World Faiths Development Dialogue International

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.

This project builds on a previous grant to the World Faiths Development Dialogue (WFDD) at Georgetown University to engage high-level faith leaders in Senegal and Guinea in increasing family planning use. Working with the Senegalese and Guinean governments, WFDD has a partnership with a religious association in each country to support their capacity and strategy growth for faith advocacy for family planning. In the next grant phase, WFDD will focus on strengthening the relationships between faith communities and development stakeholders and will support the Senegalese association to expand the scope of its health advocacy to maternal and child health.