1 UNSG, One Humanity, Gingerich and Cohen, Turning the Humanitarian System on Its Head: Saving Lives and Livelihoods by

Transcription

1 4

2 5

3 Why mobilize local faith communities for sustainable development? These are talking points designed to communicate main messages for the mobilisation of local faith communities (LFCs) for sustainable development. The talking points follow the framework below. 1. What is the case for change? Localisation: o Humanitarian and development work should be as local as possible, as international as necessary, 1 as called for by the former UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, prior to the World Humanitarian Summit in Faith communities are some of the most crucial local actors. Research from Oxfam highlighted that local actors know the context and needs best, are firstresponders, and can be more accountable as they serve their own communities. Yet international donors do not provide appropriate resources to local actors. To prioritise local actors, the aid system needs to build stronger partnerships between international and local actors, as well as putting greater emphasis on strengthening local capacity. 2 Long-term sustainability: o Communities move away from aid dependency to mobilise internal resources. As has been recognised for over two decades, aid agencies that ignore peoples existing strengths may create dependency, and so make people more vulnerable than before. 3 By mobilising internal resources, the capacity of the local community is recognised and strengthened, thus creating long-term sustainability. An external cost-benefit analysis of Tearfund s disaster risk reduction (DRR) work with LFCs in Malawi showed that for every USD$1 invested in building community resilience for DRR, the project activities delivered USD$24 of net benefits for the communities to help them overcome food insecurity while building their resilience to drought and erratic weather. 4 Inclusivity: o For development to be sustainable, everyone must be involved, including local faith communities. Predominantly secular framings of development have disempowered the voices and the diverse traditions and understanding from which they are drawn of the southern actors who have the greatest stake in the 1 UNSG, One Humanity, Gingerich and Cohen, Turning the Humanitarian System on Its Head: Saving Lives and Livelihoods by Strengthening Local Capacity and Shifting Leadership to Local Actors, 7. 3 Eade, Capacity-Building. 4 Venton, Cabot C and Sidenburg, J and Faleiro, J, Investing in Communities, 3. 6

4 sustainable development enterprise. 5 As Michel Sidibé, the Executive Director of UNAIDS, states, none of the SDGs can be achieved in isolation The SDGs require all of us governments, multilaterals, the private sector, civil society, and faith communities to build strong connections between efforts to address health, injustice, inequality, poverty, and conflict. 6 Holistic/integral development: o Development should pay attention to all aspects of the person, not just material needs. Secular organisations have specialities that can be limited to the technical and material, 7 while LFCs can bring complementary specialities that recognise other aspects of life, including the spiritual and cultural. Several organisations have developed theories of change that encompass holistic/integral development, such as Tearfund s LIGHT (Learning and Impact Guide to Holistic Transformation) Wheel, which focuses on nine spokes for community mobilisation: Social Connections; Personal Relationships; Living Faith; Emotional and Mental Health; Physical Health; Stewardship of the Environment; Material Resources; Capabilities; Participation and Influence. 8 Disempowerment: o Communities can feel limited having faced brutal regimes, lack of governance, and rampant corruption. In Cambodia, LFCs working with Tearfund felt disempowered as a legacy of the Khmer Rouge era. 9 Stopping harmful practices: o In many areas worldwide, local leaders, including faith leaders, allow or do not have the capacity to combat female genital cutting (FGC), 10 sexual violence, 11 HIV/AIDS, 12 and early marriage (EM). 13 Limited LFC action: o LFCs can operate in a relief-oriented mind-set that creates dependency What are the barriers to change? Lack of local engagement: o Top-down aid is still prevalent. The Grand Bargain set a goal of 25% of humanitarian funding to go to national and local NGOs. 15 However, according to the latest statistics in 2015, national and local NGOs received only 2.1% of all direct funding to NGOs, 16 which amounts to only 0.2% of all humanitarian aid. 17 This was an increase on previous years and it is also likely that local organisations source funds from other resources. However, the balance still very 5 Ager and Ager, Sustainable Development and Religion, Sidibé, Religion and Sustainable Development, 1. 7 Ager and Ager, Faith, Secularism, and Humanitarian Engagement; Deneulin, Religion in Development. 8 Tearfund, The Learning and Impact Guide to Holistic Transformation. 9 Raistrick, Open-Ended Church and Community Mobilisation: Wholistic Development Organisations, Cambodia. 10 Wadesango, Rembe, and Chabaya, Violation of Women s Rights by Harmful Traditional Practices. 11 Le Roux, SILENT NO MORE The Untapped Potential of the Church in Addressing Sexual Violence. 12 Foster et al., A Purpose-Driven Response: Building United Action against HIV & AIDS for the Church in Mozambique, Karam, Faith-Inspired Initiatives to Tackle the Social Determinants of Child Marriage. 14 Raistrick, Open-Ended Church and Community Mobilisation: Wholistic Development Organisations, Cambodia. 15 World Humanitarian Summit, The Grand Bargain: A Shared Commitment to Better Serve People in Need. 16 Development Initiatives Ltd., Global Humanitarian Assistance Report 2016, Charter 4 Change, Charter for Change. 7

