This session aims to provoke debate on the state of the religions and development field as a whole. The papers in the session interrogate the nuanced nature of FBOs to explain both the positive and negative aspects of their involvement, demonstrate a way to measure the relevance of faith in development work, and explore the roles of young people in religious engagement in high-level policy spaces. These papers show the breadth of research possible within the field of religions and development. As a field with much applied research, they also showcase practical methods and approaches to working with faith actors in development. These papers reflect on the implications of religious engagement at policy and practice levels, from the local to the national and global.
Although world leaders recently reaffirmed commitments to achieving the SDGs, disaggregation of by G7 and G20 yields insights into how policymaking is impacted by population age structures. All G7 countries have older populations. The world population is youthful. The G20 contains a mix of population types. The integration of youth leaders into decision making processes has been promoted to improve SDG implementation because youthful populations are the primary beneficiaries of a sustainable and healthy planet. The interfaith movement has given rise to a youth leader interfaith movement that has produced a set of ten Interfaith Development Goals to compliment, and support the implementation of, the SDGs. A youth climate movement that is rooted in moral identities rather than faith-based identities has emerged from the G7. Interfaith engagement with the G20 would benefit from better integration of youth leaders from both movements to strengthen political will for implementation of the SDGs.
Thousands of religious sisters are currently working directly or indirectly to alleviate modern slavery and human trafficking. Despite being on the ground serving and attending to the needy, their voices and expertise have only recently been recognized by the international community. In response, religious sisters from around the world joined forces in 2009 and established 'Talitha Kum', which has since become the largest network aiming to tackle human trafficking. This paper examines the role of local faith actors in this global faith alliance against modern slavery, providing insights into the distinctive approaches of faith-based interventions in this arena. The study highlights the need for greater awareness and support for the often informal and overlooked efforts of faith actors in preventing trafficking and slavery, emphasizing the importance of their contributions to the fight against these global issues.
Measuring spirituality is complex, involving culture, context, theology, and discernment. This study attempts to validate closed survey questions for predicting spirituality according to the judgment of local leaders. Employing a triangulation approach, it utilizes the assessment of local church leaders, gathered via participant interviews, to categorize individuals according to maturity, providing a benchmark to compare the survey results against. Advanced statistical models were then applied to identify key quantitative survey questions that were best correlated with the local leader categorizations. This methodology situates the ‘decision making’ determination of spiritual maturity into the hands of local voices, and seeks to connect this knowledge to commonly used survey instruments in the field of spiritual measurement.