WFDD PUBLICATIONS

The major faith traditions have at their core a concern for the poor and dispossessed. At a practical level, faith institutions have long been doing the work of development, living in and supporting poor communities. Faith institutions have historically prioritized charity, and the act of giving to the poor remains central to religious practice in many parts of the world. Churches and mosques fulfill a central role in providing sustenance for the poor in times of crisis. The idea of the empowerment of the poor has taken root in the words of religious leaders across traditions and in the actions and programs of faith-inspired institutions and organizations, which play a pivotal role in providing humanitarian assistance and basic social services. Many faith institutions work together with farmers and workers around the world to develop sustainable livelihoods.

PUBLICATIONS

Faith-Inspired Organizations and Development in Cambodia
December 9, 2010

Decent Shelter for All: Roles for Faith-Inspired Organizations
January 1, 2009

Mind, Heart, and Soul in the Fight Against Poverty
November 30, 2003

POSTS

The real angel investors
March 1, 2010

Faith and Development
November 23, 2009

Faith and Farming
November 16, 2009

A Billion Hungry People
October 19, 2009

Keeping Poverty on the Global Agenda
September 20, 2009

Saving a Drowning Girl
July 13, 2009

Weak Economy Crippling the Poor
April 8, 2009

INTERVIEWS

A Discussion with Alejandro Bilbao, Founder, Centro Magis Latin America
January 12, 2009

A Discussion with David Beckmann, President, Bread for the World
April 4, 2007

Achieve universal primary education

Faith institutions play important but complex and often insufficiently appreciated roles in the overall global education picture. Poor data, complex debates and controversy around public and private roles in education and, in some societies, reticence about religious roles in education contribute to religion’s exclusion from many debates. However, outstanding faith-inspired educational institutions assure access to education and serve as models of excellence. Faith leaders and institutions could play greater roles in meeting the vital but difficult challenges of providing education in conflict ridden societies, and for marginalized groups, including girls.

PUBLICATIONS

Faith-Inspired Organizations and Development in Cambodia
December 9, 2010

INTERVIEWS

A Discussion with Agnes Appiah, Founder and Director, Living Faith School and Home, Ghana
April 7, 2010

A Discussion with Oscar Azmitia, Rector, Universidad de la Salle, Costa Rica
January 31, 2009

Promote gender equality and empower women

Religion is an important factor shaping communities’ norms and aspirations, which is of special significance for women and girls. Religion can be a catalyst for action to improve women’s lives, or it can be a source of conflict and a brake on change. Modernization challenges traditional expectations and practices in profound ways, none so significantly, perhaps, as for the relationships between men and women. The resulting changes challenge religious institutions and even practices and beliefs that have become entrenched over time and are commonly (and sometimes incorrectly) associated with religious dogma. Among the most significant of these changes are approaches taken by international development practitioners, which emphasize changing gender relations as desirable and of high priority. Gender relations also spark human rights debates, for example around the roles of women in Muslim societies and among conservative Christian communities. Insofar as education of girls is concerned, religious actors have differing roles and viewpoints, but are nevertheless positioned to provide this service in order to achieve MDGs 2 and 3.

EVENTS

Changing Women's Realities in Morocco: Aicha Ech-Channa
November 9, 2009

PUBLICATIONS

Women in Religious Peacebuilding
May 1, 2011

Faith-Inspired Organizations and Development in Cambodia
December 9, 2010

Challenges of Change: Faith, Gender, and Development
May 1, 2008

POSTS

Heroines against gendercide
March 22, 2010

"God Gulf" Hurts Women
October 4, 2009

INTERVIEWS

A Discussion with Azza Karam, Senior Culture Advisor at UNFPA
April 29, 2010

A Discussion with Wendy Tyndale about Gender Roles, Peace, and Conflict in Central America
April 1, 2010

A Discussion with Agnes Abuom, Executive Committee, World Council of Churches
July 3, 2009

Discussions with Aicha Ech-Channa, Founder and President, Association Solidarité Féminine, Casablanca, Morocco
June 14, 2009

A Discussion with Ana Victoria Peláez Ponce, Professor, Rafael Landivar University, Central American Women's Network of Religions for Peace, Guatemala (Spanish)
January 11, 2009

A Discussion with Ana Victoria Peláez Ponce, Professor, Rafael Landivar University, Central American Women's Network of Religions for Peace, Guatemala
January 10, 2009

Reduce child mortality

Reducing child mortality requires improvement of primary and neonatal health care, of the education level of the family, and of attitudes toward childbirth spacing. Faith communities are deeply involved in the provision of health care, as well as in education. More complicated is the role they play in fostering attitudes around fertility and childbirth, which are linked to the resources available and devoted to newborn children. Faith communities have a special concern for the most vulnerable, which includes children, and the historical and current strength of faith communities in orphan care has renewed salience for child mortality rates in the context of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. What is needed is a link between those efforts and a more comprehensive, and coherent approach to family planning and neonatal health care, as well as additional resources to improve access to adequate nutrition, vaccines and medicine.

PUBLICATIONS

Faith-Inspired Organizations and Development in Cambodia
December 9, 2010

Malaria: Scoping New Partnerships
January 9, 2009

Development and Faith: Where Mind, Heart and Soul Work Together
June 29, 2007

POSTS

Fathers and Families
June 20, 2009

INTERVIEWS

A Discussion with Frank Dimmock about his Work in Africa in Christian Health Ministry
August 31, 2009

A Discussion with Dr. Zilda Arns Neumann, Founder, Pastoral Criança, Brazil
January 24, 2009

Improve maternal health

Making childbirth safe for mother and child depends on the accessibility of basic health care, on the family's general welfare (especially education), and on cultural attitudes towards women. With the celebration of family and motherhood that is part of many faith traditions, taking steps to reduce maternal mortality seems a logical and natural priority. Religiously-inspired actors have forced maternal health onto the priority list in many places in ways that show true commitment to human life and dignity and a capacity for sustained and courageous engagement. But on the whole, there is much more that faith leaders and communities could do to encourage changes in attitudes that keep girls out of school by force or by suggestion, that hint that a women’s health is less important than a man’s, and that define the value of a woman by her marriage prospects and accept early marriage without question.