5 much favours the international, Northern donors, meaning that financial decisions are still made from the top-down. Lack of motivation: o Some communities are not initially prepared to be active agents of transformation in their local area. As summarised in Tearfund s LIGHT Wheel assessment, some communities can avoid problems and prefer isolation to mobilisation. Instead, mobilisation can help communities become aware of problems, act to overcome them, advance their mission, and achieve results. 18 Negative perceptions and experiences of religion: o Organisations (particularly those that are secular) can be hesitant to engage with LFCs because of preconceived notions and some practical negative experiences of religion. As identified by UNHCR in consultation with their colleagues from around the world, 19 this hesitation can be based on these difficulties: Discrimination against other faith groups Hate speech or incitement to violence Proselytisation Early marriage Gender stereotypes Stigma around HIV/AIDS Stigma against LGBT Power inequalities from faith leaders to those in need of protection Charity-based approaches rather than rights-based approaches While these hesitations can be justified in some cases, the examples below will underline why active engagement with LFCs, instead of avoidance of LFCs, is crucial and will help create long-term change in these areas. Lack of capacity and resources: o LFCs lack the capacity and resources needed to address the deep-rooted issues at hand. In Nigeria and Ethiopia, the Center for Interfaith Action found that Most faith leaders do not currently have the knowledge or tools to shift their own attitudes or to be advocates for ending FGC and EM. 20 Faith leaders in both countries were ignorant of female anatomy and of the negative health impacts of both FGC and early marriage, nor have they explored the scriptural depths of their faith tradition around these issues, or around girls health and wellbeing. 21 Dependency culture: o Communities are used to relying on NGOs and LFCs to provide for them without action. 22 In Cambodia, Tearfund found that communities had learned to have a dependency culture. Challenging existing power structures: o Those in power feel threatened by action from those who had previously been disempowered and disenfranchised in the community. 18 Tearfund, The Learning and Impact Guide to Holistic Transformation. 19 Volker Turk, Jose Riera, and Marie-Claude Poirier, Partnership Note on Faith-Based Organizations, Local Faith Communities, and Faith Leaders (Geneva: UNHCR, 2014), Center for Interfaith Action, The Faith Effect, Ibid., Njoroge et al., Umoja - Transforming Communities - Facilitator s Guide, 5. 8

