institutional logics within faith-based aid: a new approach to organising in development, humanitarianism and advocacy

This book investigates what faith means in the actual day-to-day practice of faith-based NGOs working in the development, humanitarian, and advocacy sectors.

Faith-based organisations play an extremely prominent role in international aid and development, operating within the same sphere as organisations without an explicit religious affiliation. This book uses the case study of a UK-based Christian faith-based organisation to develop an analytic tool using institutional logics. Through exploration of how various institutional logics are manifested and negotiated across organisational practice, the book describes how the ’telos, ’ or objective, of the corporate logic (to sustain the organisation) interacts with the telos of the religious logic (namely, to worship God). The book demonstrates that since organisational practices must ultimately work to sustain the organisation, at the organisational level faith is restricted to certain spaces and forms, while at the individual level faith is dominant and active.

Bringing a fresh perspective to discussions of religion and development by highlighting how faith influences development at the organisational level, this book will be an important read for researchers working on global development.

Nina G. Kurlberg is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Durham University. In her PhD (University of Edinburgh, 2023), she used the lens of institutional logics to explore what the faith orientation of faith-based organisations means in actual practice. Nina has worked within the international development sector for nearly a decade, both in the UK and Sri Lanka. Most recently, she worked for Tearfund - a Christian relief, development, and advocacy organisation - developing theology in the area of diversity and inclusion (D&I). Together with Dr Madleina Daehnhardt, Nina is co-editor of Theologies and Practices of Inclusion and Disability Inclusion in Africa.