Decent Shelter for All Roles for Faith-Inspired Organizations
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BERKLEY CENTER for RELIGION, PEACE & WORLD AFFAIRS GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY 2009 | Decent Shelter for All Roles for Faith-inspired Organizations January 2009 BERKLEY CENTER REPORTS BERKLEY CENTER REPORTS A project of the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs and the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University Supported by the Henry R. Luce Initiative on Religion and International Affairs Luce/SFS Program on Religion and International Affairs From 2006–08, the Berkley Center and the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service (SFS) col- laborated in the implementation of a generous grant from the Henry Luce Foundation’s Initiative on Religion and International Affairs. The Luce/SFS Program on Religion and International Affairs convenes symposia and seminars that bring together scholars and policy experts around emergent issues. The program is organized around two main themes: the religious sources of foreign policy in the US and around the world, and the nexus between religion and global development. Topics covered in 2007–08 included the HIV/AIDS crisis, faith-inspired organizations in the Muslim world, gender and development, religious freedom and US foreign policy, and the intersection of religion, migration, and foreign policy. The Berkley Center 2009 | The Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, created within the Office of the President in March 2006, is part of a university-wide effort to build knowledge about religion’s role in world affairs and promote interreligious understanding in the service of peace. The Center explores the inter- section of religion with contemporary global challenges. Through research, teaching, and outreach activities, the Berkley Center builds knowledge, promotes dialogue, and supports action in the service of peace. Thomas Banchoff, Associate Professor in the Department of Government and the School of Foreign Service, is the Center’s founding director. The Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service Founded in 1919 to educate students and prepare them for leadership roles in international affairs, the School of Foreign Service conducts an undergraduate program for over 1,300 students and BERKLEY CENTER REPORTS graduate programs at the Master’s level for more than 700 students. Under the leadership of Dean Robert L. Gallucci, the School houses more than a dozen regional and functional programs that offer courses, conduct research, host events, and contribute to the intellectual development of the field of international affairs. In 2007, a survey of faculty published in Foreign Policy ranked Georgetown University as #1 in Master’s degree programs in international relations. Copyright 2009, Georgetown University. 1 About this report A draft of this report was discussed at a Berkley Center and seminars that bring together scholars and policy consultation on October 27, 2008. The report forms experts around emergent issues. The program is orga- part of a series on development topics undertaken by the nized around two main themes: the religious sources of Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs foreign policy in the US and around the world, and the at Georgetown University, and implemented jointly nexus between religion and global development. Topics with the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. covered in 2007–08 included the HIV/AIDS crisis, The project is supported by a generous grant from malaria, faith-inspired organizations in the Muslim the Henry Luce Foundation’s Initiative on Religion world, gender and development, religious freedom and International Affairs. The Luce/SFS Program on and US foreign policy, and the intersection of religion, Religion and International Affairs convenes symposia migration, and foreign policy. GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY GEORGETOWN | Acknowledgements and About the Authors This report is a collaborative venture and we acknowl- 2000–2006, her mandate covered ethics, values, and edge with special appreciation the partnership of insti- faith in development work, as counselor to the World tutions, especially Habitat for Humanity International Bank’s President. Marshall is the author of several books, and the World Bank. Amy Vander Vliet, a graduate including Mind, Heart, and Soul in the Fight Against student at Georgetown University, undertook substan- Poverty (2004) and Development and Faith: Where tial background research. Jochen Eigen has played a Mind, Heart, and Soul Work Together (co-authored with central and continuing role as a senior advisor. Thomas Marisa van Saanen, World Bank, 2007). She serves on BERKLEY CENTER Bohnett drafted parts of the report and is also engaged the Boards of several NGOs and on