Afghanistan: Finding ways to keep supporting
More than 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, international aid is cut, millions are returned from neighbouring countries, and climate shocks are becoming more severe. For Norwegian…
Faith Leaders Driving Change for Women and Girls
What if one of the most powerful tools for advancing gender equality was already embedded within communities themselves?
Across the world, women and girls continue to face violence, discrimination, child marriage, female genital mutilation, and other harmful practices. Today, more than one in three women globally have experienced physical or sexual violence, most often at the hands of an intimate partner.
At the same time, progress towards gender equality is facing growing resistance, with the United Nations warning that full gender equality remains generations away.
Against this backdrop, Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) has developed an innovative response: Faith Actors Motivating Women's Empowerment (FAME), a toolkit that equips faith actors to challenge harmful norms, support survivors of violence, and champion the rights, dignity, and safety of women and girls.
FAME in Action: Changing Lives and Communities
The impact of FAME is already being seen across countries where faith leaders are putting the toolkit into practice.
In South Sudan, youth leader Data Isaac described how the training transformed his understanding of gender-based violence:
"I came in thinking I already understood violence against women and girls, but seeing how the Bible and the Quran speak against violence and injustice opened my eyes. It made me realise that preventing this is not just a social responsibility, it's a spiritual one."
His commitment comes at a critical time. South Sudan continues to face one of the world's most severe gender-based violence crises. According to UNFPA, an estimated 2.7 million people are at heightened risk of GBV, while nearly two-thirds of women and girls experience physical or sexual violence during their lifetime. More than half of women aged 20 to 24 were married as children.
In Malawi, faith leaders are using FAME to prevent child marriage and support girls' education. In Machinga District, where 41% of girls become pregnant before the age of 18, Christian and Muslim leaders are using scripture to challenge harmful practices and advocate for children's rights.
One of them, Sheikha Lonney Killa, has already seen results:
“I feel greatly empowered since I trained in FAME. Together with the police and local authorities, we have been able to help girls leave early marriages and return to school.”
Sheikh Ismail Mkwanda, chairperson of the Muslim Association of Malawi in Machinga District, is challenging interpretations of religious texts that have been used to justify gender-based violence and child marriage:
“Islam aims to uproot societal problems by training its followers to change their ways. As such we will collaborate not only with our Christian counterparts, but we will bring in more Islamic sheikhs and sheikhas in this district to use the tool to better protect vulnerable women and girls from early pregnancies, child marriages and violence.”
FAME moves beyond awareness raising. By equipping trusted faith leaders with practical tools and a rights-based understanding of their faith traditions, the methodology is helping transform attitudes, influence community norms, and create safer futures for women and girls.
What Is FAME?
FAME is a practical, step-by-step methodology designed to support faith actors in preventing and responding to gender-based violence while promoting women's empowerment and rights.
What makes FAME unique is its focus on one of the biggest drivers of inequality: social norms.
Laws can change. Policies can be introduced. Services can be expanded. But unless underlying beliefs and attitudes change, meaningful transformation remains difficult.
In many of the countries where NCA works, faith leaders are among the most trusted and influential voices in society. Their words shape conversations about family life, relationships, leadership, and social responsibility. FAME helps them use that influence as a force for positive change.
As a faith-based organisation, NCA understands that faith can sometimes be used to justify harmful practices. FAME helps faith actors critically reflect on these realities and become active partners in transforming attitudes and behaviours that contribute to violence and discrimination.
Grounded in both faith-based and rights-based approaches, FAME helps faith leaders facilitate conversations around sensitive but critical issues such as domestic violence, child marriage, harmful social norms, and sexual and reproductive health and rights. A faith-based approach draws on religious values and teachings that promote dignity, compassion, and justice, while a rights-based approach is rooted in the principle that all people are entitled to fundamental human rights and equal protection under the law.
Rather than viewing faith and gender equality as separate conversations, FAME creates a bridge between faith values and human rights principles, enabling faith actors to promote dignity, equality, and justice within their communities.
Building a Global Movement for Change
The growing momentum behind FAME was evident during a regional training held in Nairobi in August 2026, where NCA brought together 18 faith actors and two faith-based partners from Myanmar, Pakistan, Lebanon, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Somalia, Tanzania, Malawi, and Zimbabwe.
Participants reflected on both the practical and transformative potential of the methodology.
Fr. Biong Kwol, Deputy Secretary General of the Sudan and South Sudan Catholic Bishops' Conference, spoke about how FAME provides faith actors with practical tools not only for discussing the harmful effects of violence against women and girls, but also for advocating for stronger legislation and protection mechanisms.
Rev. Tut from South Sudan described gender-based violence as a “man-made disaster:”
“If humans created it, humans can change it.”
Nadia from Pakistan shared how FAME has inspired her to strengthen grassroots women's capacity to engage authorities and advocate for more inclusive disaster-risk and climate-related planning.
Making FAME Famous
At a time when progress on gender equality faces growing challenges, FAME offers a hopeful and practical path forward by bringing together faith, human rights, community trust, and local leadership.
Faith leaders are helping girls return to school. They are challenging harmful social norms. They are advocating for stronger protections for women and girls. And they are helping communities recognise that dignity, equality, and justice are not only human rights principles, but values deeply rooted in their faith traditions.
FAME is already in use in Tanzania, Malawi, South Sudan, and Myanmar.
The challenge is now to help ensure FAME reaches even more communities. More women and girls.
Read more about our work
From a Small Vegetable Bed to a Bigger Dream
Drip irrigation, training, and technology transformed Christian Cypialia Mulokozi from a subsistence farmer into a lead farmer inspiring others.
Norwegian Church Aid Responds to Early Impacts of El Niño
El Niño brings drought, floods, and food shortages to large parts of the world. In many countries, the weather phenomenon comes on top of existing crises. Norwegian Church Aid is now acting early s to help…