The government and the Church of England have set out the principles for future collaboration between the Department for International Development (DFID) and faith groups working internationally towards development.
The Faith Partnership Priniciples (FPP) agreement is the product of a working group formed in June 2011 to strengthen relationships between DFID and faith groups in an effort to work effectively towards the Millennium Development Goals and beyond. It outlines three guiding principles: transparency, mutual respect and understanding.
Announcing the partnership Secretary of State for International Development Andrew Mitchell acknowledged both the benefits and the difficulties arising from faith groups working in international aid: "I look forward to the closer partnership with people of faith who play a unique role in fighting poverty. We know that while faith often brings people together, it can also sometimes lead to divisions.
"We know that conflicts can arise or be exacerbated when people from different faiths find it hard to live and work together. And it is the poorest that suffer most. So we also need to know more about what can help people from different faiths to come together and work for a common purpose," said Mitchell.
The FPP will see greater transparency on funding for faith groups, with DFID committed to using faith-based networks to advise when new funding is available, particularly its Global Poverty Action Fund, a match-funding programme devised to provide funding to groups outside of the 'usual suspects'. Launched in October 2010 it saw ten faith groups access DFID funding for the first time during the first and second rounds.
Faith has a growing influence
The agreement also provides official acknowledgement of the good that faith groups do internationally, for example providing a reported 40 per cent of health services in all of sub-Saharan Africa. It also recognises the increasing importance of faith in the developing world - in sub-Saharan Africa the proportion of Christians has increased from 9 per cent to 57 per cent and Muslims from 14 per cent to 29 per cent, the agreement advises.
The FPP will encourage an "organised exchange of ideas" between the government and faith groups and will kick-start the collaboration by identifying three priority countries for faith groups to focus on by December 2012. DFID and the Faith Working Group will also identify three key areas of difference between the groups and discuss ways to deal with these issues constructively:
"There will be times when faith groups will need to recognise DFID's position on certain issues, even if they do not agree with that position, and vica versa. DFID needs to be clear and transparent about the situations when collaborative work with organisations may not be possible," the agreement states.
The Faith Working Group will also establish a "community of learning" involving faith and civil society organisations to document the impact that faith groups have on aid.
Some 13 faith-based groups were involved in the working group, including Christian Aid, World Jewish Relief, Muslim Charities Forum and World Vision but the agreement is led by the Church of England. DFID and the Faith Working Group will undertake a joint review of the agreement's impact by April 2013.
