On 29 November 2019, an e-course on Religion and Development was launched at the UN Strategic Learning Exchange on Religion, Diplomacy and Sustainable Development in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The course is a brief introduction to Religion and Development and aims at enhancing Sustainable Development Goal 17: partnerships among different agencies, including (inter)faith agencies, for Agenda 2030.
Those who are not so familiar with faith will learn about the role of religion and faith actors in development and humanitarian relief, and how to collaborate with faith actors in an effective way. Those who are familiar with faith will learn how to articulate the distinct value of faith-inspired and faith-sensitive development in a language that is understood by secular agencies.
There are 10 modules of around 10-15 minutes, which can easily, if not preferably, be used in combination with face-to-face workshops. It is even possible to just use one of the short videos from the course for one’s own presentation on a topic that is related to Religion and Development, for instance the video on partnerships (https://fabo.org/pluginfile.php/14974/mod_label/intro/whyPartnerships.mp4).
The first three modules focus on key information about Religion and Development, effective partnerships and mainstreaming faith sensitivity in PME systems, while modules 4-10 deal with different thematic areas.
The course is initiated by ACT Alliance, in cooperation with SMC, GIZ, Danida and UNFPA, and contains several voices from the network of ACT Alliance, like Islamic Relief Worldwide and the Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers.