World Faiths Development Dialogue International

This grant to World Faiths Development Dialogue (WFDD) will support its work with religious groups in Guinea and Niger to strengthen their capacity to work as development actors in the field of family planning. Through engagement, training, and technical assistance, WFDD partners deeply with religious leaders to empower them to share information about family planning with communities, schools, and health care providers. This grant is aligned with the Global Reproductive Equity strategy. (Strategy: Global Reproductive Equity)

World Faiths Development Dialogue at Georgetown University is committed to the idea that faith communities represent strong preexisting networks that can play a vital role in global development. Building on previously funded work, this grant will support the organization to engage high-level faith leaders in Senegal in collaboration with the government to increase family planning use. In this second phase, World Faiths Development Dialogue will establish an inter-religious council as a platform for collaboration between the government and Senegal’s religious community.

The World Faiths Development Dialogue (WFDD) at Georgetown University is committed to the idea that faith communities represent strong pre-existing networks that can play a vital role in international development. This grant would support WFDD to build upon the Foundation-funded assessment in Senegal, completed earlier this year by the Center for Interfaith Action on Global Poverty. WFDD plans to convene high-level faith leaders, government decision-makers and development partners to broker a consensus on specific approaches (such as a national inter-religious council) to implement the government’s action plan to rapidly increase family planning services. This program would also build a faith-based community toolkit on family planning and reproductive health, which is expected to be endorsed and adopted by Senegal’s faith leaders.