Religion and Development

Surveys show that 80 percent of the world’s population consider religion an important factor in their lives. In development countries this number is even bigger.

Historically, religious organizations and institutions have contributed with things like health services, education, and emergency aid. In addition, religious organizations and local religious leaders many places experience a higher level of trust from the population than i.e. politicians and governmental institutions.

The overarching purpose of the Danish ‘Network for Religion and Development’ is to ensure better results of the national foreign and development policies, especially related to the new UN Global Goals. This is done by strenghtening the capacity of Danish civil society organizations to analyze, document, and integrate religion and religious players in the development efforts and put this topic on the agenda in Denmark and abroad.

Organizations

The Religion and Development initiatives has contributed to a stronger collaboration between organizations and institutions in Denmark. Since 2016, it has gone by the name ‘Network for Religion and Development’.

•  Center for Church-Based Development (network coordinator: Filip Buff Pedersen)
•  ADRA Denmark (contact: Signe Lund Christensen)
•  Caritas (contact: Maria Krabbe Hammershøy)
•  Danmission (contact: Andreas Dybkjær-Andersson)
•  Dansk Missionsråd (contact: Henrik Sonne Petersen)
•  Danish Muslim Aid (contact: Signe Ejerskov)
• DanChurchAid (contact: Jørgen Thomsen)

Since 2016, the Network for Religion and Development has received financial support from Danish International Development Agency (Danida) through the Global Focus pool for the support of global capacity initiatives.

In May 2016, the participating organizations were granted 400.000 DKK for the third phase of the initiative. While the first two phases has focused on seminars, the Network is in the third phase working towards becoming a network providing learning activities for staff and volunteers in faith-based organizations as well as for other civil society organizations. In addition, it will focus on collecting and sharing knowledge. The third phase ends by end August 2018.