GHR recently had the honor of hosting a group from Kenya, visiting through the State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program with Global Minnesota. We shared our Inter-Religious Action initiative’s funding efforts in Kenya, and learned about the inspiring work being done by these exceptional community leaders to improve lives, build peace and counter violent extremism through youth engagement.
​
GHR invests in long-term peace building efforts along the Kenyan coast through our collaboration with Catholic Relief Services, the Coast Interfaith Council of Clerics and the Malindi Catholic Diocese through a project called the Dialogue Action Project, an initiative aimed at eliminating child marriage and improving household income through community saving groups.
 
Our guests shared inspiring stories from their efforts to promote peace across religions in their communities. For example, after the 2015 terrorist attacks on Garrissa University in Kenya, Ayub Mohamud, a high school teacher in Nairobi, set up Teachers Against Violent Extremism. The organization is now an interfaith network of teachers across Kenya working to share ideas that incorporate peace, tolerance and bridge-building with students in and outside classroom. In 2016, Mahamud was nominated for the Varkey Foundation’s Global Teacher Prize for his impressive work. Mahamud is an excellent example of the importance of dialogue and inter-faith collaboration in building a more peaceful world. 

We look forward to learning more from community leaders like our visitors from Kenya, and we are energized by the efforts of these individuals to promote peace and global development. To learn more about how GHR is bridging divides through our Inter-Religious Action initiative, contact us.

The new year provides an opportunity for reflection, celebration and ambition. As we look back on a year of collaboration and grant making, we ask ourselves an important question: Where will we find the greatest opportunities for change in the coming year? One such promising area is already emerging—our partnership with USAID in the Central African Republic, a country in great need of healing and community in the midst of conflict.

GHR's Inter-Religious Action initiative has applied its proven methods to peacebuilding in the Central African Republic, and Thomson Reuters Foundation recently covered how our work is helping participants overcome trauma and rebuild fractured communities. The hope-filled article reports from a workshop in Bangui that is bringing together Christians and Muslims, using the influence of religious leaders to repair relationships and build trust. The piece emphasizes the importance of engaging religious actors in countries where institutions are fragile.

"Religious actors are the bedrock of society in countries where institutions are fragile," the article quotes from GHR Senior Program Advisor Andreas Hipple. "The religious leaders cannot just guide people in their faith but also help them deal with the challenges of life."
​
GHR knows how collaboration and discussion between religious leaders and communities are essential to solving difficult development problems like the ones faced by CAR, and may be key to building the trusting relationships and social cohesion necessary to restoring peace. The strategy of Inter-Religious Action initiative is hinged on this principle.
 
We look forward to another year of pursuing impact, responding to emerging needs and supporting our incredible partners around the world. To learn more about innovative work like our efforts in the Central African Republic, contact us.

GHR Foundation's Inter-Religious Action funding works to improve development outcomes, build lasting community connections and advance peace by mobilizing religious leaders and communities to address common challenges. GHR was recently honored to host USAID, a key partner in our global development initiatives. With a shared focus on sustainable local impact, GHR leverages the government agency's resources in places like the Central African Republic, Cambodia and Nigeria to improve development outcomes, build lasting community connections and advance peace by mobilizing religious leaders and communities to address common challenges.
 
A recent column by the Star Tribune's John Rash recognizes the role of Minnesota-based institutions such as GHR on the global stage, especially when it comes to issues like countering extremism. Both the American Refugee Committee's (ARC) John Griffith and USAID's Associate Administrator Eric Postel remarked on the importance of partnership in strengthening communities. "Postel pointed to ARC’s efforts," Rash writes, "as well as those from many Minnesota-based entities such as the GHR Foundation as examples of how design isn’t only about places, but processes, such as interfaith dialogues."

GHR recently attended the “Diplomacy Begins Here Summit,” hosted by Global Minnesota in partnership with the State Department and Global Ties U.S. at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs. Participants from the State Department and local peacebuilding organizations discussed approaches to countering extremism. GHR's Communication Director Chris Berger had the opportunity to moderate a discussion with plenary speaker George Selim, director of the Office of Community Partnerships at the Department of Homeland Security, on promoting community resilience.

During their visit to GHR, Postel and the director of USAID’s Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives Mark Brinkmoeller discussed the agency’s belief in public-private partnerships and its growing commitment to faith-based initiatives. Brinkmoeller and Postel then sat down with senior program advisor Andreas Hipple for a video interview on the expanding partnership, as well as GHR’s ongoing inter-religious action leadership. Watch the discussion below.

GHR's Inter-Religious Action initiative is founded on the belief that when religious leaders and communities collaborate on issues of common concern they can solve difficult problems, build trusting relationships, strengthen social cohesion and advance peace. GHR is not alone in this conviction—we partner with many like-minded individuals and organizations working to promote inter-religious collaboration and share best practices. One such partner is the Alliance for Peacebuilding, which convened a meeting in Istanbul last week as part of its GHR-funded Effective Inter-religious Action in Peacebuilding (EIAP) program.
 
EIAP is a groundbreaking three-year initiative seeking to improve the evaluation practices of inter-religious peacebuilding by addressing three specific gaps in inter-religious peacebuilding efforts—measurement, cooperation and policy. During the meeting, a group of 30 thought leaders and practitioners from Israel, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and the United States shared experiences and made recommendations for a new comprehensive and practical guide to evaluating inter-religious action. A draft of the guide will be field-tested in diverse environments during the coming year before it is shared broadly.

Beyond enhancing the guide EIAP is developing, the fruitful conversations had during the meeting made valuable connections that will help build the field of inter-religious action for peacebuilding as a whole. GHR's work with EIAP is a part of our efforts to bring the potential of inter-religious action to new places and partners. To learn more about GHR's inter-religious funding, contact us.

GHR places high value on building the internal capacity of our partner non-profit organizations so they are well-positioned to be sustainable and meet client needs. Technology infrastructure is a critical part of this, yet non-profits often operate with outdated and ineffective systems. In recent conversations with a grantee, Interfaith Outreach and Community Partners (IOCP) in Plymouth, Minn., GHR staff learned how technological improvements can translate directly into enhanced impact. IOCP, an Opus Foundation grantee, provides emergency and long-term solutions to support families in achieving stability. IOCP has an annual operating budget of $5.9 million and serves eight suburbs in the west Twin Cities metro area. GHR funding helped the organization build a database aimed at more effectively tracking client progress and improving service delivery to enhance the client experience.
 
Working collaboratively throughout the process, IOCP staff met with each family served—more than 2,000—and completed new intake assessments. The process required a great deal of staff time, but offered a more comprehensive picture of the people they serve and increased personal connections among staff, clients and the community. IOCP’s approach provided a valuable pause in operations for reflection, conversation and relationship building, resulting in stronger infrastructure beyond just technology.
 
GHR’s grant strengthened the operations of a local organization serving 5,500 people and nearly 2,000 households, and afforded GHR the opportunity to learn more about the importance of funding capacity building, making time for reflection, and re-tooling systems as core grant making strategies.
 
GHR is dedicated to supporting both practical and creative solutions—each critical to strengthening the non-profit sector. To learn more about how our grantees are impacting lives in Minnesota and around the world, contact us.

GHR Foundation's Inter-Religious Action funding works to advance peace by mobilizing religious leaders and communities to address common challenges. On Tuesday, April 12, United States Institute of Peace President Nancy Lindborg will be visiting GHR for a round table discussion, following an appearance on Minnesota Public Radio’s News with Kerri Miller.

The radio conversation, as well as the round table with leading international funders, thinkers and actors in Minnesota and beyond, will be focused on Wars, Refugees and the Real Roots of Global Crisis. Lindborg will discuss how innovative civil society partnerships—like those in Minnesota, Myanmar, Nigeria and elsewhere that are supported by GHR Foundation’s Inter-Religious Action initiative—are central to the long-term solutions that will build resilience, advance development and foster peace.
 
Lindborg will join us in discussing how there is a deeper crisis beneath the traumas that generate news headlines. A collection of “fragile” states across the Middle East, Africa and Asia suffer from weak or ineffective governance that is seen as illegitimate by most of their people and fails to meet the populations’ needs or to manage internal conflict. From Syria and Iraq to Afghanistan or Nigeria, these fragile states are the wellsprings of violence, refugees and extremist groups such as ISIS.

To target this problem, world heads of state adopted a new set of global development goals last year that focuses on building resilient nations with “peaceful and inclusive societies, access to justice for all and effective and capable institutions.” In its mission to end violent conflicts abroad, the United States Institute of Peace works to promote this resilience and inclusion.

We invite you to listen between 9 and 10 am—if you are in the Twin Cities, tune in on 91.1 FM. If you are listening from elsewhere, you can stream the program. To learn more about GHR’s work to advance peace and inter-religious collaboration, contact us.

Recently, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta met with traditional leaders of the Kaya community of Eastern Kenya. The discussion highlighted results from the Dialogue and Action Project (DAP), an initiative funded by GHR’s Inter-Religious Action Initiative where Catholic Relief Services (CRS) engages traditional and other faith leaders in a three-year effort to reduce child marriage.

The visit with President Kenyatta and elders involved in DAP included discussions on peacebuilding efforts to ensure security on the coast, as well as engagement in the Coast Interfaith Council of Clerics, which partners on DAP with CRS and the Catholic Diocese of Malindi. The DAP representatives advocated for government support in improving education standards on the coast and establishing affordable schools. With DAP’s focus on preventing early marriage, school retention is key to reducing vulnerability.

