Faith in Development: A Double-Edged Sword

Abstract

Since the early 1990s, faith seems to have been staking a very strong return to policy, practice and scholarship. In this desk review therefore, the potential of faith as a tool for development and social provisioning is analysed from the international and Ghanaian perspectives. To overcome the negative tags associated with faith organisations and ensure their effectiveness and efficiency, the piece recommends inter and intra-faith collaboration, knowledge sharing and capacity building. The over-arching policy implication of the piece is that while faith has its own downside like any other development approach, it is still useful for promoting holistic development if stakeholders in development would engage with, encourage and positively promote faith-based organisations.

Keywords: faith, social service provisioning, welfare, Ghana, development, faith-based organisations, Islamic FBO