Communities, Peace, and Development: Perspectives through a Lens of Religion Candler School of Theology, Emory University and International Relief and Development (IRD)

September 29,2010Katherine Marshall, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, Georgetown UniversityWFDD

Presentation OutlinePresentation Outline1. Two parts, with a brief introduction

(definition issues, where they matter)2. 6 Stories reflecting personal “lessons”

linked to communities and development3. A challenge and a puzzle: fragile states

and religion4. Some lessons and challenges• How to draw on complex experience?• Harmonization challenges• Peacebuilding and development• Fragile states, peace and governance:

bringing religion into the conversation

Caveats and Approach• Religion/faith/spirituality is a huge subject,

comprising large and complex worlds: never forget diversity

• Terminology is fraught: religion, faith, spirituality, secular, are all contested terms

• Ethics and values are intertwined in the debates, with special sensitivities around human dignity, respect for life, human rights and responsibilities

• Religion and culture: where does one end, the other begin?

• “Development” is also a complex world of institutions and ideas, in flux and with many different approaches; add peacebuilding to the mix

• My perspective: a practitioner, with a strong interdisciplinary focus, experience in intersecting worlds

Navigating Tensions around Religion

Stories and Communities• Reflecting on some enduring lessons from

development history • Top down (leadership) is necessary at times

but it carries huge risks; • Engagement, participation, and ownership

by communities are keys to success. • “Country driven” and “empowerment” are

mantras of the hour. • But we need to dig into some of the deeper

questions the terms raise: empower whom and how? Tough issues and choices.

• What has religion to do with it and to offer?

Six tales: 1. Mauritania,

camels and donkeys:

Rediscovering and seeing with new

eyes

2. Madagascar: Ranching in Tsiroanomandidy: cultural blindness,

politics, and change

3. Rwanda and the Mutara Project

• Rational policy• Cursed by the

bishop• Seething tension• Theme of land• Poisonous

relationships behind civility

4. Botswana, Tribal Grazing Lands Policy

• Keeping eyes on the poor

Making it meaningful• Building tools• The enigmas

of economics• Complexities

of consultation, participation, empowerment

5. Aceh: The tsunami and peace

6. Peace, Religion, and Women

Moral: the

centrality of gender

Fragile States

The Challenge

• The “Bottom billion”• Least developed• Fragile States• Failing States• LICUS = Low income countries under

stress• Poorly performing states• Collier’s paradigm change: what it

means

Fragile states and communities: 4

challenges• How to draw on complex

experience?• Harmonization challenges• Peacebuilding and development• Fragile states, peace and

governance: Bringing religion into the conversation

1. How to draw on community experience?

“The faith picture is far more chaotic and organic than the development industry expects and would like it to be. This is true for all communities and community structures, but perhaps even more so for the faith world. Bureaucracies want order and structure. They also want fast results. Moving faster is likely to be less effective in the long term, seen from the community perspective. It is essential to take into account how communities see realities and their priorities.”

• Mark Webster Nov 2008 interview http://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/essays/view?author=1813&project=23

Elements in solutions

• Reflections on local government and decentralization

• The missing middle, between community and national, national and global

• Mapping and knowledge• “FBOs” and congregations• Joint learning initiatives

2. Aid harmonization challenges

• Aid harmonization as a theme (get a grip)

• Paris, Rome, Accra declarations• Three One’s• Versus: let a thousand flowers bloom,

social entrepreneurship• Move away from projects to SWAPs

and global funding• Public private debates: balance and

tools

MOH MOEC

MOFPMO

PRIVATE SECTORCIVIL SOCIETYLOCALGVT

NACP

CTUCCAIDS

INT NGO

PEPFAR

Norad

CIDA

RNE

GTZ

Sida WBUNICEF

UNAIDSWHO

CF

GFATM

USAID

NCTPNCTP

HSSP

HSSP

GFCCP

GFCCP

DAC

CCM

T-MAP

3/5

SWAPSWAP

UNTG

PRSP PRSP

US$200M

US$290 M

US$ 50M

US$ 60M

AIDS stakeholders and donors in one African country

3. Peacebuilding and development

• Conflict, governance and leadership

• Separate worlds: same challenge?

• Old paradigm of stages• Reality of messy overlap

4. Fragile states and governance: bringing

religion into the conversation

• Remarkable absence• The good, the bad, the ugly, the

beautiful• Preconceptions: politics, hierarchy• Skittishness on corruption• Role of Muslim societies and significance• Gender issues

What might a deeper appreciation of religion’s role and more active

engagement offer in terms of better policies and programs in fragile states?

• Knowledge and reflection: WDR as an example• At the table or on the menu?• Rapid intervention/swat teams• More women• Dialogue on tough issues including

development strategies• Linking community and policy

Development, peace, and faith: not an easy match

• Context: Changing approaches to religion in various settings

• 12 year journey as a “case study” and pioneer: the World Bank and faiths; UN agencies, bilaterals, foundations, universities, all showing increased interest in religion from many perspectives

• Doubts still, but also openings• World Faiths Development Dialogue (WFDD) as one

pioneer• Strategic focus and policy dialogue• Sectoral, topic focus and community engagement

Ideas on paths forward

• Strong country focus is a prerequisite for real progress

• Evidence – amassing and using• Discernment and political antennae• Dialogue on tough issues• Purposeful thinking on networks• Global forums: navigate, select• Interfaith?

More resources

• Two books of case studies, most recent Development and Faith: Where Mind, Heart and Soul work Together

• Berkley Center Regional and Issues reviews, practitioner interviews; http://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/programs/religion-and-global-development wn.edu

• Newsweek/Washington Post On Faith: “Faith in Action”, weekly column

• World Bank, Development Dialogue on Values and Ethics (DDVE)