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Ten years ago, in March 2013, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected Pope, taking the papal name Francis. Pope Francis has had a profound impact—some would argue a transformational impact, on the Catholic Church and on the world. To celebrate ten years of his papacy, the idea came about to put together a special issue of The Review of Faith & International Affairs on one aspect of his magisterium: his vision for education and integral human development, including the idea of a Global Compact on Education. The essays gathered in this special issue consider Pope Francis' vision and how it may be relevant for schools and universities (Catholic or not) as well as for businesses and our understanding of the economy and integral human development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Particularly in low- and lower middle-income countries, petty corruption remains prevalent in service delivery, whether in schools, health centers, administrative services, or other institutions. In reference to Pope Francis' call to say no to corruption in his recent trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo, this article measures the extent of corruption in schools in Africa using data collected by the Afrobarometer. More than one in four respondents have encountered problems to obtain the education services they need for their children and nearly one in five have had to pay bribes or do other favors for education providers. This proportion does not appear to have declined significantly over the past decade. Regression analysis suggests that different household characteristics are associated with the likelihood of having difficulty obtaining the services they need and the likelihood of being a victim of corruption. Interestingly for this special issue, while faith affiliation does not seem to affect the likelihood of providing favors to obtain services, religiosity does appear to matter—and therefore so may faith leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pope Francis has made the protection of our common home a central theme of his Papacy. This may be nowhere more important than in Africa, a continent that is already today highly vulnerable to climate shocks due in part to high levels of water stress in many countries, food insecurity, and forced displacement, among others. In this paper, we use household surveys from West African countries to explore the impact of covariate shocks (most of which are weather-related) and international migration as a potential response to shocks on educational outcomes for children of primary school age. The results suggest that shocks affect educational outcomes substantially, but that international migration may generate benefits for children of migrants. The paper also briefly discusses policy prescriptions on how to tackle climate change, arguing that education to sustainable development should be a priority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pope Francis' vision for a global compact on education, including the role that Catholic universities should play, is in sharp contrast to the vision that dominates the higher education sector: that of producing graduates for gainful employment. Can Catholic colleges and universities rise to the challenge? This article provides a partial answer to that question by first considering four trends affecting higher education globally: (i) the impact of Covid; (ii) the technologization of higher education; (iii) the promise of employability; and (iv) the great unbundling towards micro-credentials. Thereafter, using data for the United States, the article provides a brief assessment of whether Catholic universities may be losing ground, while nevertheless keeping some sources of comparative advantage. The analysis remains explorative and tentative. What seems clear is that there is a lot of heterogeneity between institutions, with some struggling and others finding ways to maintain their comparative advantages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Service-learning can be a powerful tool to implement the commitments suggested by Pope Francis under the idea of a Global Compact on Education. The practice is considered high-impact for students. It can also help Catholic higher education institutions support their students' search for meaning while strengthening their own Catholic identity in a way that respects the diversity of views about faith in the student body. Service-learning may also contribute to a culture of encounter, bringing more tolerance and compassion into the world. Do Catholic universities provide adequate service-learning opportunities to their students? Based on a recent survey, this article provides a diagnostic of the level of institutionalization of service-learning and community engagement activities in Catholic universities globally. While most Catholic universities do have a range of service-learning initiatives, these activities are fully integrated in only one-fourth of the universities that responded to the survey. There is however a lot of interest in doing better, and clear pathways for that purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In September 2019, Pope Francis called for a broad alliance to renew our commitment to education to build a more fraternal humanity. To understand the Pope's call for a Global Compact on Education, it is useful to explore his vision for education. For Pope Francis, education can no longer be reduced to what happens in the classroom. We need educational strategies that give a chance to the transformation and above all to the humanization of the world. We need an "education village" in which parents, communities, and societies are fully engaged. The call for a Global Compact on Education can be understood as a new paradigm for thinking about education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is not a lot of support in the international community today for the role played by the private sector, including faith-based schools, towards achieving the fourth sustainable development goal (SDG), which calls for ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education. Yet, education pluralism is called for in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In a separate paper published in this journal, a measure of education pluralism was suggested to reflect this idea. In this paper, that measure is combined with data on educational outcomes to assess whether taking pluralism seriously may affect assessments of the fulfillment of the right to education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In education systems that support pluralism, students or parents can choose the type of school or university they attend. Given heterogeneity in priorities for what should be taught, education pluralism has a value in itself. It may also boost schooling and learning. The fact that there is heterogeneity is clear, otherwise we would not have different types of schools. What is less clear is the extent to which education systems are pluralistic. Rather than looking at inputs for pluralism such as laws and regulations, this article introduces a measure of education pluralism based on outputs, i.e. enrollment in different types of schools and universities. The normalized education pluralism index is inspired by the literature on market concentration. Estimates are provided based on data for public, private non-Catholic, and Catholic institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low income countries in sub-Saharan Africa are confronted with a major challenge in terms of expanding access to secondary education. This is also the case in Uganda. This article considers two questions. First, where should new secondary schools be built if the aim is to reduce geographic disparities in access? Second, have new schools, and in particular faith-based schools, been built in the areas that need schools the most? The analysis considers Catholic as well as public and other private schools. Results suggest that new schools are often not located in the areas that need them the most. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Faith-based schools play an important role today in the provision of education globally. Are the schools likely to continue to play such a role in the future? If so, where is that role likely to be most prominent? This paper considers these questions on the basis of long-term demographic, religious, and school enrollment trends. The trends suggest that enrollment in faith-based schools will continue to grow rapidly, as has been the case over the last few decades. But there will also be a fundamental shift, with a rising concentration of students in faith-based schools located in Africa. This may have implications given the learning crisis affecting the continent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the fact that faith-based schools serve tens of millions of students (the estimate for the Catholic Church is at 62 million students enrolled in K12 schools globally in 2016), the role of faith-based schools remains largely ignored in policy discussions. The articles and essays in this symposium aim to inform current debates on the role of faith-based schools, and particularly Catholic schools. The focus on Catholic schools is driven by the fact that they are the largest network of faith-based schools globally. It is clear however that many issues faced by Catholic schools are also faced by other faith-based schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides estimates of the contribution of faith-based schools to human capital wealth using recent World Bank data. Wealth is the assets base that enables nations to generate future income. Estimates suggest that human capital wealth accounts for two thirds of global wealth, a much larger proportion than natural capital and produced capital. This paper's analysis relies on an assessment of the share of human capital wealth attributed to educational attainment, and the share of contribution of Catholic schools to educational attainment. The analysis suggests that Catholic schools contribute at least US$ 12 trillion to the changing wealth of nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to Church statistics, the Catholic Church has 35 million children enrolled in its primary schools globally, and 20 million children enrolled in its secondary schools. At both levels, enrollment has increased over time globally. While there are debates on whether Catholic schools perform better than public schools, they clearly generate savings for state budgets in many countries since parents choosing these schools often pay for most of the cost of their children's education. This paper estimates budget savings for states from Catholic schools in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and selected partner countries. In the 38 countries for which estimates are computed, total annual savings are valued at US$ 63 billion in purchasing power parity terms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The understanding of the relationship between human rights and extreme poverty at the United Nations owes much to Joseph Wresinski, the founder of the International Movement ATD Fourth World. While Wresinski was a Catholic priest, he deliberately created an inter-denominational organization and developed a unique spirituality rooted in a shared life experience with the extreme poor. He considered that spirituality, broadly understood, should be at the heart of the fight against extreme poverty and social exclusion. He hoped that his message could be heard by men and women from all faiths who are concerned about the plight of the extreme poor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers the authors' insight related to the commitment of religious groups and leaders such as faith-based organizations (FBOs) to environmental issues and global warming. Topics include roles of religious leaders on climate and environmental concerns, several FBOs that advocates on climate change such as the Christian Aid in the United Kingdom, and the impact of religiosity and religious affiliation on attitudes towards global warming and environment.

