Thinking about faith-based organisations in development: where have we got to and what next?

Abstract

This paper takes stock of current thinking about the nature and distinctiveness of faith-based organisations (FBOs) in development. Since the 1990s, public policy-linked scholarship from the USA has sought to define and categorise FBOs. More recently, many donors have increasingly chosen to work with and fund such organisations, giving rise to discussions about how FBOs working in development should be defined and classified, and how their contribution to development should be assessed. While many of the available studies portray FBOs as having comparative advantages over so-called secular organisations, this paper concludes that such a generalisation over-simplifies reality, particularly in the absence of convincing evidence. Further assessments of the characteristics, roles, and activities of all types of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are needed to assist in the choice of development partners and to test claims of distinctiveness and comparative advantage.Réflexion sur les organisations à base religieuse dans le développement : où en sommesnous et quelles sont les étapes suivantes ? Cet article fait le point sur la réflexion actuelle concernant la nature et le caractère distinct des organisations à base religieuse (OBR) dans le développement. Depuis les années 1990, la réflexion théorique en matière de politiques publiques venue des É tats-Unis a cherché à définir et à catégoriser les OBR. Plus récemment, de nombreux bailleurs de fonds ont de plus en plus souvent décidé de travailler avec ces organisations et de les financer, ce qui a donné lieu à des discussions sur la manière dont les OBR qui travaillent dans le secteur du développement devraient être définies et classifiées, et sur la manière dont leur contribution au développement devrait être évaluée. Bien que nombre des études disponibles décri-vent les OBR comme étant dotées d'avantages comparatifs par rapport aux organisations soi-disant laïques, cet article conclut que cette généralisation simplifie excessivement la réalité, en particulier en l'absence de données convaincantes. Des évaluations supplémen-taires des caractéristiques, des rôles et des activités de tous les types d'organisations non gouvernementales (ONG) sont requises pour faciliter le choix de partenaires de développe-ment et pour mettre à l'épreuve les revendications ayant trait au caractère distinct et à l'avantage comparatif.Pensando sobre organizações baseadas na fé no desenvolvimento: até onde chegamos e o que vem a seguir? Este artigo organiza ideias atuais sobre a natureza e distinção de Organizações Baseadas na Fé (OBFs) no desenvolvimento. Desde a década de 1990, bolsa de estudo ligada a políticas públicas dos EUA tem buscado definir e classificar as OBFs. Mais recentemente, vários doadores têm cada vez mais escolhido trabalhar com tais organizações e financiá-las, estimulando o debate sobre como as OBFs trabalhando na área de desenvolvimento devem ser definidas e classificadas e como sua contribuição para o desenvolvimento deve ser avaliada. Embora muitos dos estudos di...

Differential Social Performance of Religiously-Affiliated Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) in Base of Pyramid (BoP) Markets

“…Tomalin (2012, p. 690) refers to the fact that due to ''…an increased interest in the work of FBOs'', and a growing belief in their ability to contribute more to development goals than their secular counterparts, there is ''much more willingness to fund them'', even through government-related funding. While earlier evidence was contrary to this, especially in societies where the separation between church and state was considered inviolable, a turnaround in attitude toward FBOs has been noted (Ferris 2005;Tomalin 2012). This can be of prime importance for MFIs seeking sustainability and effectiveness, since social performance that comes at the expense of financial performance would require greater donor dollars.…”

“…Narayanan (2013) suggests that faith-based organizations can play a significant role in sustainable development, particularly through their potential for social and ecological activism. However, other researchers have questioned these advantages and called for greater empirical evidence to support them (Tomalin 2012;Amirkhanyan et al 2009). Part of the debate surrounds both how to identify an organization as faith-based and whether to attribute performance differences to all organizational attributes rather than those that arise from the FBOs' ''faith'' origins.…”

“…Building on this industry focus on the social performance of MFIs, as well as recent literature in the broader field of development economics suggesting that the ethical orientation of faith-based organizations may help them to more effectively contribute to development goals (Tomalin 2012), the focus of this paper turns to the differential behavior of religiously-affiliated MFIs. One promising avenue for embarking on this exploration is to examine the extent to which MFIs may reflect a social orientation and emphasis on ethics in their stated values and mission; and, hand-in-hand with this line of inquiry, the degree to which MFIs may have a religious affiliation that would sustain a tradition of upholding ethical and social values as primary in the achievement of organizational goals.…”

Canadian faith-based development NGOs and CIDA funding

“…Yet much more qualitative research is needed to characterise and analyse why and how NGO faith perspectives are expressed in specific ways in their development programming, and the impact of these expressions. (2008) and Tomalin (2012) discuss, this term is conceptually imprecise, includes a wide variety of organisational forms, and is analogous to the term civil society organisation (CSO). Since this article focuses on development NGOs that are faith-based, the more precise though unwieldy term "faith-based NGO", and corresponding acronym "fbNGO", will be used.…”

Understanding disasters: managing and accommodating different worldviews in humanitarian response

“…FBO: 'Religion is part of development, but not so much humanitarian response' (respondent A) NGO: 'You might consider religion in long-term crisis or development project, but not acute emergencies… religion is left out of strategy. It could be more of a focus and part of planning and design' (respondent G) It was also unclear whether there was some sort of natural advantage held by either faith-based agencies or secular agencies when it came to working with communities professing religious belief in preparation for or in response to humanitarian events (Tomalin 2012). Clearly respondents from both types of agencies saw themselves as having some advantages:…”