Faith-based Non-governmental Organizations Research Articles

Revitalizing community empowerment: harnessing the synergy of faith-based NGOs and Laverack’s domain approach

Abstract This research investigated the community empowerment initiatives of Islamic Relief (IR) Bangladesh, a faith-based non-governmental organization (NGO), using Laverack’s domain approach. The study employed a quantitative approach, where data were collected from the beneficiaries of the Action for Peoples Rights and Livelihoods (APRIL) project of IRB in the Kalikagaon village in Thakurgaon District, Bangladesh. Findings revealed that IR Bangladesh primarily empowered women and shared similarities with conventional NGOs in the country. However, unique aspects included non-interest-based loans, revolving funds, and community-led group operations. The organization’s services were inclusive, irrespective of religious affiliation. The study confirmed that IR’s activities contribute to community empowerment across Laverack’s nine domains. Policy implications include establishing an Apex Body (Apex Body refers to the highest decision-making and coordinating authority within the community, often responsible for overseeing and managing the overall implementation of various development initiatives.) at project inception, forming a national alliance with IR, providing ongoing training for collective responsibility, and emphasizing publications and research to counter misconceptions. The study findings hold relevance beyond rural Bangladesh, offering insights for development interventions in similar socio-cultural contexts, and contributing to the achievement of sustainable development goals in various developing countries.

Challenges of Faith-Based NGO Intervention in Community Development: a Case Study in Bangladesh

The intervention of faith-based non-governmental organizations in the development area is no more an ignored topic due to their comprehensive coverage in humanitarian assistance, rise of global identity politics, and the changing ideological view of development donors and policymakers. However, such engagements are prone to criticisms. This paper aims to report the qualitative findings highlighting the strengths and challenges of faith-based non-governmental organizations in community development, based on a broader convergent parallel mixed-method study of the first author’s PhD work. The study was conducted in the north-western region of Bangladesh, where Islamic Relief Worldwide, a faith-based international non-governmental organization implemented the Action for Peoples’ Rights and Livelihood (APRIL) project for community development. Using a qualitative approach, this study gathered data from in-depth interviews of 11 participants, five focus groups, and 10 key informants. Results showed that faith-based non-governmental organizations made significant contributions in providing services to the ultra-poor without discrimination, offering flexible “pressure-free” loans, and developing a sense of community ownership. Within this spectrum, this study found a number of challenges in the community development efforts. These include (a) continuation of the provision of interest-free loans, (b) sustaining community-based organizations, (c) labeling of proselytization, and (d) deficient implementation mechanisms. Although this paper focuses on a faith-based non-governmental organization in Bangladesh, the findings have global implications, especially addressing the knowledge gap in the existing literature.

Understanding disasters: managing and accommodating different worldviews in humanitarian response

Over the past decade, humanitarian events affected on average 120 million people annually. Whilst many of these events are human-induced, a large number of the 400 or so complex humanitarian emergencies that require international response each year are natural. Such events result in loss of life, injure and maim survivors, destroy infrastructure and give rise to psycho-social trauma. Aid agencies working alongside affected communities must address all these consequences as part of their responses. What is also required though is an appreciation that worldviews will inform how affected communities both understand the cause of the event, their role in the event and how they will subsequently participate in rebuilding or reconstruction programs. Disasters can be affected by religious beliefs. With more than 85% of the global population self-professing religious belief, these worldviews are often shaped in whole or in part by sacred texts, religious teachings and sectarian practices. In this regard, it is not uncommon for those affected by disasters (particularly natural disasters) to genuinely describe these events as ‘acts of God’. Effective responses require the local context to be central in assessing needs and determining capacities. This must include an understanding of and authentic engagement with religious beliefs and how this may affect how the humanitarian event interacts with these beliefs. There is though little evidence as to how professional humanitarian workers accommodate the religious beliefs of local populations in their planning, implementation and evaluation of humanitarian responses. This paper draws on the experiences of humanitarian workers based in the USA and Australia from both faith-based and secular international non-governmental organizations to consider both how these workers themselves accommodate the religious views of affected communities in their responses and also their experience as to how such views affect the effectiveness of responses. This paper will consider why aid agencies must incorporate (and appreciate) different worldviews around disasters in order to more effectively respond to the needs of communities affected by humanitarian events. It will also identify difficulties and opportunities experienced by individual humanitarian practitioners as well as agencies when working in such environments.

