SDC – the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation – has been active in the field of religion and development for a number of years with the understanding that religious practices, faith communities and leaders, may influence its interventions. Freedom of religion and belief for human rights engagement, faith leaders in relation to peace building, the role of faith-based organizations in the delivery of aid or of humanitarian assistance are among the challenges faced by SDC in its operations. Faith has a role to play in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and the Agenda for Humanity.
Faith can be both instrumental and detrimental to SDC operations, inasmuch as religion is a dominant socio-cultural determinant. For this reason, SDC continues supporting the emergence of a balanced discourse on religion, whereby faith should help addressing grievances and strengthening capacities of communities to resist and react to catastrophes, crisis and conflicts. In these contexts, faith should be construed as a driver of change and/or of resilience. In practice, faith and religion are increasingly becoming a part of the conflict-sensitive analysis and programming applied in fragile and conflict-affected countries. Whenever necessary, its role in situations where State authorities and public services are often floundering should also be reflected in the theories of change guiding our actions.
At the global level, SDC is an observer to the International Partnership on Religion and Sustainable Development (PaRD). The PaRD aims at fostering greater cooperation between secular and religious actors, while focusing on the promotion of peaceful and inclusive societies. Thanks to its mixed membership and broad constituency, the PaRD facilitates knowledge exchange, learning and partnerships among a diverse community of action in favour of engaging faith for development. In 2018, SDC co-hosted its 3rd Annual Meeting in Bossey and supported the translation of the Fez Plan of Action for Religious Leaders in the prevention of mass atrocities and genocide in Arabic, French and Spanish.
