Malaria and Faith: Building Strong Partnerships

Abstract

A global program to combat malaria has attracted major international funding and is showing promising progress. A wide range of faith actors (notably major faith-inspired organizations and community leaders well-primed on anti-malaria strategies, alongside anti-poverty advocates) play significant roles in both program execution and advocacy, at global, national, and community levels. The potential for stronger partnerships is nonetheless substantial.

This brief, drawing on a 2009 Berkley Center/World Faiths Development Dialogue report, “Malaria: Scoping New Partnerships,” highlights important priorities for action, including more purposeful efforts to engage faith communities in global partnerships, a focus on better mapping and evaluation work as a foundation for networking, coordination, and identification of encouraging best practices and significant lessons and obstacles. A significant dimension of current programs is their encouragement of inter and intrafaith cooperation and alliances that have malaria as their central focus.