The article discusses the study regarding the effect of religious diversity on social cooperation between Christians and Muslims in Ghana. Topics discussed include the adoption of sustainable development goals (SDGs) by the international community, the different measures of altruism and trustworthiness among members of different religious affiliations, and the impact of priming on altruism, trustworthiness, and trust.

The article discusses the role and importance of legal nature of Islamic law shari'a in guiding legislation in Muslim societies to prohibit Female Genital Cutting (FGC) and end of child marriage. Topics discussed include new family code adopted by National Assembly of Mali to set the age of marriage and protection of the integrity of the human body, women's right in Islamic law, Qur'an as a source of Islamic law, FGC practiced across Africa, and risk of medical side effects due to FCG.

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various articles within the issue on topics including extent of child marriage, impact on education and health due to child marriage, and actions to engage Islamic Opinion Leaders (ISOLs) to eliminate child marriage.

The article analyzes the global and regional trends in child marriage incidence, child marriage gap and squared child marriage gap for the past few decades. Topics discussed include legal prohibition of child marriage in various countries like India and Nigeria; the use of data about age at first marriage in the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) to estimate the trends; and the high risk of maternal mortality for girls who give birth at an early age.

The article presents a case study of child marriage in Burkina Faso and discusses its high prevalence in Africa and the role of faith in the persistence of the practice. Topics discussed include higher child marriage among Muslim, Animist/traditional belief populations; fear of pregnancy before marriage, gender roles and social expectations as the cause of prevalence of the practice; and heterogeneity of attitudes towards child marriage.

The article discusses the economic impacts of child marriage. Topics discussed include highest child marriage rates in poorest countries; the impact of child marriage on decision-making, educational attainment, and labor force participation; and lack the ability in married girls to negotiate sexual activity, contraceptive use, or birth spacing with their husbands.

The article explores the impact of religious affiliation on reproductive health and sexual behaviors as in the case of Ghana. It notes that faith affiliation does not tend to affect reproductive health and sexual behavior. It mentions the limited available evidence to consider whether religion can affect health behaviors. It also suggests the need to conduct impact assessments and case study work to better understand how interventions through religious leaders and communities affect behaviors.

The article discusses the assessment of the role of faith-inspired primary and secondary schools in Africa using evidence from multi-purpose household surveys. It suggests a market share for FISs for primary education of about 14 percent on average in the countries where information has been collected for the study. It also reveals that FISs serve the poor slightly less than public schools.

An introduction to the article is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including the cost for households of faith-inspired schools (FISs) in Africa, the Islamic private schools in Mali and the gap in educational attainment between Christians and Muslims.

The article explores a historical case on the faith-inspired education in Ghana as faith-inspired schools (FISs) have distinguished tradition in sub-Saharan Africa. It presents the history of mission schools divided into pre- and post-independence periods, the origin of Islamic education in Ghana and the role of missionary education in the colonial oppression and suppression of African culture. The significant advocacy voice of Christian and Islamic bodies in educational policy is outlined.

The article presents a qualitative evidence in Burkina Faso and Ghana on what drives the choice of faith-inspired schools (FISs) by households. It explores the parental motivations to send children to Christian, Islamic, and public schools, and at the extent to which parents are satisfied with the schools. It reveals that faith and values matter a lot for the choice of a school for parents who chose to send their children to FISs.

The article presents a case study of comparative assessment of the public, private and faith-inspired schools (FISs) in Ghana. It explores the differences between various types of schools in terms of whether they reach primarily urban or rural households as well as households from different levels of well-being. It reveals that FISs have a large market share, able to manage to keep their fees low and provide higher-quality services than public schools.

The article discusses the estimated percentage of market share of faith-inspired institutions (FIIs) in providing health care in sub-Saharan Africa. It explores the estimates on market share from data and listings of FII health facilities in providing support to HIV/AIDS patients through programs, activities, and community services. It reveals that FIIs in Africa has a 30 to 40 percent market share in health care provision.

An introduction to the special Spring 2014 issue of "The Review of Faith & International Affairs" is presented.

The article discusses the impact of global budgetary constraints to the international funding provided for faith-based HIV/AIDS organizations in Africa. It explores the specific funding patterns and resourcing of nonprofit organizations engaged in supporting HIV/AIDS victims. It describes the dramatic differences between faith-based organizations that benefit from international donors and other fundings.

The article discusses the role of faith-based institutions in delivering affordable quality care at its health facilities in Burkina Faso. It explores the health facilities' engagement in improving medical care through training of the health workforce, involvement in health promotion campaigns, and in community-based activities. It reveals that faith-based providers in Burkina Faso have facilitated access to care and have provided preventive and curative care to the marginalized communities.

The article discusses the role of faith-inspired institutions(FIIs) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in providing health services and response efforts for HIV/AIDS patients in Ghana. It explores the health programs and activities of Christian health institutions and Christian churches in Ghana. It details the health services provided by FIIs in the aspects of market share participation, differences in the services provided, and the patient satisfaction of the services received.