ABSTRACT
Ethiopia has long been known as a country where different religious traditions live side by side, but closer analysis suggests there may be deep historical roots to current tensions. In recent times religious harmony has been under pressure, with frequent tensions between Christian traditions, between Islamic traditions, and between Christians and Muslims. A combination of fundamentalist expressions, ignorance about one another and perceptions of injustice has constituted the key reasons for this pressure. Thus religion could be seen to be a constraint to development in Ethiopia. There is also evidence, however, that with the right approach faith and religion can be a focal point for positive development and an agent of beneficial social change. This study explores how World Vision, an international development agency with evangelical roots, has been able to change its approach to working with other faiths and develop a mechanism in Ethiopia for religious leaders not only to work together, but also to drive change for child rights, gender rights, domestic harmony and peacebuilding. This change has come about through deliberate structural changes in World Vision to promote and facilitate religious boundary crossing, and the renewed adoption of best-practice community development principles and practices to bring different voices together around a mutual common interest: the well-being of children. The mechanism by which this change was worked was faith-based forums. This chapter sets out the background context of these faith-based forums, then analyses them and their effectiveness. The religious history of Ethiopia reveals a degree of longstanding religious harmony, but also a series of tensions that have erupted into more frequent low-level conflicts in recent times. The general disregard for the well-being of children provided a clear focal point for change, not just by development agencies and government but also by religious leaders across a wide spectrum. The change of approach by World Vision meant it was able to connect more effectively with communities, government and religious leaders and to establish faith-based forums. The chapter concludes with findings from programme reviews that demonstrate the utility of this mechanism to overcome faith boundaries, and points to potential wider application.
