Washington, D.C., USA, 21 January 2020 (F2A) – In collaboration with FP2020 and World Vision, Faith to Action Network hosted a dialogue on faith and family planning. Participants from faith actors, civil society, donor agencies and academia shared lessons and recommendations to strengthen the faith community’s engagement in family planning. They discussed opportunities for fostering collaboration among faith actors, governments and civil society at the country and global levels to drive progress post-2020. They explored priority actions for the year 2020 and beyond. The meeting was held on January 21st, 2020 at FP2020 Offices in Washington DC and accessible virtually.

Religion plays an important role in many countries, where faith leaders influence health-seeking behavior and faith actors provide a notable share of healthcare information, services and supplies. Ahead of the meeting, Faith to Action Network co-published a brief to summarize knowledge about how secular FP2020 partners can more effectively engage with the faith actors to help women achieve their fertility intentions and to improve healthy timing and spacing of pregnancy.

In the meeting, Faith to Action Network contributed to discussions on how to involve faith actors in FP2020’s country-level efforts. Learnings and achievements of its DESIP programme served as illustration on developing successful secular-faith partnerships in family planning.

Participants emphasized that existing collaborations between secular and faith partners must be elevated and amplified. Douglas Huber, Christian Connections for Health said, “for a meaningful and sustainable engagement of the faith community, create safe spaces for religious leaders to have honest dialogues on matters pertaining to FP’’. Douglas Huber serves on Faith to Action Network’s Steering Council.

Find more information on the brief here: Faith and Family Planning: Working Together to Drive Progress Post-2020.