In 1985
UNICEF's office in Cairo with the help of Al Azhar Islamic University and the
Islamic University of Al Imam Ibn So’ud published a book called “Child Care in
Islam”.
The book contained many health messages largely referenced ti
the Islamic tradition so as to allow Muslims leaders to convey these messages to
predominantly Muslim audiences.
The book was highly praised and accepted by religious leaders
not only in Egypt but also in other Muslim countries.
A new book 'Facts For Life for Religious Leaders' was published
in the Philippines, again through the support of UNICEF, and was considered an
innovative idea for disseminating 'facts for life' messages in many Muslim
countries, including Bangladesh.
In Bangladesh there are 250,000 mosques and every Friday people
go to the nearest mosque to attend Friday prayer. Half an hour prior to the
beginning of the prayer they sit and listen to the Imam’s speech.
As the majority in Bangladesh are Muslims, one can expect that
at least 25 million people attend Friday prayers.
Therefore, with training, Imams can spread health
messages to millions of people in a very cost-effective manner.
In the rural villages of Bangladesh Imams are highly respected.
In many cases people seek health and social advice from the Imam.
IR’s past experience has shown many cases where people have
sought advice and have asked their religious leaders about child immunization,
tetanus vaccination, types of food for children and the pregnant mothers etc.
Project Objectives
This training is
intended to build the capacity of religious leaders in giving advice so that
they are able and capable of giving the correct advice to communities in a way
which would otherwise be difficult and considered too sensitive for Muslim
communities.
Although the Imams receive some training on various topics
organised by Islamic Foundation (a government agency) the health messages that
are disseminated are generalised and are not specifically targeted at the
community’s problems.
Therefore, the aim is that the Imam will develop an awareness
of the communication process, becoming able through the training to target
messages appropriately and to use Facts For Life as a resource to support the
knowledge they already have.
The messages are aimed largely at the men in the community who
are encouraged to discuss the matters with their wives and use the Islamic code
of living to support the health messages.
Project Activities
- Religious
leaders are imparted with Facts for Life allowing them to identify community health
problems.
- Build capacity of Imams to impart and communicate health
message through their Khutba (Sermon) in simple, easy to understand language,
using examples that community can relate to.
- Support the Facts for Life
objectives with references to the Islamic tradition, making the messages more
convenient for the Imams and more acceptable to the communities.
There are about 832 mosques in 17 union of Mithapukur and 876 Imams
attached to those mosques. Among the mosques, 753 are Jam'i mosques and 79 are
general mosque. As a total, 42 Imams have received training from Islamic
Foundation on different issues like Imam training, socio-economic development and
livestock.
As part of a pilot scheme in early 1999 these were selected for
this project. Their activities were monitored and evaluated and on the basis of
this the project has been expanded to target more Imams.