Changes

- They have a deep insight into what matters to their communities their understanding of what people believe and their values means religious leaders can be especially influential in motivating attitudinal change;

- Changes grounded in belief systems and a sense of spiritual satisfaction (rather than material or practical incentives alone) are more likely to be sustainable in the longer term.

- By using their own structures: regular meetings (services, youth groups, women’s groups, clubs etc)/schools/training centres. These things are already bringing people together in the community and opening them to learning new ideas. There are little or no cost implications in using these for disseminating ideas and information.

- Within poorer communities it can be that the religious leaders and organisation often have training in and access to particular resources like communication technology, that is not otherwise available in the community or even schools. This can be invaluable in linking to external NGO or funding organisations.

- Using their ‘people power’, motivated by a sense of spiritual obligation or fulfilment, faith groups can bring about real, pragmatic changes and sustain action and projects using surprisingly little resources.