Covid-19: Guide for Governments - Working with Religious Leaders to Support Public-Health Measures

"Where confidence in and reach of government is fragile, trusted interlocutors are vital to the success of public-health responses."

In dealing with COVID-19, governments are tasking with finding culturally appropriate and sustainable ways to implement measures recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) and other medical and scientific agencies in order to prevent and contain the pandemic, such as social distancing. These challenges are particularly acute in economically poorer countries, where some of the more restrictive measures may lead not just to loss of income and livelihood but to starvation and destitution. Thus, to implement these policies, governments need trust and reach into local communities. It is here where faith-based organisations (FBOs) and religious actors have a role to play, according to the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI).

As TBI explains in this guide, religious leaders and FBOs, including women's and youth faith groups and leaders, are among the most trusted influencers of individual and community attitudes and behaviours. They have the potential to support public health efforts to counter COVID-19, particularly in those communities that are underserved by health agencies. This is evidenced in interventions TBI implemented in tackling Ebola in Liberia (2014) and Malaria in Sierra Leone (2010).

In this context, the guide outlines ways in which religious leaders can support behavioural change and public health messaging and provide facilities and community services. For instance, they can disseminate scripturally contextualised communications in support of public health efforts, de-stigmatise contraction of the disease, and reduce social pressure to engage in socio-religious practices that undermine suppression efforts (e.g., to not attend services). It provides various examples: of government-FBO coordination mechanisms, of religious leaders supporting behaviour change, of religious leaders supporting social-distancing requirements, of religious communities pivoting welfare provision to meet specific public-health needs, and of facilities FBOs might be able to provide.

However, while many FBOs and religious actors are supportive of, and are implementing, government measures to contain the spread of COVID-19, some continue to carry out or advocate for pre-crisis religious practices or make claims of immunity, all of which increase the risks of contagion. Others may simply not trust the government or may not wish to be associated with government programmes.

TBI's guide recommends that governments build trust to effectively engage religious leaders through 6 approaches:

1. Sensitising government, health, and security actors to implement government policy in a way that reflects an understanding of, and sensitivity to, religious practices and teaching in respect of all religious and minority groups.
2. Collaborating for mutual benefit with religious leaders able to represent the interests of all religious and minority groups by integrating them into crisis management structures and planning processes from national to local/community levels.
3. Amplifying health messages that are appropriate to local religious teaching and practices, drawing on the expertise and reach of religious leaders.
4. Equipping FBOs and religious leaders with the health knowledge to educate their congregations on the reasons behind government policy, with a focus on social distancing and, when available, the importance of accessing treatment and/or vaccines (when available).
5. Countering misinformation and conspiracy theories about the pandemic, particularly those that are religiously motivated, by working closely with religious leaders.
6. Empowering FBOs and religious leaders to be autonomous but constructive in supporting government policy to suppress the spread of COVID-19. Governments should avoid criminalising dissident religious leaders, TBI stresses; instead, governments should seek to integrate them into the national effort.

The guide concludes with links to additional reading.