Over the past 15 years, the Imago Dei Fund has partnered with local and global organizations — faith-based, faith-inspired, and secular — to explore how engaging faith leaders and communities can shift harmful social norms and advance gender equality. Drawing on case studies from diverse regions, this report highlights how interventions addressing protection, access to services, and economic participation can open pathways for male allies and religious leaders to promote women’s agency. Evidence shows that when faith commitments are rightly understood as valuing all persons equally, faith-centered approaches can lead to durable changes in communities.
Featured in this report, World Vision’s Channels of Hope for Gender exemplifies this approach. By training faith leaders and volunteer Community Hope Action Teams (CHATs), Channels of Hope equips communities to prevent gender-based violence, support survivors, and advocate for women and girls. Household surveys in the Solomon Islands and other contexts show significant shifts in attitudes, with men and women increasingly supporting equal participation in household and community decisions. Through Scripture-rooted reflection and locally embedded action, Channels of Hope fosters heart-level transformation, signaling to communities not just new behaviors but a new collective identity: one where women and men flourish together in dignity, respect, and equality.
