Religion and development cooperation in fragile states : the complementarity of roles of Dutch NGOs and the Dutch Ministry of foreign affairs
Document type: policy_doc
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Abstract:
‘Fragile states and religion’ was the central topic of a policy dialogue organized by the Knowledge Forum Religion and Development Policy with (former) Dutch minister of Development Cooperation Bert Koenders and the NGO-members of the Knowledge Forum in April 2009. For both the NGOs and the Dutch ministry of Foreign Affairs, fragile states are an important focus point in development cooperation. The Dutch ministry follows the 3-D strategy: Development, Diplomacy and Defense. The NGOs have more or less a bottom-up approach. Preparatory meetings and an international conference preceding the policy dialogue learned that the NGOs and the Ministry share the viewpoint that religion plays an important role in development in fragile states, whereas their intervention strategies differ. In the policy dialogue the NGOs and Ministry proposed to investigate if, and how, they could complement and strengthen each other with regard to recognizing and involving religion in their development practices in a specific fragile state. The participants of the policy dialogue chose the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as a research case.
Based on the results of the DRC case study research conducted in 2011, this chapter outlines to what extent the NGOs and the Ministry could be complementary to each other in dealing with religion in development in a fragile state. We first give a short overview of the role of religion in development in fragile states, followed by the main findings of the case study concerning the complementarity of roles of five Dutch NGOs and the Dutch Embassy in the DRC.
Authors:
Meerkerk, M. van
,
Boender, W.
Series Title:
Policy Dialogue 'Fragile States and Religion'
Country:
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Category:
Policy
Keywords:
non-governmental organizations
,
religion
,
governance
Language:
eng
Organization:
Knowledge Centre Religion and Development
PAGE:
10
Place:
[Utrecht]
Publisher:
Knowledge Centre Religion and Development
Year:
2012
Region:
Central Africa
Right:
© 2012 Knowledge Centre Religion and Development
Subject:
Culture, Society and Religion
Title:
Religion and development cooperation in fragile states : the complementarity of roles of Dutch NGOs and the Dutch Ministry of foreign affairs