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This chapter reflects on the themes and cases analysed in the book. The chapter asks ‘what gender do we do when we ignore religion’. It offers critique of the biased understandings of religion in international politics and development – as either irrelevant and bad or positive and good. Instead, it argues that social justice and gender justice should form moral horizons for collaboration across religions and secular worldviews.

Azza Karam discusses the interconnections between genocide prevention, religion, and development. Karam points out that religious actors and faith-based organisations have been essential in many areas of global concern, including sustainable development and conflict resolution. They have a complex relationship with governments and multilaterals, who increasingly recognise that religious forces cannot be ignored. She maintains that to serve as agents of genocide prevention, governments, multilateral entities and diverse religious actors require more informed and nuanced understanding of multiple intersections: the challenges of instrumentalization of religious discourse; the ambiguities inherent within religious actors to both fan and prevent hate speech, outright war; the dynamics of political governance and accountability; and the need to link credibility in delivering development and humanitarian relief to genocide prevention.

The United Nations Population Fund pioneered peer-to-peer strategic Learning Exchanges in 2010, designed and facilitated by the author. Thus effectively creating the only space in the United Nations where policy and programme officers convened, on an equal footing, with faith-based actors, to assess multi religious dynamics as they interacted with issues of development, peace and security, and human rights. This inter-religious diapraxis, effectively, was catalytic to the normalization of 'engagement' between secular development officials and diplomats, and their religious counterparts in many religiously inspired organizations. The Strategic Learning Exchanges were also conducive to the formation of several programmatic alliances, or partnerships between the UN, governments and Faith-Based NGOs (FBOs). This article reflects on some of the developments and outcomes of this form of diapraxis, while also warning that increasing partnerships not withstanding, such alliances are not always conducive to the realization of human rights.

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Religious entities play significant roles in the current forced migration crisis. These roles include innovative and experience based ideas to address flawed aspects of the humanitarian system, overall advocacy on behalf of refugees and migrants based on humanitarian and spiritual principles, direct action in refugee camps and communities, action in communities that refugees and migrants flee, and support for refugee integration in host countries, including explicit efforts to promote social cohesion and address trauma. Further, assumptions about religion and the religious identity of refugees and migrants play an influential role in societal and policy debates surrounding the crisis, particularly in relation to security and violent extremism. Broadly, however, religious factors and contributions are poorly understood and insufficiently taken into account by policy makers and in think tank analyses of these (among other) issues. In each area of measures to increase religious engagement, including understanding, harmonization and coordination of efforts, and support, could increase impact. G20 agendas and gatherings, as well as those of think tanks, can benefit from purposeful attention to these often neglected dimensions of a central global challenge.