Understanding Collaboration in Disaster Assistance Networks: Organizational Homophily or Resource Dependency?

Greater collaboration among nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) after disasters is important in helping them deliver services, share information, and avoid resource duplication. Following a disaster, numerous NGOs, including a large number of faith-based NGOs, typically offer disaster assistance. But to what extent do these NGOs providing disaster assistance collaborate with each other? Does organizational homophily prevail? Or is the need to acquire resources an incentive for collaboration? Are collaborations characterized by relationships of dependency? To answer these questions, we analyze collaboration between international NGOs, local NGOs, faith-based organizations, and other organizations providing disaster assistance in Haiti in the 3-year period following the 2010 earthquake. Data on these organizations and their networks were analyzed using social network analysis methods. The major findings are that most organizations collaborate within sectoral boundaries and that homophily is one of the main drivers of collaboration, illuminating power relationships in disaster assistance networks.

Principles to guide a volunteer humanitarian faith-based short-term medical mission in Nepal: A case study

Global health inequities, natural disasters, and mass migration of refugees have led to an increase in volunteer humanitarian responses worldwide. While well intentioned for doing good, there is an increasing awareness of the importance for improved preparation for international volunteers involved in short-term medical missions (STMMs). This case study describes the retrospective application of Lasker’s (2016) Principles for Maximizing the Benefits for Volunteer Health Trips to international volunteers from two faith-based non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Canada and the United States partnering with a faith-based NGO in Nepal. These principles are intended to maximize the benefits and diminish challenges that may develop between the international volunteers and the host country staff. Lessons from this case study highlight the importance of applying such principles to foster responsible STMMs. In conclusion, there is an increasing call by host country staff for collaborative and standardized guidelines or frameworks for STMMs and other global health activities.

The role of faith-based NGOs in social development: Invisible empowerment

This article makes an attempt to assess the process and outcomes of faith-based non-governmental organizations’ (FBNGOs) interventions toward community empowerment in social development. Data are derived from contemporary literature using a Qualitative Interpretative Meta-Synthesis (QIMS). Results show that there are very few publications that directly examine the contributions of FBNGOs toward community empowerment. There are some publications which indirectly examine the role of the components of community empowerment, such as community participation, community capacity building, local leadership development, or community resource mobilization, though these are mostly concentrated in Western and African countries. After 9/11, much literature has shown that the role of Islamic NGOs has emerged as a significant aspect in social development discourse. The findings will be of interest to policymakers, donors, and development practitioners.

The social construction of success among leaders of faith-based and secular NGOs in Cambodia: Examining the role of faith

ABSTRACTAlthough faith-based organizations (FBOs) and secular nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) provide significant social work interventions, and are believed to bring about positive changes in their clients, the literature has not fully explored distinctions between the ways leaders of these organizations socially construct success. Using qualitative data from 41 interviews with leaders of Christian FBOs and secular NGOs in Cambodia, this article explores the ways in which leaders conceived of success, including what success was attributed to, and the extent to which faith was conceptualized as contributing to client change. While the study revealed the multidimensionality of socially constructed success, the “input” of faith in FBOs served as an important conceptual lens through which leaders viewed their work and client change, resulting in a faith-centric ideological environment which significantly accounted for differences in the ways success was perceived in these organizations. The study builds on the theoretical understanding of faith “infusing” FBOs, clarifying distinct differences—not always clearly evident in other locales—between FBOs and secular NGOs that are critical to conceptualizing the importance of faith to FBOs. The findings provide insight into the importance of considering both the organizational ideological context and the wider development context when seeking to compare FBOs and secular NGOs.

