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An Innovative Model for Scaling Faith Engagement to Achieve Health Goals. Bishop Sunday Onuoha , Executive Director Nigerian Interfaith Action Association July 8, 2015. NIFAA’s History: Counteracting Religious Extremism.
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An Innovative Model for Scaling Faith Engagement to Achieve Health Goals Bishop Sunday Onuoha, Executive Director Nigerian Interfaith Action Association July 8, 2015
NIFAA’s History: Counteracting Religious Extremism • Communities of faith—both Muslim and Christian—play an integral role in Nigeria’s civil society and social fabric. • Violent extremism such as the fundamentalist organization Boko Haram has cause conflict and instability. • Extremism masquerades as religion and undermines trust and social cohesion. • NIFAA formed in 2009 as an outward manifestation of religious leaders’ desire to counteract negative extremism
NIFAA: A Trusted Partner • NIFAA works with government, international organizations, and local communities to address public health and development needs regardless of religious affiliation. • NIFAA complements and supports the efforts of the MOH and is fully integrated into national, state, and local level awareness campaigns. • Early efforts focus on malaria eradication for which NIFAA has received program support from the World Bank, The Global Fund, and USAID, as well as from GHR Foundation
NIFAA Impact • In 16 Nigerian states over five years, NIFAA has trained more than 89,000 faith leaders and members of religious communities to share behavior change messages related to malaria prevention, care, and treatment. • 2010 Lot Quality Assurance Sampling (LQAS) survey showed double net usage where NIFAA had trained 6,000 religious leaders
NIFAA’s Unique Characteristics • Willingness to work in challenging environments and ability to tap into local religious networks serves as a significant indigenous movement in support of the country’s health and development agenda. • NIFAA’s interfaith collaboration promotes peace and stability and provides an advocacy platform at the highest levels of political and religious leadership and at the grass roots community level.
NIFAA’s Unique Characteristics • NIFAA’sbroad representation among mainstream religious communities – Christian and Muslim – makes it a valuable platform for engagement by government and donor agencies. • NIFAA receives programmatic resources from the Ministry of Health not simply because of its unique access to underserved populations but also because of commitment to monitoring and evaluation.
Recommendations • Build capacity of local faith organizations as value for money investment • Pay-for-performance financing presents challenges for newer, local NGOs as funding flows may be erratic making consistent operations difficult. • Invest in faith engagement!