DAP’s goal is to delay marriage of 5,000 girls ages 9-18 years until adulthood, with targeted communities actively advocating for child protection and prevention of child marriage, and with households improving their economic situation through participation in community savings groups.
​
Our partnership with CRS is already showing impressive results, and we look forward to exploring more partnerships to improve development results in Kenya and around the world. To learn more about how GHR is using partnerships to grow our inter-religious work, contact us.

By GHR Chair & CEO Amy Goldman
Re-posted from Devex

The global development community has spent the last three years in conversation on how to eradicate extreme poverty and structure the now-ratified Sustainable Development Goals. During this same period, Pope Francis has urged those in positions of power not to forget the marginalized, while personally visiting those who are often ignored.

His moving words — exceeded only by his powerful acts of compassion — have given energy and encouragement to those striving to end poverty. In light of this, it seems shortsighted that local faith communities are often at best an afterthought and at worst sidelined in the current global development equation.

Agreement on the global goals is a major step forward, but the conversation must now turn to an even greater challenge: How do we realize these ambitious targets?

Many experts agree that completing the “last mile” in the fight to end poverty will be the most challenging. Communities in extreme poverty are often the most difficult to reach and represent areas where current development approaches have not found success.

Recognizing a need for greater creativity, courage and inclusion, we must heed the words of Pope Francis to the United Nations General Assembly. In the spirit of striving “to serve the common good,” we cannot afford to leave any willing partner out of the process. We cannot continue to ignore the central role of faith leaders and communities in fostering hope and opportunity where it is needed most.

Last week, GHR Foundation participated in Pope Francis’ historic visit to the United States. We had an inspiring view of the way he is using the papal office to give voice to the voiceless. Pope Francis highlighted the systemic and deeply personal need to end global poverty. He brought new legitimacy to global development priorities and put faith at the center of the discussion in a powerful new way.

Through GHR Foundation’s efforts to advance inter-religious action, we have seen great progress in the effort to integrate faith into traditional aid models. Government agencies like the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. State Department, as well as nongovernmental funders like Humanity United, are bringing faith leaders to the table. However, Pope Francis has shown us that as leaders in global development, we need to push beyond talking to the people at the top. We need to get to the local level, and substantively engage faith communities on the ground.

All of us working on development issues need to see local faith actors as more than vehicles for implementation — we need to engage local faith communities as partners, respecting their self-determination as the most appropriate architects of the path out of poverty.  

In many areas, faith-based groups are the backbone of the community, and in some regions, represent the only health infrastructure. Results recently published in The Lancet show how working with religious leaders and communities improves health outcomes. GHR Foundation funded efforts in Nigeria to engage faith communities to increase insecticide-treated bed net usage and prevent malaria. In Kaduna state, independent research found net use increased to 85 percent from 18 percent as a result of outreach through religious communities. We have seen that when churches and mosques collaborate on issues of common concern, it helps build the kind of trust that can prevent violence, address health risks and drive economic opportunity.      

Not only do faith-based organizations bring needed resources, expertise and networks to the table, they also bring diverse perspectives that can help drive innovation. In 2014, Pope Francis urged Catholics not to make the church into another nongovernmental organization, but a caring and compassionate “mother” for all. When the same old development formulas and aid structures fail to make an impact, adding the extra dimension of faith-based care and compassion can be the difference.

The Global Goals have set an ambitious roadmap to ending extreme poverty. But to achieve them, we must be committed to more effectively engaging faith leaders and local faith communities. Pope Francis’s address to the U.N. General Assembly showed that the mission of the global development community and many faith leaders are aligned. He built a bridge between those with a common interest in building a better future for all. With humility and new energy, we should cross that bridge and work together to end global poverty.

GHR recently co-hosted a conference at the World Bank focused on Religion & Sustainable Development. Attended by leaders of the World Bank, United Nations agencies and foreign aid agencies in the United States, Germany, Norway and the United Kingdom, the meeting was designed to spark new action, bringing faith communities together to fight against extreme poverty.

The conference included the launch of an important new series by leading medical journal, The Lancet, which demonstrates improved health outcomes when faith-based organizations are engaged in delivering local health solutions. This is significant evidence that inter-religious collaboration delivers tangible development results.

The impact of inter-religious action was featured prominently throughout the conference, with presentations by several GHR partners, highlighting the Nigerian Inter-Faith Action Association’s work to eradicate malaria and the life-saving efforts of the Inter-Religious Council of Sierra Leone, which emerged as a crucial player in the fight against Ebola.
 
GHR staff moderated a session on bringing faith-based development efforts to scale. The conference gave GHR an opportunity to enter conversations with new potential partners who can help us extend the reach and impact of our grant making. To learn more about how GHR is using partnerships to grow our inter-religious work throughout the world, contact us.