MOBILIZING MUSLIM RELIGIOUS MOBILIZING
MUSLIM RELIGIOUS
LEADERS AS RH/FP “CHAMPIONS”
Leah Sawalha Freij, PhD, MPH
CORE Group Spring Meeting 2011
Equity in Health: Ensuring Access, Increasing Use
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Rationale
“There
There are many are many
communities without schools, health facilities or sanitation, but there is hardly any community without a place of ith t l
f
worship.” ‐ Carol Bellamy (former ,
)
Executive Director, UNICEF)
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ESD’s Approach
pp
Build capacity of Religious Leaders (RLs) to act as Build
capacity of Religious Leaders (RLs) to act as
change agents to shift community attitudes/behaviors
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ESD MODEL: Engaging Religious Leaders as Champions of RH/FP
Identify champions & Build Alliances
Foster Partnerships
Adapt to Local Context
M&E
Outreach Outreach
Services
Implementation
Capacity Capacity
Building
Study Tour
Document & Document
&
Disseminate
SSupportive ti
Supervision
Results ‐ Yemen
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
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RLs ‐ main source of info on FP and breast feeding
RLs expanded 2 religious education centers to provide d ti
t t
id
RH/maternal services
RLs issued & distributed 4 educational brochures Ministry of Religious Affairs i
issued edict asking RLs to d di
ki RL
disseminate messages
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Results‐ Nigeria
g


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35 RLs in Kano state trained over 1,000 RLs across state
Over 500,000 people reached across state
h d
t t
60,000 + young women/families reached at /
household level
Instrumental in getting community members to i
b
donate blood www.esdproj.org
Results‐ Pakistan



6 religious sects approved RL g
pp
training Paradigm shift in FP from li iti t
limiting to spacing births
i bi th
Concept of healthy timing & spacing of pregnancies and p
g p g
role of RLs included in draft national population policy
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Lessons Learned (pearls of wisdom) (p
)
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RLs are untapped pp
development actors
Include RLs from all sects
Use culturally appropriate terminologies for FP
Strengthen linkages
Strengthen linkages between RLs & health providers/NGOs
Incorporate country‐specific fatwas supportive of RH/FP
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THANK YOU!
For further information contact:
[email protected]
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