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PaRD is a multistakeholder partnership of governmental, intergovernmental and faith-based organizations and academic institutions committed to working together to leverage the social capital and moral influence of religious actors to advance realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The PaRD leadership meeting approved a flagship project, “Strengthening Faith-Based Partnerships for Sustainable Food Security and Community-Led Development,” and also endorsed a “Statement of Commitment to the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty.”
The programme included a meeting with Minister of Religious Affairs in Indonesia, Prof. Dr K.H. Nasaruddin Umar, who is also the grand imam of the Istiqlal Mosque, Jakarta.
The PaRD flagship project is explicitly aligned with the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty established under the Brazilian G20 Presidency last year.
“The project will promote sustainable, culturally-sensitive, and locally-driven food security interventions that address hunger, malnutrition, and extreme poverty through partnerships, advocacy, and the strategic engagement of faith-based actors within the framework of the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty”, said Peter Prove, director of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, representative the WCC in the Steering Board of PaRD.
The Statement of Commitment to the Global Alliance endorsed by the partnership envisages deploying the capacities and learnings from its existing work streams and task forces on gender equality and empowerment; health; water, environment, and climate action; sustaining peace; freedom of religion or belief; localization; and evidence.
The statement urges promoting inclusive approaches that empower women as food producers and as primary stakeholders, strengthening their roles in enhancing food security and nutrition within communities; emphasizing nutrition as a foundational pillar of health, coordinating closely with other health interventions to promote comprehensive community wellness; and several other focuses.
In the statement, the partnership commits to mapping and strengthening existing engagements and cooperation between religious actors and faith-based organizations and governmental authorities and intergovernmental organizations in three initial focus countries from the Asian, African and Latin American regions.
Learn more about the International Partnership on Religion and Sustainable Development