Transnational culture wars

The well-known “culture wars” clash in the United States between civil society actors has now gone transnational. Political science scholarship has long detailed how liberal human rights non-governmental organizations (NGOs) engage in extensive national and transnational activity in support of their ideals. More recently, US conservative groups (including faith-based NGOs) have begun to emulate these strategies, in particular promoting their convictions by engaging in transnational advocacy. NGOs thus face off against each other politically across the globe. Less well known is the extent to which these culture wars are conducted in courts, using conflicting interpretations of human rights law. Many of the same protag onists, particularly NGOs that find themselves against each other in US courts, now find new litigation opportunities abroad in which to fight their battles. These developments, and their implications, are the focus of this article. In particular, the extent to which US faith-based NGOs have leveraged the experience gained transnationally to use international and foreign jurisprudence in interventions before the US Supreme Court is assessed.

NGOs: Gaining Policy Influence Through Collaborative Networks

Faith-based organizations have been shown to have varying relevance and saliency in urban politics. Past research typically focuses on non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as intermediary organizations. The discussions revolve around the distinctly political, financial or administrative/service providing capacities of NGOs. Less explored are the unintended political consequences of their activities.Like their secular counterparts, faith-based organizations can play an essential role in the delivery of local public goods and services. They can become a linchpin of governance, providing much needed social support structures. Faith-based and other non-governmental organizations can act in concert with or under the devolved authority of the government. They can also fill gaps left by both the government and the market. This paper contends that by being consistent and trustworthy service providers, NGOs may change the landscape of stakeholders involved in urban politics. Indeed, even faith-based and secular NGOs that do not explicitly seek to influence policy may do so through the networks in which they affiliate and the entities with which they collaborate to carry out their primary functions.The paper is based on a nested research design with quantitative and qualitative data from public documents, surveys and interviews from several different types of communities, government entities and service providers. This paper examines the degree and extent to which NGOs work with the government and other entities to provide services and how that positions them to influence policy in Michigan’s two largest urban centers. It demonstrates the importance of collaborative networks for a range of governance functions. The paper also illuminates how service provision allows NGOs, faith-based and secular, to gain entree to local political networks and systems and correspondingly parlay that political access into policy influence.

Faith-Based Non-Governmental Organizations in the Public Square

This chapter has both a methodological and a substantive aim. First, I suggest, using the role and function of NGOs in religiously related legal disputes as a paradigm example, the distinction between institutional, doctrinal, and theoretical approaches to the study of the relationship between religion and law is sometimes unhelpful, creating a barrier preventing us from understanding the phenomenon that we are examining. Instead, I suggest that a more integrated understanding, drawing on each of these approaches and seeing how they relate to each other, may well be more illuminating. The second aim of this chapter is to suggest, in a preliminary way, that the phenomenon of faith-based organizations should be more integrated than in the past into doctrinal and theoretical debates in the area of law and religion, in particular the problem of how liberal society is to engage with organized religion where there is a fundamental dispute as to who represents that religion, or what the basic tenets of that religion are.

CE: Responding to the cholera epidemic in Haiti.

While Haiti was still recovering from the January 12, 2010, magnitude-7 earthquake, an outbreak of cholera spread throughout the nation, soon reaching epidemic proportions. Working through the faith-based nongovernmental organization Samaritan's Purse, an NP, an epidemiologist, and a physician joined the effort to prevent the spread of disease and treat those affected. Here they describe the prevention and intervention campaigns their organization initiated, how they prepared for each, and the essential elements of their operations.

English

The study assessed performance of faith-based Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in rural development in Nasarawa State. Eighty (80) randomly selected beneficiaries from two purposively selected faith based NGO were used. Data were collected by the use of structured interview schedule and analysed using percentage, and mean scores. Faith based NGOs implemented several overlapping programmes for the target communities ranging from loan disbursement (92.5%), HIV/AIDS awareness education (87.5%), support for HIV/AIDS infected/affected persons (75.0%), provision of water and market information (65.0%), adult literacy class (62.5%), processing of farm produce (57.5%) and construction/ rehabilitation of schools (50.0%), and computer training (70%) , road rehabilitation (62.5%) and cooperative formation (50.0%). Participants benefited from loan facilities (80.0%), HIV/AIDS education and support (80.0%), adult literacy (70.0%) maternal/ child health care (60.0%), skill acquisition training (65.0%), and others. The beneficiaries participated in planning (57.0%), decision making (50.0%), leadership position (55.0%) and attend regular meeting (70.0%). Performance of the NGOs was rated good in about 11-13 programmes/activites. The study recommends greater participation of beneficiaries to evolve need/demand -oriented interventions and sustainability of programmes. The NGOs should collaborate and foster linkages for optimal use of scarce resource, to minimize duplication and confusion at the grass root. Key words: Programmes, Non- Governmental Organization (NGOs), performance, beneficiaries, rural, development.

