Pathways to Development through

Local Faith CommunitiesDevelopment Futures Conference

UTS November 21-22, 2013

Increasing the Engagement of Faith Groups in Development

Jean Duff

International trends in development favor increased engagement of faith groups.

• Local partnership—capacity building• Cross sector alliances• Resilience and Sustainability• Effectiveness and efficiency informed by data & value Value for

money• Gains in child survival/child health; new emphasis on community

health care over biomedical

Reductions in Under 5 Child Mortality by Disease

10 Promises for ChildrenTo save and improve the lives of all children, we pledge to promote, encourage, and advocate for the following actions by parents and children:

1. Breastfeed all newborns exclusively through the age of six months; 2. Immunize children and newborns with all recommended vaccines, especially through the age of two years; 3. Eliminate all harmful traditions and violence against children, and ensure children grow up in a safe and

protective environment; 4. Feed children with proper nutritional foods and micronutrient supplements, where available, and de-worm

children; 5. Give oral rehydration salts (ORS) and daily Zinc supplements for 10 – 14 days to all children suffering from

diarrhea; 6. Promptly seek treatment when a child is sick; give children antibiotic treatment for pneumonia; 7. Have children drink water from a safe source, including water that has been purified and kept clean and

covered, away from fecal material; 8. Have all children wash their hands with soap and water especially before touching food, after going to the

latrine or toilet and after dealing with refuse;9. Have all children use a toilet or latrine, and safely dispose of children’s feces; prevent children from defecating

in the open; 10. Where relevant, have all children sleep nightly under insecticide-treated bed nets to prevent malaria, and at

the immediate onset of fever seek medical care for children to receive proper malaria testing and treatment.

What is distinctive about faith groups’ activity and contributions?

• 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)

Towards Increased Engagement

Faith-based activities

Public policy &

innovative financing

Private practice

Need for Evidence about

faith-based activity and contribution

Evidence based policy making

Performance based financing

Evidence informed best practice

The Joint Learning Initiative on Faith & Local Communities

Papua New GuineaChurch Partnership Program

Phases I &II (2014-2016)

David Syme

Sustainable Development Conventional Thinking: Sustainable Development is about achieving the sustained economic growth needed to meet human needs, improve living standards, and provide the financial resources that make environmental protection possible.

Alternative Thinking:Little of the growth of the past twenty years has improved the quality of human life. Most of the benefit has gone to the very wealthy and the remainder has been offset by the costs of resource depletion, social stress, and environmental health and other problems caused by growth. Sustainable Development is about creating: sustainable economies that equitably meet human needs without extracting resource

inputs or expelling wastes in excess of the environment's regenerative capacity, and sustainable human institutions that assure both security and opportunity for social,

intellectual, and spiritual growth.

Originally prepared for the Office of Technology Assessment, United States Congress, Washington, DCBy David C. Korten, The People Centered Development Forum, Revised September 11, 1996.

CPP: Historical Context• 2001 – Three Australian FBO’s ( ABM, ADRA and Caritas) initiated and funded an external

participatory and formative evaluation of their PNG programs there to assess the degree to which their programs were having any success. The evaluation highlighted strengths as well as weaknesses.

• 2002 – AusAID Director General met with NGO leadership to brief them on current issues including difficulties with the PNG Aid program. He made a statement that “We (AusAID) needs to find alternative ways of doing business in PNG” He indicated that AusAID would be open to new types of partnership as part of that process.

• 2002-2004 – The three directors met with the DG after the meeting and expressed their convictions based upon their experience and the recent evaluation that AusAID along with many other donors had failed to recognise the role and influence (positive as well as sometimes negative) that Churches had in a PNG Society which is constitutionally Christian

• 2004 – The Church Partnership Program Phase 1 was funded by AusAID and placed within the PNG Democratic Governance Section of AusAID. The Church representation was increased to seven Australian Church organisations namely – Anglican, Baptist, Catholic, Lutheran, Salvation Army, Seventh-day Adventist and Uniting Churches.

