Women, Faith, and Humanitarian Interventions

This project takes as its starting point the religious needs of refugee women in Syria and Lebanon identified by the work of NGO partner Global One. Refugee women are in need of clean water to meet basic needs for water and hygiene, but also faith requirements for ablution. Women also require support for mental health needs created by situations of statelessness and the all too common ramifications of gender based violence (GBV); some of these needs could be met by faith-based organisations and communities. Although the rights of women to equality and religious freedom are enshrined in human rights declarations (UNDHR), in practice humanitarian organisations recognise that there is still a long way to go to attain the equal treatment and empowerment of women, and faith remains further on the margins in terms of priorities. The challenges of empowering women and girls and enabling faith to play a significant role in this are in need of further attention and solutions, areas the network addresses through cross sector and multidisciplinary approaches. Research has suggested the potential for empowerment through the creation of spaces for women of faith to meet together with other women. Yet, it should be recognised that there is no single 'religious space', but rather heterogeneous spaces with different constitution and character. Part of the problem addressed by the network is the differences in ways of speaking across different contexts and the role of religion in empowering groups of women in different types of spaces, drawing on a variety of religious resources, such as texts, theologies, and ritual practice. Women in refugee settings on the ground ought to be afforded their own spaces to identify in their own terms their faith requirements. In spaces of activation in the international humanitarian realm, there could be greater prioritisation of issues affecting women and girls in terms of faith, and greater involvement of women in leading development support. Multidisciplinary research can contribute to the development of these spaces, fostering informed understanding of the issues and identification of initiatives and recommendations that give religion a distinctive voice and role which is not separate from human rights principles, but recognises common goals and areas of distinctive contribution to the issues facing women. It is also important to identify where fears about faith-based organisations come from and how they are perpetuated, in order to speak meaningfully in the public sphere. The intersection of these spaces through dialogue and the formulation of concrete recommendations to policymakers and stakeholders have the potential to encourage groups of women leaders who are best placed to speak to other groups of women in crisis situations and enable them through the provision of basic needs and prioritisation of religious freedoms.
By facilitating sustained conversation between NGOs working on the ground, faith groups and academic partners, the network addresses the gap in cross sector collaboration in order to formulate concrete recommendations for addressing the needs of women in situations of crisis and greatest need. The expertise of network participants in policy, religion, sociology, and refugee and migration studies in dialogue with the perspectives of those working closely in situations on the ground establishes a strong position from which to petition governments and faith leaders to prioritise issues affecting women's identity and mental health, women's theologies and ritual needs, and realise women's potential as change makers in situations of statelessness and displacement. The recommendations of the network will be focussed on making provision for faith to be a core part of the international response to crisis situations affecting women and girls, and ensuring women and their needs in relation to religion are well represented, from refugee camp committees to UN working groups.

The central concerns of the network are currently of high significance to policy makers (in the UK and internationally), NGOs and international humanitarian organisations as they have strong relevance to current situations of humanitarian crisis in ODA recipient countries. The project has an outward facing focus based on an underlying belief in the relevance of religion in public discourse and humanitarian intervention, recognising the need to engage meaningfully with women of faith in different settings, and to avoid the imposition of a Western, elite voice in addressing needs on the ground. The workshop based in Jordan will solidify connections and meaningful engagement with ODA recipient countries of most relevance to the project (Syria, Lebanon). The NGO partner Global One will have direct benefit from the project for their humanitarian work, and equally, their close involvement in the network enables meaningful interaction across sectors with common interests in the support and empowerment of women.
Forms of impact
One of the major dissemination outputs of the network will be a toolkit of documents, all closely tied to the main working paper document. The working paper document will emerge from the discussions at each of the main network events, and will contain input from academic and non-academic participants in the events, as well as the steering group. Whilst the working paper itself will emphasise the research gains from the project in terms that are accessible to a wider public audience, a set of other documents will be produced, aimed at: 1) policy makers in the UK, specifically targeting groups such as the All Party Parliamentary Group on Women; 2) policy makers in the EU and internationally; 3) NGOs, specifically those with a religious focus; and 4) faith leaders and faith organisations with a global or cross-national focus. The toolkit will be available via the project webpage, hosted by the University of Birmingham and CPUR.
Reach of impact
Members of the network have considerable connections, expertise and experience of writing for the various audiences. Through converting learning into policy briefs and papers with recommendations to be presented at existing conferences and events held by policymakers at local, national and international level, this enables knowledge sharing and transparency across all levels.
The role of international organisations are two-fold, the first is to understand the value of faith-based organisations and their approaches and the intersectionality between religion, gender, humanitarianism and crises. The second is to understand the scope of faith-based organisations, their capacity and ways of working together. This can be achieved through raising awareness of their work and focusing on their expertise so as to create an understanding between the two groups.
Professional and practitioner groups will benefit through the extra added dimension of faith/ religion and how that plays a part by working with them on the lessons from the workshops in London and Jordan. By identifying the issues they face in the field, they will understand how evidence based work from an academic perspective can help develop solutions or new approaches. We hope to share our learning through interfaith development networks, women's organisations or networks, human rights, World Humanitarian Summit, SDGs process, conferences such as Women Deliver and International Conference on Family Planning.