Aligning faith-based and national HIV/AIDS prevention responses? Factors influencing the HIV/AIDS prevention policy process and response of faith-based NGOs in Tanzania

Faith-based organizations (FBOs) have a long tradition of providing HIV/AIDS prevention and mitigation services in Africa. The overall response of FBOs, however, has been controversial, particularly in regard to HIV/AIDS prevention and FBO's rejection of condom use and promotion, which can conflict with and negatively influence national HIV/AIDS prevention response efforts. This article reports the findings from a study that explored the factors influencing the HIV/AIDS prevention policy process within faith-based non-governmental organizations (NGOs) of different faiths. These factors were examined within three faith-based NGOs in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania-a Catholic, Anglican and Muslim organization. The research used an exploratory, qualitative case-study approach, and employed a health policy analysis framework, examining the context, actor and process factors and how they interact to form content in terms of policy and its implementation within each organization. Three key factors were found to influence faith-based NGOs' HIV/AIDS prevention response in terms of both policy and its implementation: (1) the faith structure in which the organizations are a part, (2) the presence or absence of organizational policy and (3) the professional nature of the organizations and its actors. The interaction between these factors, and how actors negotiate between them, was found to shape the organizations' HIV/AIDS prevention response. This article reports on these factors and analyses the different HIV/AIDS prevention responses found within each organization. By understanding the factors that influence faith-based NGOs' HIV/AIDS prevention policy process, the overall faith-based response to HIV/AIDS, and how it corresponds to national response efforts, is better understood. It is hoped that by doing so the government will be better able to identify how to best work with FBOs to meet national HIV/AIDS prevention targets, improving the overall role of FBOs in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Homelessness in Ottawa County Michigan: The “Gap” Population

Homelessness has gained increasing attention since the 1980s in the United States. And the numbers of individuals and families experiencing homelessness are growing, with a 20,000 person, or 3% increase, from 2008 through 2009 (“State of Homelessness,” 2011). In spite of persistent investigation and activism on how to prevent and end homelessness, there is not agreement on what causes homelessness or how to stop it (McNamara, 2009). What is apparent, however, is that the homeless population is not homogenous. Therefore, the standard models of service, whether from governmental or non-governmental organizations (NGOs), end up neglecting the needs of portions of the population of people who face homelessness. Governmental and non-governmental service providers have recognized the existence of the unique sub-populations of people who are homeless and are attempting to understand and meet the needs of people outside the prevailing understanding of homelessness. This project works with a collaborative of such service providers through a multiple methodological approach to generate better understanding on the two key areas necessary to create models of service for people who are in the “gap” subsector of the homeless population. First, investigation was undertake to learn systematically who is included in the “gap” population among the homeless community, or, in other words, what traits those who continue to cycle in and out of homelessness, and thus are part of this “gap” population, share. Secondly, the project explores what organizations are currently serving these people, and how are they doing so. In other words, this project also ask what are the trends or practices that exist nationally and locally for serving people who fall into this category of homelessness? Findings suggest central traits including mental illness, substance abuse and a history of incarceration as factors spanning members of the “gap” population. Though there are caveats and practices to be avoided, these people are surviving or even thriving through the service primarily of faith-based non-governmental organizations, unfettered by the policy and funding constraints of governmental entities.

