• Activities
• Tools and Resources
• Lessons Learned

Faith-based organizations shape values and attitudes about family life and sexual self-understanding, both intentionally and unintentionally. Many organized religions are still searching for an effective approach to respond to the HIV/AIDS pandemic and to educate their faithful about reproductive health issues.

AIDS has caused many faith-based groups to go beyond traditional children's religious education to address sexual behaviors explicitly. At the same time, reproductive health organizations are beginning to target interventions to faith-based groups because of their influence in communities, and because many provide health services. As attention to abstinence and fidelity gains more attention as a key intervention in mitigating the impact of AIDS, so does the realization that faith-based organizations play a key role in promoting these, and other, values.

Activities

• Faith-based organizations are an important means of support for youth in their transition to adulthood. Traditionally, however, they have not addressed issues of sexuality easily or openly. YouthNet has been working with faith leaders representing 14 countries in Africa to assess ways to engage in a more open discussion of these issues. A series of planning meetings involving religious leaders led to the convening of a meeting in Uganda in December 2002. At the workshop, religious leaders worked to become comfortable discussing issues related to sexuality, reproductive health, and HIV/AIDS prevention more openly. The leaders also began adapting an existing resource guide into Christian and Muslim versions that reflect their respective religious beliefs. These guides are designed to assist leaders in their faiths and others in working with youth on issues of sexuality, reproductive health, and HIV/AIDS prevention.

• In Namibia, YouthNet is working through churches as a key strategy to reach young people with effective HIV/AIDS prevention messages. This strategy can be useful in other areas as well, as explained in Ten Reasons to Involve Faith-Based Institutions and How to Strengthen the Church's Response to HIV Prevention for Youth.

Tools and Resources

• The Impact of Religious Organizations in Promoting HIV/AIDS Prevention (Synergy Project and the Harvard School of Public Health, 2002). This is a revised version of a paper by Edward C. Green, presented at "Challenges for the Church: AIDS, Malaria & TB", Christian Connections for International Health Conference, Arlington, Va., May 25-26 2001.

• The Communities Responding to HIV/AIDS Epidemic (CORE) Initiative is a USAID-funded global program, whose mission is to support an inspired, effective and inclusive response to the causes and consequences of HIV/AIDS by strengthening the capacity of community and faith-based groups worldwide. The main approach of the CORE Initiative is to leverage existing efforts, while catalyzing and encouraging new efforts through diverse and innovative partnerships in the areas of community-based prevention, stigma reduction, and care and support to people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA) and their families.

Lessons Learned

• Culture Matters: Working with Communities and Faith-based Organizations - Case Studies from Country Programmes (UNFPA, 2004). This report—on working within cultures to foster stronger progress towards achieving international development goals and advancing human rights—provides insight into integrating cultural analysis in development programs, especially in the critical areas of gender equity and equality and reproductive health and rights.

• Working from Within: Culturally Sensitive Approaches in UNFPA Programming (UNFPA, 2004). The nine case studies presented in this brochure are drawn from a longer UNFPA report entitled, "Culture Matters: Working with Communities and Faith-based Organizations." It highlights the necessity of mainstreaming cultural analysis and sensitivity in development efforts addressing issues such as gender equality and equity, HIV/AIDS, female genital cutting, gender-based violence, and reproductive health. Programs in Brazil, Ghana, Guatemala, India, Islamic Republic of Iran, Uganda, and Yemen are analyzed.