6 3. Why are FBOs well placed to address the barriers? What are examples of FBO impact? Trust and authority: o LFCs are trusted in their communities and hold local authority. As explained by UNHCR in their Partnership Note on faith-based organisations (FBOs), LFCs, and Faith Leaders (FLs), in areas lacking political governance structures, the moral authority of religious leaders is an important means to access communities and convey key messages. 23 In Sierra Leone and Liberia during the Ebola outbreak, faith leaders played an essential role in social mobilization and behaviour change through using accepted Biblical and Quranic verses, widespread access to communities and long-standing trust. Reports indicate that 70% of referrals to community care facilities were made by the religious leaders and social mobilizers. 24 The lack of dignified burials, at least in the initial stages of response, was a central concern for community members. In research from CAFOD, CRS, and World Vision, 96% of bereaved families participating in the research indicated that they were unhappy that prayer, and the washing, dressing and perfuming of bodies were not part of the process. 25 However, the inclusion of faith leaders as part of the burial procedures and in social mobilisation was seen as one of the most effective game changing approaches observed in the fight against the Ebola virus. 26 In research from a consortium of organisations, it was found that faith leaders in Liberia and Sierra Leone faith leaders play a vital role in social mobilisation and behaviour change, by replacing message of fear with message of hope and by shaping the attitudes and transforming the practices of local community. 27 They challenge stigmatisation with diseases like HIV and Ebola, they helped communities to hold dignified and safe burials, and used religious texts to interpret biomedical messages on the control and prevention of Ebola. 28 A key lesson learned was that faith leaders must be engaged as early as possible in response as a delay in engagement at the start of the Ebola outbreak meant that mixed messages spread and some people acted in denial and hostility to those who were seeking to contain it. 29 Both pieces of research reflected on the interfaith initiatives between pastors and Imams with leaders speaking to each other s congregations. 30 o Likewise, in their research on church and community mobilisation in Uganda, Tearfund found five main reasons why churches are trusted: 1. as many in the community have embedded Christian values, trust derives from shared values. Many people consider the Bible an authority and therefore, where the CCM advocacy included references to the Bible, there was more engagement and take-up. 23 Volker Turk, Jose Riera, and Marie-Claude Poirier, Partnership Note on Faith-Based Organizations, Local Faith Communities, and Faith Leaders (Geneva: UNHCR, 2014), Chaudhry et al., Proceedings of the Religion & Sustainable Development: Building Partnerships to End Extreme Poverty Conference., Amara Morlai, Protecting the Living, Honouring the Dead: The Barriers and Enablers to Community Acceptance and Implementation of Safe Burials, Ibid., Featherstone, Keeping the Faith, Ibid., Ibid. 30 Edward et al., An Exploratory Study to Examine the Effectiveness of Community Based Ebola Virus Disease Prevention and Management Strategies in Bo District, Sierra Leone,

7 2. as the church is established in the community and has a good reputation historically, people are willing to be involved in its initiatives. 3. linked to this is the way in which local church leaders and the church have existing relationships and links within the community. The process therefore did not require starting a new network or building new relationships. 4. people felt safe to attend as it is a familiar environment for many. This meant that the church could become a school for learning 5. The government perceives the church as an important influencer in encouraging the community to obey the government and keep the peace. It is therefore willing to share information through the church, both about government programmes and via sensitisation meetings The government also appreciated that the church is a sustainable partner in the community. 31 All organisations can work with local faith leaders to shift attitudes and build their capacity to harness their authority for change. For example, in Myanmar, UN Women-led consultations on women s political participation in the 2015 elections provided access to influential monks, resulting in increased awareness on the need for women's political leadership. 32 In a global mapping of UNICEF programmes it was found that of 149 countries mapped, 102 UNICEF offices worked with religious communities, frequently on sensitisation and capacity training work. 33 Access: o LFCs can facilitate access to people otherwise inaccessible by outside organisations either because of physical or social inaccessibility. In Ireland, Tearfund partner ACET, in efforts to provide HIV/AIDS information and services, found that the only way to access newly arrived African immigrants was through African churches. 34 In Ethiopia, another Tearfund partner, Kale Heywet Church provided PPTCT (preventing parent-to-child transmission of HIV) services throughout Addis Ababa. By 2007, Kale Heywet was supplying 50 out of 171 PPTCT sites nationally, some in remote areas not reached by state services. 35 Presence and prevalence: o LFCs are numerous and exist everywhere. In Liberia, UNICEF reported that 202,820 religious and traditional leaders were reached through community discussions, in comparison to 7,370 frontline mobilizers trained by the Ministry of Health with support from partners 36 This also means that that mobilisation work can be quickly scaled up. In Uganda, World Vision s Channel of Hope (CoH) gender programme launched in 2014 with 2 pilots sites and grew to 17 sites in 2015 with 54 sites having been initiated in total up to August Since 2005, 31 Flowers, Bridging the Gap, UNFPA, UN Inter-Agency Task Force- Engaging Religion and Faith-Based Actors in 2016, UNICEF, A Global Mapping: UNICEF Engagement with Religious Communities, Boyd, In the Thick of It, Ibid., Ayesha Chaudhry et al., Proceedings of the Religion & Sustainable Development: Building Partnerships to End Extreme Poverty Conference. (Washington D.C.: Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities; World Bank; IMA World Health, McKinsey & Company, 2015), World Vision International, Channels of Hope Level of Evidence Brief, 4. 10

