Who Cares About Religion?

The concept of Religion and Development has been an important academic field for several decades and an important topic of discussion among actors involved in development cooperation. SMC has instead chosen to speak of “religious literacy”, partly because the chosen agenda was not dominated by conservative actors and partly because this term shows a need for all actors to understand the role of religion in social development – for better or worse.

In the conversation with member organizations, SMC highlights both the concept of bilingualism and the concept of religious literacy. The latter refers to a professional skill everyone who works in religious contexts needs, regardless of one’s relation to faith. The foregoing refers to the conscious effort of faith-based organizations to speak to both a theological or faith-based language, and a rights-based language, when describing visions, driving forces, etc. Bilingualism is thus more relevant for faith-based organizations seeking their identity.

SMC has taken responsibility for running a network consisting of faith-based “framework organizations” (SPOs). The goal is partly to coordinate advocacy work for increased religious literacy among actors such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Sida, and partly to exchange experiences. Annually, KFRU tries to offer actors within international development cooperation, learning opportunities promoting religious literacy. In 2023, KFRU has arranged a discussion about organisational identity processes.

During 2023, it has become increasingly obvious that the consensus that has prevailed between the Swedish state and civil society is being renegotiated. This affects, to great extent, aid organizations based on popular movements. This shift raises questions about organisational identity, driving forces, and organizations’ anchoring in popular movements or congregations. Religious literacy, and also bilingualism, have become important topics as several organizations within SMC’s network have raised this discussion based on the changed political landscape.

During 2023, there have been several requests from Nordic sister organizations and members of their network, as well as academic institutions in Sweden (EHS and ALT) to lecture on religious literacy. Each such learning opportunity means that SMR sharpens its competence in the field and can try different methods to deepen the understanding of the topic.

During the year, the work with religious literacy has found its place within SMC’s ECR work. There has been a clear ambition to give religious literacy an arena where the benefits of this knowledge can be exemplified. It has been a mutual benefit, as SMC simultaneously have tried to introduce the concept of biodiversity within our network. Linking these two topics has served them both. It has made it easier to convey the importance of both biodiversity and religious literacy. SMC has also started a collaboration with the WWF-Beliefs and values programme. WWF wants to deepen its collaboration with religious actors and SMC wants to provide knowledge about biodiversity. This collaboration has benefited both organizations. In October, a learning week focused on ECR and religious literacy was held in Nairobi. It became a clear example of how religious literacy in harmony with the topic of ECR, creates a greater understanding in partner organisations – for both subjects.

SMC has established itself as an actor at the intersection between ECR issues and religious literacy. Within the International Partnership for Religion and Sustainable Development, PaRD, SMC partakes in the workstream that handles environment and climate issues. SMC also has a collaboration with UNEP-Faith for Earth, which has opened doors to international advocacy work. SMC has also, with limited success, sought to elevate religious literacy as a crucial skill within the GNDR network.

In collaboration with UNEP-Faith for Earth and several organizations that are part of GNDR, SMC has been invited to the planning-group for “the religious pavilion” at the climate summit, COP28, in Dubai, UAE. Together with the Japanese humanitarian organization Soka Gakkai International (SGI), SMC was able to plan and conduct a seminar in the pavilion with the theme “Faith matters in achieving the global goal on adaptation”. This is another example of how SMC can communicate about religious literacy by linking it to climate-related discussions. SMC was also able to offer the member organization, LM-international to participate in the seminar and represent SMC’s entire network on site.