A Call to Act - Health Policy Initiative

way of addressing GBV. Strategic plans are important for ensuring that issues are addressed in a
systematically across large structures or bodies. During the conference, the participants
• Crafted a vision statement;
• Developed and enacted a Strategic Planning process and documented that process;
• Agreed on six focal areas of concern that would guide the planning process;
• Identified three at-risk or vulnerable populations of particular concern: women, orphans, and
people living with HIV;
• Set a template for Strategic Planning that could be used throughout Africa and would be available
for use across the worldwide Anglican Communion; and
• Formulated policies that would guide the worldwide Anglican Communion’s response to the
HIV/AIDS pandemic.
Similarly, the Bahá'í have created guidelines on domestic violence for Bahá'í communities 25 to provide
explicit guidance to their Local Spiritual Assemblies on forms of domestic violence and assist them in
addressing it through
• Establishing the spiritual basis for addressing domestic violence in the context of Bahá'í
beliefs;
• Making available a common set of definitions, consistent with field research, for what
constitutes domestic violence;
• Providing insight into the relationship between gender inequality and domestic violence;
• Clarifying the general role of laws, punishment and education as they relate to dealing
with situations of domestic violence;
• Identifying Bahá'í laws, principles, and exhortations that apply directly to situations of
domestic violence;
• Contrasting and clarifying the roles of individuals and Local Spiritual Assemblies in
relation to domestic violence;
• Identifying the responsibilities of Local Spiritual Assemblies under both civil and Bahá'í
law to protect those who are abused, discipline those who commit abuse, and foster and
support the spiritual transformation and character development of every soul; and
• Providing a basis for educating the Bahá'í community about domestic violence.
Religious bodies also can respond to GBV and HIV by increasing political and financial support to
women’s religious networks or organizations, or institutionalizing them. Women’s organizations often
prioritize working on issues such as gender-based violence and are well equipped to create programs
through their existing mechanisms. By increasing support of women’s networks, religious bodies and
institutions can demonstrate their commitment to helping to reduce GBV. In addition, religious bodies
can make a concerted effort to include more women, such as representatives from affiliated networks or
organizations, thus increasing their responsibilities and including them in decisionmaking that affects
institutions.
25 National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States. 2003. Guidelines for Spiritual Assemblies on Domestic
Violence: A Supplement to Developing Distinctive Bahá'í Communities. Retrieved July 15, 2008, from
http://www.bahai.us/domestic-violence.
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