Understanding faith-based organizations: How FBOs are contrasted with NGOs in international development literature

Clarke, Matthew; Ware, Vicki-Anne

doi:10.1177/1464993414546979

Cited by 63 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Although there has been an increased interest in religious, or so-called faithbased organizations (FBOs) over the past decades (Berger 2003;Clarke 2008;Clarke and Ware 2015), the role of religion for organizational legitimacy has received relatively scant attention. Notable exceptions exist: these include the work of Juul Petersen, who examines how transnational Muslim NGOs give meaning to what they do and construct legitimate 'ideologies of aid ' (Juul Petersen 2016, p. 8), and the work of Thaut, Gross Stein and Barnett, who examine the legitimacy dilemmas faced by Islamic Relief, a major Muslim NGO based in the UK (Thaut et al 2012).…”

Section: Islamic Charity Aid and Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

NGOization of Islamic Charity: Claiming Legitimacy in Changing Institutional Contexts

Borchgrevink

2017

Voluntas

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Islamic welfare organizations are currently going through processes of 'NGOization'. Drawing on qualitative data from Pakistan, Norway and the UK (2012)(2013)(2014)(2015), this article examines how two Islamic welfare organizations which are embedded in Islamic political movements, become 'Muslim NGOs'. The NGOization of Islamic charity signifies not only a change in organizational structure and legal status, but also more profound changes in organizational discourse and practice, and in the ways the organizations make claims to legitimacy. To claim legitimacy as providers of aid in changing institutional environments, the organizations draw on both religious and professional sources of authority. By analysing the NGOization of Islamic charity, the paper brings out the importance of normative frameworks in shaping organizational legitimacy and sheds light on the continued significance of both moral and transcendental aspects of the discourses, practices and identities of Muslim NGOs.Résumé Les organisations de protection sociale islamiques sont actuellement soumises à des processus de transformation dans le but d'en faire des ONG. Inspiré de données qualitatives du Pakistan, de la Norvège et du Royaume-Uni (2012-2015, le présent article étudie la façon dont deux organisations de protection sociale islamiques intégrées à des mouvements politiques deviennent des « ONG musulmanes » . La transformation du contexte de bienfaisance islamique signifie non seulement la modification de la structure et de l'état juridique des organisations, mais aussi des changements beaucoup plus profonds des discours et pratiques organisationnels, ainsi que des façons dont les organisations affirment leur légiti-mité. Pour affirmer leur légitimité en tant que prestataires d'aide dans des

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Section: Islamic Charity Aid and Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

NGOization of Islamic Charity: Claiming Legitimacy in Changing Institutional Contexts

Borchgrevink

2017

Voluntas

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“…Others reply that these characteristics do not apply to FBOs because they have a different makeup than NGOs (Clarke & Ware, 2015). Without the ability to find a shared frame of reference between religion and development and between religious and secular organizations, we are stuck with a question that engenders debate but it ultimately circular.…”

Section: Why Fbo Typologies Struggle To Locate Missionariesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Positioning Missionaries in Development Studies, Policy, and Practice

Smith

2017

World Development

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This article diagnoses major causes of the uncomfortable relationship between missionaries and development scholars and practitioners, and it proposes new ways to clarify the relationship through shared reflection on sacred influences that shape global development. In the past fifteen years the turn to religion in development studies has altered how development scholars and practitioners perceive religious actors, opening up possibilities for renewed partnership. Yet the turn to religion in development has mostly disregarded missionaries. This oversight is partly due to the complicated historical relationship between Western Christian missionaries and development workers. Although missionaries have long participated in the work of development, present-day missionaries remain associated with coercive proselytization, or they are overlooked in literature on religion and development. In order to understand the challenges of positioning missionaries in development, I review 48 sources which create, apply or critique typologies of faith-based organizations (FBOs). FBO typologies of the past fifteen years have broken new ground in exploring the links between beliefs and practices of religious actors doing development work. Yet these typologies struggle to position missionaries due to 1) simplistic categorization of FBOs, 2) unhelpful scales of religiosity, and 3) a basis in outdated assumptions of separate spheres of religious and secular actors, and separate worlds of religion and development. Based on shared critiques of FBO typologies, I propose a new framework for positioning missionaries. The framework provides a shared space to explore how all development actors, both religious and secular, are shaped by the interaction between sacred and material influences. The framework offers a way to move beyond circular arguments about comparative advantage of religious or secular approaches toward an appreciation of the complementarity of 2 different approaches to development. The article concludes with a shared critique of missionaries and development workers who impose their beliefs and values on others.

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“…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 .…”

Section: Mapping Religious Ngosmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Fountain

Feener

2017

Geography Compass

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Since the turn of the twenty‐first century, there has been a prodigious production of typological studies seeking to “map” religious NGOs. In this paper, our intention is not to construct yet another new map of religious NGOs, or even to map these earlier mappings. Rather we would like to open up here some new conversations about the ways in which we might better understand, appreciate, and build upon work that has been done to date on NGOs at the intersection of religion and development. In doing this, we explore some alternative technologies for the navigation of this brave new world.

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Understanding faith-based organizations: How FBOs are contrasted with NGOs in international development literature

Cited by 63 publications

References 31 publications

NGOization of Islamic Charity: Claiming Legitimacy in Changing Institutional Contexts

NGOization of Islamic Charity: Claiming Legitimacy in Changing Institutional Contexts

Positioning Missionaries in Development Studies, Policy, and Practice

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

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