Episcopal Relief & Development believes every woman should live free from violence in a society where she is treated with dignity and respect.

In July, Episcopal Relief & Development staff and partners from Burundi, Liberia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo attended the Women Deliver 2023 Conference in Kigali, Rwanda. WD2023 brought together people from all over the world—from young people to grassroots advocacy organizations, nonprofits to governments—to work collectively to advance gender equality.

As a faith-based organization, we understand that faith leaders are among the most trusted members of society, whose words and actions carry significant influence. As such, faith leaders are uniquely positioned to confront harmful social norms and behaviors, advance social change and equality, and prevent violence against women and girls. There is a growing body of evidence, including our own work in Liberia, that engaging faith leaders—Christian and Muslim—in scripture-based activities contributes to fewer incidences of gender-based violence.

During a well-attended side event at Women Deliver 2023, Episcopal Relief & Development and World Vision USA hosted a conversation to discuss learnings from their faith-based programs advancing Gender Equity and Social Inclusion (GESI) in communities across the globe. Throughout the conference, staff from Episcopal Relief & Development joined partner staff from Episcopal Church of Liberia Relief & Development (ECLRD), Service Anglican pour le Développement Communautaire (SADC), Diocese of Aru and Diocese of Bukavu to host mini-workshops around topics including sustainable approaches to GESI; tools and tactics to capture impact evidence; and instances when inclusion, social and behavior change were challenging for faith actors and communities.

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“Simultaneously, women and girls are active change agents with frontline experience and expertise, innovators in transformation, highly influential decision-makers, educators and caretakers, Indigenous and traditional knowledge keepers, adaptation and mitigation entrepreneurs, storytellers and speakers, stakeholders and sovereigns.”
—The Most Rev. Michael Curry, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church

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