How should policy makers understand the role of religion in complex political situations? Two years ago, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and several Dutch NGOs joined forces in answering this question.  The result is the guidebook Handout Religion and Development Policy. Two staff members of the Knowledge Centre Religion and Development, David Renkema and Louke van Wensveen, contributed to the guidebook and participated in the presentation ceremony on 11 March 2008 in Utrecht, the Netherlands.

The ‘Handout Religion and Development Policy’ contains sections on religion and education, religion and HIV/Aids, religion and conflict, and religion and ecological sustainability. Based on several case studies, the guidebook describes positive contributions as well as counterproductive influences of religion on development in these areas. The Handout provides NGO staff, policy makers and embassies with analyses and practical recommendations.

It also illustrates how religions and development policies often share similar values and practical aims.

Even if one does not know much about religion, one might grant that religion, in all its diversity, plays an important role in the lives of many people.  The writers of the Handout make a plea for showing religious empathy: it is important to be open to the religious language of partners in development –without losing critical perspective or having to speak a religious language oneself.

The Handout is available as pdf on this website.