Faith-based organizations

Faith-based organizations

In the development literature, the role of religion in development has been widely documented by ‘faith-based organizations’ (FBOs). In an edited volume entitled Development, Civil Society and Faith-Based Organizations, Clarke et al (2007) give a broad overview of the role of FBOs in development. They use the term FBO ‘in reference to any organization that derives inspiration and guidance for its activities from the teachings and principles of the faith or from

a particular interpretation or school of thought within the faith’ (p6). Clarke (2006, Clarke et al, 2007) offers a five-fold classification of FBOs: (1) faith- based representative organizations that govern the faithful; (2) faith-based charitable or development organizations which run projects and provide services for marginalized groups; (3) faith-based socio-political organizations that politically mobilize the faithful; (4) faith-based missionary organizations which promote the faith; and (5) faith-based illegal or terrorist organizations engaging in armed struggles in the name of religion. The volume gathers information regarding a wide range of FBOs representing different regions and religious persuasions.

It is beyond the scope of this chapter to review the different instances in which religious organizations and religious traditions themselves (through their missionary work, for example) have influenced political processes (and hence development outcomes), for better or worse. For example, a study of the emergence of the welfare state in Europe would be intellectually impoverished if it did not include an analysis of how Christianity led to the emergence of social democratic parties and influenced their agenda. Even the creation of the European Union owes a great deal to the faith of its main initiator, Jean Monnet. In developing countries, the reality of political life also abounds with examples illustrating the presence of religion in the public sphere and politics itself, such as the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Jama’at-i-Islami in Pakistan and Bangladesh. 10

In terms of the provision of social services and political involvement in the interests of social justice, religious organizations have become increasingly prominent. Faith-based organizations often play an important role in providing health and education services for the poor, particularly in the context of fragile or weak states. According to World Bank estimates, 50 per cent of health and education services in sub-Saharan Africa were provided by faith-based organizations in 2000 (Clarke et al, 2007). Religious organizations can also be powerful mobilizing forces when it comes to social reforms. The Movemiento Sim Terra, the organization demanding land rights for landless peasants in Brazil, was begun by Catholic churches that had mobilized peasants to press the government on land reform. In Britain, the Citizens Organisation Foundation is another example of how faith communities mobilize for social action. One successful campaign was to demand that the mayor of London secure a minimum wage adjusted to the cost of living in London. A large number of churches and religious-based organizations have participated in advocacy campaigns, such as Make Poverty History and the Jubilee Campaign for debt relief. The role of churches in apartheid South Africa, against the dictatorship in El Salvador, Brazil and Chile in the 1980s, 11 is also an illustration of how religious organizations can be countervailing powers when a government violates human rights and deepens inequalities and injustices. The Buddhist-inspired Sardovaya movement in Sri Lanka has also been well analysed as a striking example of the transformative power of religion in development (Tyndale, 2007).