Throughout the developing world, faith-inspired communities, organizations, and institutions may be of growing significance to broad issues and debates of equity, social justice, and poverty reduction. In sub-Saharan Africa, estimates suggest that faith-inspired organizations preside over as much as 70 percent of services in health and 30 percent in education. The areas of activity for faith-inspired organizations go on, and the contributions of the faith sector are addressed in different ways by development actors: in 2007, 34 percent of PEPFAR funding went to faith-based organizations, and from 2001 to 2005, USAID financing of faith-based organizations abroad, doubled. However, what may be cause for interest, is how much we understand about the roles of faith-inspired organizations in mainstream development activities.
On Tuesday, March 25th, the March Global Development Meetup featured Brady Walkinshaw, who is with Development Dialogue on Values and Ethics, Human Development Network, at the World Bank. Walkinshaw provided remarks and led a thoughtful discussion on faith and development.