8 430,000 participants have attended 19,000 CoH workshops around the world. 38 In the Philippines, International Care Ministries (ICM) uses their Transform programme to reach local congregations with their Values, Health, and Livelihoods (VHL) trainings. In , they will reach 975 communities. 39 In Kenya, the Organisation of African Initiated Churches demonstrates how links through faith leaders can reach a large number of people. In East Africa they are engaging with 1200 church leaders, mobilising and training 3,000 lead farmers from 2,400 congregations, reaching 400,000 smallholder households, amounting to around 2 million people. 40 Empowerment: o Mobilisation brings personal and community confidence. In Uganda, Tearfund found that mobilisation has helped citizens feel empowered and move towards greater equality. One respondent in their research, Lusi Acor of Obulai Village said, Before CCM, I was a nobody. Today, I am a councillor representing my parish at the sub-county. After the CCM training, I felt empowered to approach people and discuss issues that affected us in our villages, and people asked me to represent them at the sub-county. Now everybody in the parish knows me, and it s because of CCM. CCM has transformed our lives as women in these communities in many ways. 41 This empowerment also means that people move away from dependency. Work between Tearfund and Pentecostal Assemblies of God (PAG) in Uganda has seen that by working together and involving everyone, communities in Soroti district have been able to pool resources and access help from local government and NGOs. For example, parents in one village have clubbed together to provide land for a school. People are improving food security with new cassava varieties and farming methods and accessing government grants for beehives. One group has begun a treeplanting project to lessen the environmental impact of charcoal burning. People are looking out for one another as never before. 42 Mobilisation also helps LFCs increase their confidence to help those most vulnerable in their communities. Samaritan s Purse found that initially only 12.1% of the population in their programme areas in northern Uganda considered the church active in caring for vulnerable families, but after their mobilisation work, 87.2% saw the church as playing a role in this area. 43 Taboo breaking: o Mobilisation can help break through powerful taboos so that people address underlying issues. In Zimbabwe, World Vision found that, after implementing their Channels of Hope mobilisation process, community members explained how the taboo had been broken around discussing matters of maternal and newborn child health (MNCH). One respondent said, It was a taboo, but now they are straightforward in discussing MNCH issues World Vision International, Channels of Hope Level of Evidence Brief (World Vision International, 2016), Lau, International Care Ministries Case Study: Evidence on Programs of Contributions of LFCs to Community Development and Humanitarian Needs. 40 Lubaale, OAIC Livelihoods Programme Information. 41 Flowers, Briding the Gap, Boyd, In the Thick of It, Blackham, Review of Samaritan s Purse Church and Community Mobilisation Programme. 44 Wilson, Bartelink, and Haze, Spirituality as a Conduit for Social Transformation? Rethinking Secular and Religious Assumptions in Development Practice,

9 Reducing harmful beliefs and practices: o Mobilisation has been shown to give LFCs and their leaders the knowledge and resources to advocate for the end of harmful practices in their communities. Mobilisation activities have managed to shift attitudes and help faith leaders use tools to spread messages about the harm FGC and EM can cause. The Center for Interfaith Action developed a series of interfaith models and tools to change the attitudes and behaviours of faith leaders towards FGC and EM. In Ethiopia, most of the faith leaders involved in the three-day trainings displayed little or no knowledge of the female anatomy or of the clinical harm of the practices involved; nor were they well versed on the theological context 45 at the outset. After the training. 100% had the required knowledge. Faith leaders moved from a 32% baseline to 93-95% (Muslim Christian) favourable to eliminating FGC. On EM, they moved from a 40% baseline to % favourable (Muslim-Christian) to delaying marriage until the age of With World Vision s Channels of Hope programme, a multi-country longitudinal study in 2009 showed that at baseline in 2005, 86% of faith leaders believed HIV was a punishment from God. After CoH intervention in 2009, only 58% held this belief afterwards in the intervention areas. 47 A CoH programme on gender in the Solomon Islands found that The percentage of men who believe a woman can accuse her husband of rape rose from 70% to 83% [and t]he percentage of women who believe that women should not make decisions fell from 34% to 4%. 48 Building knowledge: o Mobilisation can bring new knowledge to a community that builds their ability to achieve a range of activities from curbing the spread of disease to increasing and improving their engagement with political actors. In Nigeria, Imams were trained on a weekly basis over ten weeks to engage in the polio eradication initiative in the country. Their involvement was key as misconceptions were rampant in certain areas and there was even violence against vaccinators. Engagement with imams, Islamic schoolteachers, traditional rulers, doctors, journalists, and polio survivors helped to turn the tide against polio vaccine rejection in northern Nigeria. 49 o In Tanzania, Tearfund found that, following church and community mobilisation, the proportion of respondents using modern agricultural methods was 81% for those that had directly received training, compared to only 66% for those who had not received training but may have indirectly gained some knowledge from being in the same areas to those who had been trained. Likewise, those with comprehensive HIV knowledge stood at 37% for those directly trained and only 19% for indirect trainees and political engagement was at 45% for the direct group and 23% for the indirect group. 50 o In the Philippines, International Care Ministries (ICM) work with the ultrapoor (those living on less that USD$0.50 per day), reaching nearly 800,000 people in 45 Center for Interfaith Action, The Faith Effect, Ibid., World Vision International, Channels of Hope Level of Evidence Brief, Ibid., Nasir et al., From Intense Rejection to Advocacy. 50 Scott et al., An Evidence-Based Study of the Impact of Church and Community Mobilisation in Tanzania. 12