Homelessness in Ottawa County Michigan: The 'Gap' Population

Homelessness has gained increasing attention since the 1980s in the United States. And the numbers of individuals and families experiencing homelessness are growing, with a 20,000 person, or 3% increase, from 2008 through 2009 (“State of Homelessness,” 2011). In spite of persistent investigation and activism on how to prevent and end homelessness, there is not agreement on what causes homelessness or how to stop it (McNamara, 2009). What is apparent, however, is that the homeless population is not homogenous. Therefore, the standard models of service, whether from governmental or non-governmental organizations (NGOs), end up neglecting the needs of portions of the population of people who face homelessness. Governmental and non-governmental service providers have recognized the existence of the unique sub-populations of people who are homeless and are attempting to understand and meet the needs of people outside the prevailing understanding of homelessness. This project works with a collaborative of such service providers through a multiple methodological approach to generate better understanding on the two key areas necessary to create models of service for people who are in the “gap” subsector of the homeless population. First, investigation was undertake to learn systematically who is included in the gap population among the homeless community, or, in other words, what traits those who continue to cycle in and out of homelessness, and thus are part of this gap population, share. Secondly, the project explores what organizations are currently serving these people, and how are they doing so. In other words, this project also ask what are the trends or practices that exist nationally and locally for serving people who fall into this category of homelessness? Findings suggest central traits including mental illness, substance abuse and a history of incarceration as factors spanning members of the “gap” population. Though there are caveats and practices to be avoided, these people are surviving or even thriving through the service primarily of faith-based non-governmental organizations, unfettered by the policy and funding constraints of governmental entities.

The Pragmatics of Performance: Putting 'Faith' in Aid in the Sahrawi Refugee Camps

Since the 1970s, Sahrawi refugees have depended upon humanitarian assistance and political support offered by a variety of secular and faith-based non-governmental organizations. In this article I explore the ways in which Sahrawi refugees’ political representatives (the Polisario Front) have mobilized religiously-related claims to maximize diverse short- and long-term benefits both inside and outside the camps. In light of the contemporary geopolitical context, including localized concerns regarding ‘Islamism’ and ‘terrorism’ in North Africa, I argue that notions of ‘secularism’ and ‘religious tolerance’ have been invoked during interactions with different non-Sahrawi audiences to demonstrate the ‘ideal’ nature of the Sahrawi camps. In particular, the presence and activism of American evangelical humanitarians are invoked by the Polisario Front to demonstrate the ‘ideal’ nature of the camps as spaces of ‘religious tolerance’ and ‘inter-faith dialogue’. However, the presence of evangelical humanitarians equally has the potential to create an irreconcilable rupture not only with other, non-evangelical donors (including ‘secular’ Spanish ‘Friends of the Sahrawi’), but also between the Polisario and the very refugees which this organization purports to represent. I conclude the article by arguing that rather than creating a dialogic process between refugees and both secular- and faith-based humanitarians, maintaining the appearance of ‘religious tolerance’ is ultimately founded upon a system of repress-entation which purposefully centralizes certain groups, identifiers and dynamics whilst simultaneously displacing and marginalizing the potential for debate and contestation.

The role of religion in linking conservation and development

The world’s religions have made a contribution to environmental conservation and sustainable development through faith-based non-governmental organizations. Partnerships between secular conservation and development organizations and faith-based groups, however, are not always easy. Such partnerships face various challenges, including differences in worldviews, conict between identities, and the attitudes and behavior of religious groups that may not be favorable to conservation and development. Despite a possible overlap of values, these incompatibilities can often cause tensions between secular organizations and religious groups. A number of examples, however, suggest that faith-based groups are starting to address these incompatibilities. We suggest that partnerships with faith groups might be valuable because these groups can enhance public support for conservation and development. While secular organizations need to work with faith groups on the basis of shared ethical or moral values, identifying effective ways to strengthen the linkages between secular organizations and faith groups is also necessary.

