Project dldl/ድልድል team presented novel research on inter-faith domestic violence training approaches for Christian and Muslim clerics at SOAS-Gingko organised webinar

On October 3, Dr Romina Istratii (Principal Investigator of Project dldl/ድልድል) and Dr Mahmoud Ali Gomaa Afifi (postdoctoral researcher at Project dldl/ድልድል) presented findings from a collaborative study that explored inter-faith domestic violence training approaches for Christian and Muslim clerics in Ethiopia and Egypt.

The study was funded with the support of the Interfaith Collaboration Prize 2022 awarded to Dr Romina Istratii and Dr Mahmoud Ali Gomaa Afifi by the Gingko Library, a UK-based charity that works to improve mutual understanding between the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and the West.

The study explored the importance of religious teachings as a resourceful means in domestic violence trainings involving clerics, the approaches used by faith-based programmes and organisations in Ethiopia and Egypt to engage clerics and talk about domestic violence, and the feasibility of an inter-faith training approach for clerics in these countries and what such an approach might look like.

The webinar was organised by the School of History, Religions and Philosophies at SOAS with the support of the Gingko Library, and its was chaired by Dr Barbara Schwepcke, founder and CEO of Gingko.

Presentations

Dr Romina Istratii presented the study from Ethiopia by providing an overview of faith-based programmes and approaches used by five Christian and Muslim organisations that currently respond to violence against women and girls, including domestic violence, in the country. Dr Istratii discussed their engagement with secular gender equality and gender-based violence (GBV) concepts and resources made available in the international development sector, the role of Church institutions and theology in such programmes, and prospective inter-faith directions in Ethiopia.

Dr Mahmoud Ali Gomaa Afifi presented the study from Egypt, which involved interviews with three women and one man involved in creating religious programmes to train imams on how to treat the issues of domestic violence. Dr Afifi’s presentation examined the Muslim experience in Egypt in treating issues of domestic violence, commonalities with the Christian experience, and the possibility of developing multi-religious efforts to combat domestic violence.

The session concluded with a synthesis of the findings and a presentation by the two researchers of a conceptual framework for thinking about different clergy training approaches and the components of an effective inter-faith training approach.

The presentations were followed by brief commentaries by two expert respondents:

Dr Sandra Pertek, Senior Research Fellow, International Development Department, University of Birmingham

Dr Olivia Wilkinson, Chief Technical Adviser, Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities

Watch the full recording below: