Islam and development practice: HIV/AIDS in South Africa

The role of religion in development is often neglected, whether this refers to the faith of intended beneficiaries, provides staff and volunteers with a motivation for involvement in development practice or influences the design and implementation of projects. This paper examines how Islam provides guidance for development practice, with a focus on addressing HIV/AIDS, using a South African case study. The case study highlights important principles on which two Muslim organisations (Islamic Careline and the Muslim AIDS Programme) base their operational methodologies. It shows how Islamic beliefs have influenced their approach to addressing issues related to HIV/AIDS in the South African context, where prevalence rates remain very high, the impact of the epidemic is widely felt and Islam is a minority faith.

The full article is available here:

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09614524.2012.685877