Purpose

“To enhance the capacity of the PNG Churches to contribute to PNG development and social stability”

(CPP I Goal ) through “Partnerships of mutual accountability and learning between Churches,

NGOs and the Governments of PNG and Australia that improve their individual and collective

effectiveness” (CPP II Core Objective) in contributing to the “Improved well-being of women and men, girls and

boys, particularly in remote rural areas ” (CPP II Impact).

Design Features

• Rolling Design with long-term commitment• Each Organisation at its own pace• Church leaders in PNG to engage together in supporting and

promoting the CPP program• The authenticity and dignity of each Church to be maintained while

seeking more open dialogue and interaction with each other• Particular emphasis upon governance and nation building – not just

service delivery• Development of ‘Communities of Practice’ and cross – organisation

where innovation and lessons learned are shared formally and informally

Key Results• “The CPP remains a relevant and effective element of AusAID’s

overall development cooperation program in PNG”. Independent Review (draft) of 2 Democratic Governance Programs Feb 2013

• Emerging Communities of Practice.• Evidence of inter-organisational dialogue, planning, technical support

and monitoring is increasing both formally and informally from almost non-existent in 2004 to a ‘regular feature in 2013’.

• Informal sharing and assistance is arguably even stronger but hard to measure.

• Service delivery, particularly in health and education has been significantly strengthened.

Lessons Being Learned• That CPP is not just another DFAT Program it is a program initiated by

and through the Churches with significant support from DFAT.• The rolling design with its flexible approach is a key success factor in the

CPP but it has been challenging to adapt M&E frameworks to facilitate it.• Church networks reach PNG rural areas and the populace that live there

in a manner that no other organisation can. • Social change rarely takes place unless the local faith systems support

that change.Faith systems can facilitate development change but they can also inhibit it.

• Recognising Faith based communities as one stakeholder in the development process and negotiating their understanding and support from the beginning is important.

Gender & Faith CommunitiesMark Webster

Gender Review2012

Findings indicated that all CPP church partners engage with

gender issues in their program activities and that all seek to

contribute to the achievement of gender change in relation to

gender equity and women’s rights.

COLLABORATECHAMPION

MEASUREPERSIST

Gender StoriesRita Maruha

Leadership

Adult Literacy

Small Business Management

Vegetable Farming

Testimony Before June 2013 Sex worker Married to pimp Illiterate Dreams of a better life

After June 2013 Acquired SBM skills Opened personal bank account Saving regularly Stopped sex work Attends literacy class Husband happy

Compassion’s Partnership with Local Churches

Dr. Alistair Sim

Our Child Development Model

Our Child Development Model

Our Mandate

Global Role of Religion

Strengths of Local Church Partnership

• Capacity• Presence• Context• Credibility• Endurance• Passion

• Common Mission• Collaboration• Cooperation• Mutual Respect• Mutual Benefit

Challenges of Local Church Partnership

Opportunities of Local Church Partnership

Joint Learning Initiative onFaith and Local Communities

Rob Kilpatrick

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

The Joint Learning Initiative

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• Why: To support effective engagement with faith groups by practitioners, policy makers, and donors

• Who: Over 70 multi-sector & international partners

• How: Collecting, commissioning, and communicating evidence about the faith groups’ activity and impact

Collect

Commission

Communicate

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Self-driven,Collaborative, open source

learning communities

Joint

Learning Hubs

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: 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)

Learning Hub:Capacity Building

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How do Faith Groups strengthen the capacity of Local Faith Communities to care for the health and wellbeing of their communities?

Samaritan's Purse

Learning Hub:Resilience

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What is the impact of faith groups in promoting individual and community resilience in humanitarian situations?

Anglican Alliance

Learning Hub:Immunization

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How do faith groups contribute to the delivery of vaccines and immunizations?

Global Polio Eradication

Initiative

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Exchange

Collaborate

Communicate

Sponsor/co-fund

Robust Data

Faith Communities Fully Engaged to Realize a World Without Poverty