Abstract
Religious organizations have an important role in development aid. For a long time, this role was not acknowledged by the main players in the development arena, but this has changed over the last few decades. Yet, this role is not without tensions, as in particular western donors hold secular perspectives on development and find it hard to deal with organizations that want to provide help as well as spread their religion. In this study, I review the literature on faith-based organizations (FBOs) and present a case-study of how churches in rural areas of Indonesia’s Papua province fulfill key roles in local development. To come to a fruitful cooperation between large development organizations and such indigenous churches, an important condition is that the role of religion in daily life of these Papuans needs to be acknowledged.
Highlights
In 1998, the World Bank’s president James Wolfensohn started the World Faiths Development Dialogue (WFDD) as an independent think-tank and established a ‘Directorate on Faith’ within the World Bank. Both initiatives targeted to facilitate the cooperation between development donors such as the World Bank and faith-based organizations (FBOs)
I will first review the role of faith-based organizations in local development and present a case study of how churches help in developing local communities the Papua province in Indonesia
Many FBOs who were active in developing countries liked the increased attention as it often gave them more means to run their programs. Another factor was the Jubilee-campaign in 2000, which advocated a shift toward more attention for the role of FBOs in development aid
Summary
In 1998, the World Bank’s president James Wolfensohn started the World Faiths Development Dialogue (WFDD) as an independent think-tank and established a ‘Directorate on Faith’ within the World Bank. Both initiatives targeted to facilitate the cooperation between development donors such as the World Bank and faith-based organizations (FBOs). Soon, these initiatives received broad criticism, as many were afraid this would blur the boundaries between church and state [1]. I will first review the role of faith-based organizations in local development and present a case study of how churches help in developing local communities the Papua province in Indonesia
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