Multifunctional fungal plant symbionts: new tools to enhance plant growth and productivity

Multifunctional fungal plant symbionts: new tools to enhance plant growth and productivity

Paying for God’s Work: A Rights-Based Examination of Faith-Based NGOs in Romania

This paper examines issues of democratic accountability as they apply to faith-based organizations cooperating in international developmental efforts, with a specific focus on the freedom of expression rights of nonprofit organizations and the freedom of association rights of their clientele. Child welfare nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Romania are used as a case study for examining the issue. The paper begins with a discussion of NGO-government partnerships in service provision in international development, and examines the ethical concerns surrounding church-state separation as applied to nonprofits in the United States and in the context of foreign aid. The literature analysis is complimented by empirical evidence from the Romanian case, using data gathered in a qualitative study exploring the role of NGOs as social service providers and policy advocates. The paper concludes by discussing the particular role that bureaucratic discretion and power plays in protecting the freedom of association rights of clientele in Romania.

Finding Faith in Development: Religious Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Argentina and Zimbabwe

Finding Faith in Development: Religious Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Argentina and Zimbabwe Erica Bornstein, The Spirit of Development: Protestant NGOs, Morality, and Economics in Zimbabwe. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2005. 213 pp. Laurie A. Occhipinti, Acting on Faith: Religious Development Organizations in Northwestern Argentina. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2005.211 pp. International development-both an ideology and set of practices aimed at promoting change to eliminate poverty in global south-has in recent decades increasingly shifted from a government project to a private one. No longer are states and their agencies assumed to be best or most desirable purveyors of development. Instead, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have become important channels for development flows, a reality reflected by an explosion in number of development NGOs worldwide and an intensification in amount of money flowing through them (Riddell and Robinson 1995:26-32). Accordingly, analysis of NGOs working to design and deliver international development has become a mainstay of development studies (Bebbington and Thiele 1993; Carroll 1992; Farrington and Bebbington 1993; Fisher 1997; Lewis and Wallace 2000). The development studies literature, in general, has engaged in a number of lively debates about NGOs: e.g., relative strengths of NGOs vis-a-vis state-led development (Edwards and Hulme 1996; Riddell and Robinson 1995; Zaidi 1999); degree to which NGOs are particularly efficient, participatory, or purveyors of development (Lister 2000; Lorgen 1998; Tvedt 2001; Unnithan and Srivastava 1997); extent to which NGOs might operate outside development's conventional and bureaucratic spheres of power, politics, and discourses (Farrington and Bebbington 1993; Gardner and Lewis 1996; Grillo 1997). Still, one particular type of has been largely ignored in most discussions: religiously-driven or faith-based1 NGO2 (as exceptions, see Belshaw, Calderisi, and Sugden 2001; Clarke 2005; Mayotte 1998; Hefferan 2007; Tripp 1999; Tyndale 2006). Faith-based development NGOs route significant financial flows from developed to developing world, marshal collective resources of the faithful, and link together co-religious (and potential co-religious) in transnational relationships (Clarke 2005). Yet, NGOs-like religion and faith more broadly (Ver Beek 2000:36; see also Selinger 2004)-remain largely ignored in development studies literature. As such, several fundamental gaps exist in our understanding of these particular types of development NGOs, including a grounded understanding of what exactly development is and how faith orientation of an organization affects its mission and programming. Answering such questions is complicated because label NGO covers such a wide array of organizations, with vastly different belief systems, funding channels, programming, and like. Nonetheless, two recently published works, while acknowledging and reflecting such complexities, also provide a number of answers. Erica Bornstein 's The Spirit of Development: Protestant NGOs, Morality, and Economics in Zimbabwe is an engaging and sophisticated analysis of Protestant NGOs World Vision and Care and their attempts to evangelize Zimbabweans through development. Laurie A. Occhipinti's Acting on Faith: Religious Development Organizations in Northwestern Argentina is an absorbing examination of two local Catholic NGOs-Fundapaz and Obra Claretiano de Desarrollo (OCLADE)-working in pursuit of social justice for indigenous populations in Northwestern Argentina. Both works situate themselves within a post/development studies literature that considers equally meaning and practice of development. The Meaning of Faith-based Development While faith-based development NGO is a term encompassing a wide range of institutions that link religion (whether Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, or others) with development, both Bornstein and Occhipinti focus specifically on Christian forms to argue that faithbased NGOs employ ideological frameworks that are different from conventional, secular development organizations. …