10 their work so far, mostly in the west and southwest islands of the archipelago. ICM have started using randomised control trials to measure the impact of their Values Health and Livelihoods (VHL) trainings. They have found that VHL improves mean income by 18.3% in comparison to only 1.4% in the control group and reduces debt by 3.9% in comparison to the control group whose debt had increased by 53.4%. By using network analysis tools, they have also shown that the VHL trainings help improve people s social connections to their neighbours. ICM credit the role of improving family satisfaction by focusing on creating hope in communities as a key asset of their mobilisation approach. After their mobilisation work, they report that there has been 35% increase in family satisfaction. Family satisfaction also leads to improved health outcomes, with a percentage point rise in family satisfaction equating to 3.5% increased weigh for malnourished children and 5.5% increased TB testing. 51 This type of training that improves both people s knowledge and satisfaction as a form of integral or holistic development is proving to be a highly effective method of mobilising communities for change. Relevancy for all faiths: o Islamic Relief Worldwide has developed WVI s CoH programme for use for use with Muslim communities. It was adapted by an expert team of Muslim scholars and practitioners and piloted in 2014 and is now being rolled out across countries in which Islamic Relief works What are the remaining challenges? Instrumentalisation are local communities being used as a means to end rather than an end in themselves? 53 Inclusivity are we only picking the good or easy LFCs to mobilise? 54 Misconceptions about the other abound both from secular to religious communities and vice versa. Preconceptions still mean that there is a wide lack of understanding about the the structures and influence of LFCs, as well as recognition and respect for the holistic nature of LFC work, as expressed by Archbishop Bernard Ntahoturi of Burundi, while equally acknowledging that there are often divisions and a lack of consensus within faith communities about the change that is needed. 55 Work often happens in parallel, not partnership. LFCs respond to problems within their community on a daily basis. However, humanitarian and development actors too frequently work in parallel systems rather than building the capacity of existing structures. 56 Further research and tools are needed. For example, for sexual and gender based violence, the JLI s Learning Hub in this area suggested the development of more context and group-specific tools (i.e. youth, women, men, religious leaders) which include faith 51 Sutherland, ICM Case Study Presentation. 52 Fida, Islamic Relief Presentation. 53 Ager and Ager, Faith, Secularism, and Humanitarian Engagement; Jones and Petersen, Instrumental, Narrow, Normative? 54 Ager and Ager, Faith, Secularism, and Humanitarian Engagement; Olivier, Hoist by Our Own Petard. 55 Chaudhry et al., Proceedings of the Religion & Sustainable Development: Building Partnerships to End Extreme Poverty Conference., Boyd, In the Thick of It ; Öhlmann, Frost, and Gräb, African Initiated Churches Potential as Development Actors. 13

