resilience by building on existing local resources.

Mobilising resources from within the community -Haiti Nuns, Pakistan mosques.

Use of religious building for storage, information hubs. Religious building for shelter and protection - Sri Lanka. Challenge of quantifying contribution. Ethos of service & culturally sensitive provision. No data on hindering resilience through service provision.

Psycho-social support

LFCs provide a ‘psychological first aid’ - counselling, pastoral support and solidarity with victims.

Individual religious beliefs and shared religious practice /ritual/association promotes psycho-social resilience in unique ways.

Working through LFCs builds on existing coping mechanisms and resilience in culturally appropriate ways.

At times religions promote fatalistic – disaster as punishment from God –(must accept there is a huge variety of individual religious experience across religions and cultures).

Fears religion will promote agendas at variance with the humanitarian principles.

LFCs may not the requisite skills for counselling.

Durable Solutions Better attuned to the needs of a community than external actors Familiar with local leaders, culture, practices and language Often play a crucial role in fostering recovery, relief and

reconstruction

Registering asylum seekers and thereby assisting them to claim their rights – Myanmar and Malaysia

Community peace-building – Kenya, Liberia, Philippines Promoting sustainable livelihoods – Pakistan Practical assistance and conflict mitigation returnees – Tanzania

Limited by lack of technical expertise in peace-building Challenges of remaining impartial Challenges to the humanitarian paradigm

Spiritual Capital

Ritual Prayer Teaching

Definition of Spiritual Capital

‘Spiritual Capital refers to the positive benefits of spiritual, psychological and moral development to individuals, organisations and communities, [it measures] the amount of knowledge and expertise related to meanings, values and fundamental purposes available to and individual or culture.’

Zohar, D and Marshall, I (2004)

International Humanitarian Faith Based Organisations

Challenges for our faith identity

Dualism– secular and sacred Different language/expectations in

development and theology Huge diversity between FBOs–

theologically, missiologicaly and culturally Risks of embracing faith identity –

unprofessional, bias Promoting internal change Is there a faith sector?

Imperative to understand faith identity better…

Focus on local and sustainable

Towards new partnerships

Effectiveness and efficiency informed

by data & value for money

New development goals post- 2015

What strengths do we have as churches?

Global Networks of relationships Longevity (not issue based) Holistic view of development Integrated view of mission Engaged in moral discourse Prayer Hope in Christ

Faith Challenges

Faith assets not fully engaged in development Under used (Global Fund survey) Under funded: 90% of congregation leaders involved in HIV

advocacy in Malawi have not received any external funding for their work (Trinitapoli & Weinreb 2013); Over 50% of church projects surveyed by Tearfund in sub-Saharan Africa were overwhelmingly run by volunteers from within the community, with little or no external funding (Tearfund 2007)

Not mapped: WHO/CIFA Consultation 2010 Not at the ‘planning table’

Secular concerns re: proselytizing; political and legal issues; accountability; logistics

Evidence Gap: we need to tell the story better

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Cultural lens

UNFPA 2010

Strategies for building on social & spiritual capital

Mapping existing local contributions / best practice

Research into resilience –including impact of spiritual capital

Faith literacy/dialogue & faith partnership principles

Piloting new innovative partnership models Specifically tailored training Changing policy

Ways forward

Promote mutual literacy Build on shared positive values Recognise diversity within/between faith

communities Support participation and leadership of women

and youth – power dynamics Offer space for theologians & religious leaders Build evidence - niche, value and potential Include in national policy and planning Support capacity in technical competencies

Ways of working

Seek to transform perceived barriers into opportunities

Create space – mutual listening & response

Approach collaboratively to work through differences and identify deeper common ground

Why do we need to invest in research?

Faith groups are heavily reliant on anecdotal evidence.

Given the suspicion of bias by faith groups– independently verifiable data required.

The need for best practice and scalable models for donors to invest in.

The need to connect discourse and language.

Influencing ‘theories of change’.

JLI F&LC Vision: Robust evidence and smart communications to transform the quality, effectiveness, and impact of partnerships between faith groups and the development community

Collaborative learning platform that is cross sector, interfaith, cross discipline

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Christian Aid

Interfaith partnerships

Working with International organisations

Archbishop Rowan with Michele Sidbe Director General of UNAIDS

Thank You