A call for clarification and critical analysis of the work of faith-based development organizations (FBDO)

Abstract

This article compares and contrasts three groups of faith-based development organizations (FBDOs). The fi rst group consists of community-based FBDOs. The second are intermediaries acting as a bridge between larger donors and community organizations. Last, there are missionary organizations that work with local communities but see development primarily as religious conversion. This comparison allows clarifi cation over what constitutes an FBDO and also highlights the variety of ways in which faith intersects with development in the work of different FBDOs. The use of two analytical frames assessing the faith of organizations along a continuum and then measuring the position of FBDOs within an aid chain, emphasizes the need to acknowledge the diversity of factors that both limit and contribute to the success of an FBDO.

Positioning Missionaries in Development Studies, Policy, and Practice

“…Green & Sherman, 2002;Monsma, 2004;Thaut, 2009) -Intuitive (Gerald Clarke, 2006) -faith pervasiveness (J. Berger, 2003) -faith permeation (Sider & Unruh, 2004) -faith-related (Smith & Sosin, 2001) -integrating faith into practice (Goggin & Orth, 2002) -self-professed religiousness (T. H. Jeavons, 1997) -secular-moderate to militant (Benedetti, 2006); -secular to religious (Bradley, 2009 (Boehle, 2010;UNFPA, 2008), and governmental donors such as CIDA (Audet et al, 2014;Paras, 2012; Vander Zaag, 2013) -Sectoral: HIV/AIDS responses in Nigeria (C. Davis, Jegede, Leurs, Sunmola, & Ukiwo, 2011;Leurs, 2012), health care services in Sub-Saharan Africa (Lipsky, 2011), and welfare programs in the US (Monsma, 2004) -Organizational (Aiken, 2010;Olson, 2008) -USA (Ebaugh & Chafetz, 2006;Kniss & Campbell, 1997) -Canada (Audet et al, 2014;Vander Zaag, 2013) -UK (Gerald Clarke, 2006Clarke, , 2008 -India and Rwanda (Bradley, 2009) -Latin America and Caribbean countries (Hefferan, Adkins, & Occhipinti, 2009) -Nigeria (Odumosu, Olaniyi, & Alonge, 2009;…”

“…Jeavons, 2004;Jones & Petersen, 2011;Leurs, 2012;Lewis & Opoku-Mensah, 2006;Lunn, 2009;Paras & Stein, 2012;Paras, 2012;Rakodi, 2011bRakodi, , 2012bTomalin, 2012;Tvedt, 2006) Total Sources How many (Audet et al, 2014;(J. Berger, 2003; sources mention missionary groups or activities? Benedetti, 2006;Bradley, 2009;Gerald Clarke, 2006 Fountain, 2013; James, 2009;Odumosu et al, 2009;Paras, 2012) Table 1. Summary of FBO typologies review *Note: Some sources both introduce a typology and apply it to a specific context.…”

Navigating a world of religious NGOs: Ethnography, abstraction, and views of the horizon

“…Studies followed a number of different, if also frequently overlapping, lines of inquiry. Many followed Berger in seeking to provide a universal framework for categorising “religious NGOs” as such (e.g., Benedetti, ; Boehle, ; Bradley, ; Clarke, ; Clarke, ; Clarke & Ware, ; Hefferan, Adkins, & Occhipinti, ; James, ; Occhipinti, ; Smith, ; Vik, Stensvold, & Moe, ). While these various authors have pursued diverse mapping strategies, each tended to assume that religious NGOs constitute a distinct—albeit heterogeneous—unit of analysis .…”

“Saving” Malawi: Faithful Responses to Orphans and Vulnerable Children

“…Although religion distinguishes FBOs from other NGOs, religion itself is heterogeneous in its manifestations, including how it works to structure organizations, their funding, missions, objectives, and programming (Bradley 2009; Clarke and Jennings 2008; Haynes 2007; Hefferan with Adkins and Occhipinti 2009; Tyndale 2006). Faith is manifest in donor solicitations, staff meetings and hiring, project design, local programming, as an expected outcome, or in some combination of these.…”