11 and scriptural material. 57 Rachel Carnegie of the Anglican Alliance also recommended that, Further research is needed on models of large scale mobilization of religiousbased assets across faiths in one or two countries in a couple of sectors, supported by a pooled fund and technical assistance and implemented within a rigorous evaluation framework. 58 Evaluations in individual organisations have been conducted, but there is no research across organisations and mobilisation methods. Likewise, while there are a growing amount of guides, there is very little quantitative research. Part of the problem in this regard is difficulty in measuring the effects of mobilisation as objectives evolve and external factors may also influence communities. 59 Likewise, much of the evidence is currently focused on sub-saharan Africa and Christianity. Research needs to be undertaken to broaden this scope and understand what other projects and evidence exists in other geographical regions and with greater religious diversity. One of the most practical challenges with mobilisation is that communities do not have links to local government to affect change. The main response has been to include local level advocacy to help churches link with local government for impact. As explained by Tearfund, When CCM advocacy is integrated into the traditional CCM process, churches and communities become empowered to engage with their local decision-makers and access local government resources in a sustainable way. 60 In Kanyangan, Uganda, advocacy techniques were included in the mobilisation work and the community and the community were empowered to request a dialogue with the local government that led to the community agreeing a way forward on a number of issues with the subcounty officials, including clearing a road, building a classroom, providing latrines to two schools, building teachers houses, supplying a rainwater harvesting tank and providing desks and books to students. 61 Another practical challenge is maintaining motivation in the mobilisation process. LFCs can either become stuck in the initial reflection stages or rush into action without sufficient planning. In response, facilitators need to be properly trained to mould the mobilisation process to the local context and encourage communities to look at root causes rather than surface issues, while recognising that it will not always be a linear process. 62 Mobilisation takes time and therefore needs longer-term, consistent, and flexible funding, which is often not available. This was found as part of the Church Partnership Program in Papua New Guinea, with its twelve-year funding allowing for a period long enough for developmental outcomes in terms of both changes in church capacity and culture as well as results from development initiatives Chaudhry et al., Proceedings of the Religion & Sustainable Development: Building Partnerships to End Extreme Poverty Conference., Ibid., ADRA Australia, Papua New Guinea Church Partnership Program: A Case Study of Sustained Investment in Church Development Capacity, 5; Christian Aid, Evaluation of the Impact of Christian Aid s Support of Faith- Based Responses to HIV, Lawson and Watson, CCM Advocacy Guide: How to Integrate Local-Level Advocacy into Church and Community Mobilisation, Lawson and Watson, CCM Advocacy Guide: How to Integrate Local-Level Advocacy into Church and Community Mobilisation. 62 Crooks, The Challenges of Using a Linear Approach to Church and Community Mobilisation - JLI. 63 ADRA Australia, Papua New Guinea Church Partnership Program: A Case Study of Sustained Investment in Church Development Capacity, 6. 14

12 Key Hub Outputs Mobilization of local faith communities Learning Hub Who are the local faith actors (LFAs)? What are we learning? Case studies Communicating Evidence C Next Steps 2 Local faith actor (LFA) diversity What are we learning? Faith Actors are trusted Trust from shared values and historic standing

13 Local Faith Actors: Authority to influence local cultural norms Sultan of Sokoto with Cardinal John Onaieykan Photo: CIFA- Sarah Day SOURCE : Chaudhry et al., Proceedings of the Religion & Sustainable Development: Building Partnerships to End Extreme Poverty Conference; Amara Morlai, Protecting the Living, Honouring the Dead: The Barriers and Enablers to Community Acceptance and Implementation of Safe Burials; Edward et al., An Exploratory Study to Examine the Effectiveness of Community Based Ebola Virus Disease Prevention and Management Strategies in Bo District, Sierra Leone, Local Faith Actors: SCALE : : :

14 Poverty ICM s Values, Health and Livelihoods mobilization model Local Faith Actors: Holistic Local Faith Actors: Reach hard to access places and populations

15 Moving forward with mobilization of Local Faith Actors Challenges & complexities of mobilization Hub in action Communicating Evidence Qatar Conference on Humanitarian Action (March 26) DSA Conference (Sept 9) Localising the Response to Humanitarian Aid (Oct 16) lrf2017.org presentations from: Catriona Dejean Next steps 1. Continue developing case studies of current members 2. By November, meet with members to discuss next steps including mapping and quarterly member learning webinars 3. By December, create a space for sharing evidence practices in engaging local faith actors through JLI webinars 4. By end of 2017, evidence work plan in place and identification of academic chair