Abstract
The Channels of Hope (CoH) program run by World Vision International provides education and training for faith leaders on issues traditionally associated with stigma and marginalization in developing contexts, including HIV/AIDS, genderbased violence, maternal, new born and child health and child protection. The program has seen tremendous success in altering attitudes of local religious leaders and motivating them to take action to change the attitudes in their communities in project areas with varying religious, cultural, socio-economic demographics. Yet exactly how and why such dramatic shifts in attitudes occur, the effectiveness of engaging explicitly with faith and the precise extent of the success of the program are largely unknown. This project will explore these dimensions with the aim of contributing to best practice in development as well as the broader societal and academic understanding of the role of faith in development. While there has recently been substantial increase in literature on the role of religion and faith-based organisations in development in religious studies and related disciplines, gaps still exist in our knowledge on what difference engaging with faith makes in contrast to purely secular approaches and the precise processes through which faith-based attitudinal and behavioural change are achieved within programs such as CoH. As such, this project represents an important new partnership between a public NGO and humanities research centre (the Centre for Religion, Conflict and the Public Domain at the University of Groningen) that will contribute to extending knowledge in theory and practice on the relationships between faith and development.