advisory groups, is on the continuing project. Adrienne Clermont and a Trustee of Princeton University, and directs the World Lily Fu worked as summer interns on the shelter survey. Faiths Development Dialogue (WFDD) Katherine Marshall has worked for over three decades Brady Walkinshaw undertook much work on this proj- on international development, with a focus on issues ect while working as a Junior Program Associate at the facing the world’s poorest countries. As a senior fel- World Bank, in the Development Dialogue on Ethics low at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and and Values Unit. He now works as a program associate World Affairs and a Visiting Associate Professor of at the Gates Foundation. Following graduation from Government, she coordinates the Luce/SFS Program on Princeton University, he spent a year in Honduras on a Religion and Global Development. Before coming to Fulbright fellowship. Georgetown, Marshall served with distinction and held many leadership positions at the World Bank. From 2 Table of Contents Abbreviations and Glossary. 3 Overview: Decent Shelter Initiative and Exploration Process. 4 Part I: Introducing the Topic. 7 Part II: The Reflection Process. 11 Box 1: Berkley Center Interfaith Discussion on Faith and Housing. 12 Box 2: Background Information and Survey . 12 Box 3: Two Survey Responses . 14 Box 4: “Friends of the Initiative” Consultation, October 27, 2008. 15 Box 5: Habit for Humanity: Journey through the “Theology of the Hammer”. 16 2009 | Box 6: Emerging Lessons from an Interfaith Housing Project in Mindanao, Philippines . 17 Part III: Looking Forward. 19 Appendix 1: Examples of Religious Positions on Shelter. 23 Appendix 2: Guide to General Resources on Shelter . 24 Appendix 3: Annotated Bibliography. 25 Endnotes. 28 Abbreviations and Glossary BERKLEY CENTER REPORTS CBO Community-based organization UN HABITAT United Nations Human Settlements DSA Decent Shelter for All Programme FBO Faith Based Organization UNDRO United Nations Disaster Relief Organization FIO Faith-inspired Organization WCRP World Conference of Religions for Peace (Religions for Peace) NGO Non-governmental organization WFDD World Faiths Development Dialogue 3 Overview Decent Shelter Initiative and Exploration Process his report takes stock of the Decent Shelter for All (DSA), an initiative of the TBerkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs and the World Faiths Development Dialogue (WFDD). The initiative involves a con- tinuing process of survey and dialogue whose aim is to enhance the quality of partnerships on global housing and shelter issues and, at its core, to address more effectively a key dimen- GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY GEORGETOWN | sion of global poverty through better housing. The hypothesis is that better knowledge and framing of issues can bridge gaps that separate secular and faith institutions, can reduce over- lap, disconnects, and tensions among different programs, and enhance the impact of develop- ment work in this field. A second, more specific, hypothesis is that the work that faith institutions do on housing is poorly known and thus under- BERKLEY CENTER valued and poorly integrated in global shelter policies and programs. The initiative was launched in December 2006 at a meeting held at Georgetown University’s Berkley Center to explore the problem of shelter for the poor. The meeting’s impetus came from Habit for Humanity International, which saw an urgent need to expand its framework for partner- ships and particularly interfaith engagement. The meeting was thus chaired by Nic Retsinas, chair of Habitat’s board and also chair of Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. It was attended by leaders in the faith-inspired development world. The meeting was inspired by a recognition that 4 the efforts of religious communities to combat a full report leading to a broader consultation of poverty frequently begin with the core issue of faith-inspired and mainstream shelter support helping the poor secure decent shelter. programs on a joint way forward. An outcome of that initial meeting was a strong Grounded on this framework for action, meeting consensus that a largely untapped potential for participants highlighted three conclusions. First, interfaith partnerships and for alliances linking a wider and more representative set of partners faith-based and secular development existed should be briefed on and involved in the pro- and needed purposeful exploration and action. cess. Second, the Friends of the Initiative group, The group supported a systematic mapping of comprised of faith leaders and representatives of shelter-related programs and documentation of these various organizations, should provide sup- case examples, a process subsequently pursued port with continuing advice and with mobilizing 2009 under the leadership of WFDD. participation of shelter-related