“It’s a tricky one” – development practitioners’ attitudes towards religion

ABSTRACT

Situated within post-colonial development critique, this article explores prevalent attitudes of development practitioners towards religion and their potential policy and practice impacts. The discussion draws on evidence from interviews and document analyses of government aid agencies, their recipient organisations, and local activists. The findings suggest that a lack of religious literacy, interest, and contact with religion has fostered an Orientalist mindset that essentialises religion as backwards, risky, and a unique feature of the “developing world”. Contrary to global policy pushes, addressing religion in practice continues to be largely left to individual discretion and practitioners show an overwhelming reluctance to engage.

KEYWORDS:

• Civil society – Partnership, NGOs
• Aid – Capacity development, Development policies
• Gender and diversity

Acknowledgment

This paper is based on Nora Khalaf-Elledge's doctoral research. She wishes to express her deepest thanks to all study participants for their valuable time and input.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Nora Khalaf-Elledge is an Associate Lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London. She holds a PhD from the University of London that explored the intersection of religion and gender within international development policy and practice. She has a Master’s degree in Gender and Development from the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) and a Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology and Development Studies from the University of Sussex. She has worked for various international development organisations, including Development Alternatives Inc. (DAI), Information Technology and Agricultural Development (ITAD), IDS, as well as the gender offices of various United Nations agencies.

Notes

1 Following Moore’s (2015) framework of religious literacy, this would consist in an academic non-sectarian non-devotional study that examines religion as an intersectional subject and avoids theological or normative interpretations of religious traditions. The purpose of a conceptual study is also to reduce the risk of homogenising internally diverse religions or to overemphasise the role of religions in development at the expense of other relevant factors, such as ethnicity, nationality, politics, gender, or economy. For example, even events such as the conflict between the Buddhist majority and the Muslim minority in Myanmar are rarely only religious.

2 While qualitative research tends to work with smaller amounts of data, my research sample includes five of the largest government aid agencies and their implementing partner organisations. As such, it can be considered sufficiently representative of the current policy environment of international development. Due to confidentiality agreements, names of organisations cannot be made public as part of the research results. Names of interviewees have been changed.

3 The subject of terminology was included in the interview questions. This is important to ensure data could be interpreted accurately.

4 “Recipient organisations” refers to organisations that implement projects in developing countries through donor funding.

5 The politics of gender and religion are entangled and embedded in all dimensions of society and everyday life. Religious beliefs and practices have historically played a key role in shaping gender roles within societies and have inspired both patriarchal and emancipatory changes. In donor and recipient countries alike, public religion has deep structural influences on gender norms and drives gendered political debates on issues such as reproductive health or marriage (Khalaf-Elledge 2019).