WFDA Convenes for the Commission on the Status of Women at UN

Approximately 300 people attended the 'Women, Faith and Development Alliance: Gaining Momentum' event on March 2, 2010 at the United Nations Church Center in New York. The session was a side event to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. The Women, Faith and Development Alliance (WFDA), co-convened by the Center for Interfaith Action on Global Poverty (CIFA), Women Thrive Worldwide, InterAction and Religions for Peace, organized a working session to report on the 2008 commitments, review progress and explore steps towards building a global movement to increase investments in women and girls to end poverty.

CIFA, NIFAA host Tony Blair at First State Faith Leader Training

On February 20, 2010, CIFA founder and chairman Ed Scott and the Nigerian Inter-Faith Action Association (NIFAA) hosted former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, founder and patron of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, in Abuja at NIFAA's first state training for 200 Nigerian religious leaders from the Federal Capital Territory. The training focused on the causes and prevention of malaria and the role of faith leaders in working with their congregants to deliver key malaria prevention messages about how to turn net ownership into net use.

The training session was led by NIFAA in partnership with the Nigerian National Malaria Control Programme, the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Health and CIFA. Speaking on the panel were CIFA Founder and Chairman Ed Scott, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, former President of Nigeria Olusegun Obasanjo, the representative of the Sultan of Sokoto and Roman Catholic Archbishop of Abuja John Onaiyekan (NIFAA co-Chairs), Nigerian Minister of Health Babatunde Osotimehin, World Bank Country Director Onno Ruhl, and the Nigerian Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) Coordinator Dr. Folake Ayo.

CIFA Announces Faith-Based BCC Toolkit on Malaria

Through the Nigerian Inter-Faith Action Association (NIFAA) and its nationwide network of faith leaders, CIFA's Faiths United for Health campaign works to prevent and control malaria by encouraging Nigerians to sleep under insecticide-treated bed nets, clean up their communities, recognize symptoms of malaria and seek treatment at health facilities.

CIFA uses a variety of "behavior change communication" (BCC) tools which aim to foster and sustain positive changes in individuals' daily actions. Although many excellent malaria-focused BCC tools exist, few approach malaria prevention from a faith-based perspective, drawing upon faith leaders' unique levels of trust, reach and influence in their communities. CIFA is creating tools to fill this gap.

CIFA Participates in Delegation on Interfaith Collaboration

CIFA was represented in a U.S. Delegation of 20 faith leaders and faith-based organizations at a consultation in Jakarta, Indonesia on "Indonesia-U.S. Interfaith Cooperation, Building Collaborative Communities: Enhancing Cooperation among People of Different Faiths."

Following President Obama's call for closer collaboration among Muslims and Christians in his Cairo speech, the U.S. State Department sponsored the event facilitated by Religions for Peace. U.S. and Indonesian participants from Muslim and Christian and other faith communities, as well as representatives from several key Southeast Asian countries (see list of participants below) explored common concerns, with a view to framing common interfaith action.The consultation yeilded a declaration, the text of which is available below. 

Draft Report from the WHO-CIFA Consultation on NGO Mapping Standards is Now Available

On November 10, 2009, CIFA co-hosted the Consultation on NGO Mapping Standards: Describing Religious Health Assets with the World Health Organization in Geneva. The conference addressed the mapping of religious health care facilities on country-wide maps, and more broadly, how FBOs can advocate for themselves to national governments, donors and multilateral organizations.

Consultation participants discussed the WHO's standardized service assessment methodologies and recommended regarding improvements for collecting information on religious health facilities. Several conference surveys and how they could be reworked to accommodate religious health facilities. Community health facilities were also discussed in a working group initiated by several conference participants also initiated a productive working group focused on mapping and capturing data released to dommunity-based health care.

WHO Representative Ted Karpf emphasizzed the importance of facility mapping for funding and accesssibility purposes, stateing that "if you're not on the map, you don't exist." This shaped the conversation as participants were able to share best practice methods and challenges regarding facility mapping. The draft report is available in full below.

CIFA Board Member Richard Cizik Announces "The New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good"

JANUARY 28, 2010: CIFA Board Member and former Washington lobbyist for the National Association of Evangelicals announced the launch of his new endeavor, "The New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good." Focusing on issues ranging from "Creation Care" to Muslim-Christian dialogue and Nuclear Disarmament, the NEP is now actively lobbying for Haiti's internal debt to be forgiven.

Faith Communities and FBOs on the Front Line of Aid to Haiti

JANUARY 12, 2010: The southern region of Haiti was struck by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake, destroying buildings and triggering tsunami alerts for Haiti and the surrounding islands in the Caribbean.

In the wake of destruction, the dedication and agility of faith-based organizations can truly be seen.

Click below to see how many partners in faith have given their time and resources to help all of those in need.

Faiths Act Fellows and CIFA Co-Convene DC Interfaith Response: Faith Leaders Express Common Commitment to Assistance in Haiti

JANUARY 13, 2010: Over 40 senior faith leaders from communities and organizations throughout metropolitan Washington, D.C. gathered at Washington National Cathedral to explore avenues of collaboration between local faith communities against global poverty. Although the meeting had been scheduled for weeks, the magnitude 7.0 earthquake in Haiti, which happened less than 24 hours earlier, quickly took center stage.  The faith leaders expressed their common commitment to and expression of solidarity with the victims of the January 12 earthquake.  The group will continue to work together to craft an interfaith response to the earthquake and build an interfaith network in Washington DC to combat global poverty.

To Join DC Interfaith Response contact Benjamin at benjamin.bechtolsheim@faithsactfellow.org.