PUBLICATIONS

Faith-Inspired Organizations and Development in Cambodia
December 9, 2010

POSTS

Good News on Mothers
April 25, 2010

"God Gulf" Hurts Women
October 4, 2009

Fathers and Families
June 20, 2009

Mothers Need More Than A Day
May 11, 2009

INTERVIEWS

A Discussion with Dr. Zilda Arns Neumann, Founder, Pastoral Criança, Brazil
January 24, 2009

Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases

For many faith traditions, religion and health are essentially inseparable, tightly linked in teachings and practice. Most religions see care for the sick and suffering as part of their calling; many view spiritual, physical, and mental health in a common frame. Numerous health care practices and facilities today trace their roots to religious institutions, so it is noteworthy and rather surprising that faith and health have a rather uneasy contemporary relationship.<br><br> In the global effort to bridge wide gaps in health care and to meet the unmet health needs of poor people and communities, partnerships with faith institutions offer an important avenue for action. Huge deficits in decent health care constitute a global challenge that is most acute in the world’s poorest countries. Religious actors already do much, and could do more in these countries to help meet the challenges of access, improve the quality of care, and address priority issues like HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria, and childhood diseases. Their potential roles are multi-layered, and exist within global, regional, national, and local levels. Faith institutions play pragmatic and well established roles in providing health care in specific areas, and also newer roles in advocacy. There are many areas of synergy, exciting potential for creative partnerships, and important practical and theoretical lessons to learn. However, overall the picture is rather murky due to poor and insufficient data, and it is not uncommon to find faith actors ignored in analytic reviews and policy consultations. Dialogue and understanding are at best mixed, with more disconnects than connections.

PUBLICATIONS

Faith-Inspired Organizations and Development in Cambodia
December 9, 2010

Experiences and Issues at the Intersection of Faith and Tuberculosis
July 16, 2010

Malaria: Scoping New Partnerships
January 9, 2009

Faith Communities Engage the HIV/AIDS Crisis: Lessons Learned and Paths Forward
October 1, 2007

Development and Faith: Where Mind, Heart and Soul Work Together
June 29, 2007

Finding Global Balance: Common Grounds Between the Worlds of Development And Faith
June 1, 2005

POSTS

Alliances for Health
July 20, 2009

Health Care Reform, African Style
July 6, 2009

Wrong Message From the Pope
March 28, 2009

INTERVIEWS

A Discussion with Bernhard Liese, Chair, Department of International Health at Georgetown University School of Nursing & Health Studies
October 19, 2009

A Discussion with Rev. Canon Gideon Byamugisha, Founder, African Network of Religious Leaders Living with or Personally Affected by HIV/AIDS
May 3, 2009

A Discussion with Rev. Sam Ruteikara, Former Chair, Uganda's National AIDS Prevention Committee
May 1, 2009

A Discussion With Ari Johnson, Co-founder and Co-Executive Director, Project Muso, Mali
December 1, 2008

A Discussion with Mark Webster, Vice President for Programs, ADRA (Adventist Development and Relief Agency International)
November 5, 2008

A Discussion with Msgr. Robert Vitillo, Special Advisor on HIV/AIDS, Caritas Internationalis
May 28, 2008

Ensure environmental sustainability

Care for the health of the natural world, born out of concern for its intrinsic value and for how it bears on human thriving, is emphasized in all faith traditions. Religious leaders are vocal advocates on environmental issues of local and global significance – for instance, recently, religious voices have emerged as among the most prominent advocates for action on climate change. Conflicts around dam building, privatization of state-owned assets and services (like water) and the displacement of indigenous people, have shown to resonate deeply among many faith institutions. Furthermore, faith-inspired organizations have and continue to play important roles in the provision of clean water and sanitation services in the areas where the poorest live, and where government services are inadequate.

PUBLICATIONS

Faith-Inspired Organizations and Development in Cambodia
December 9, 2010

Development and Faith: Where Mind, Heart and Soul Work Together
June 29, 2007

POSTS

Environmentalists as missionaries
January 25, 2010

Nopenhagen: Not There Yet
December 21, 2009

INTERVIEWS

A Discussion with Ruth Messinger, President, American Jewish World Service
April 8, 2009

Develop a global partnership for development

Faith leaders and institutions have long criticized ways in which they see that the global financial system disfavors the poor, and have led protests around debt relief for poor countries. At the heart of this activism and advocacy is a concern for the interests of individuals and communities, and a skepticism, varying in degrees, about the performance of corporations, markets, and governments in accounting equitably for the basic physical needs of all people on the planet.

EVENTS

African-Christian Leaders' Gathering
November 14, 2004

PUBLICATIONS

Faith-Inspired Organizations and Development in Cambodia
December 9, 2010

Faith-Inspired Organizations and Global Development Policy: A Background Review "Mapping" Social and Economic Development Work in Southeast Asia
June 16, 2010

Global Development and Faith-Inspired Organizations in Latin America: Meeting Report
January 30, 2009

Development and Faith: Where Mind, Heart and Soul Work Together
June 29, 2007

INTERVIEWS

A Discussion with Lisette van der Wel, Anthropologist, Policy Advisor, Interchurch Organization for Development Cooperation
June 25, 2008