Participation, development and tensions in New Zealand donor engagement with non-secular recipients: A case for recognising post-secularity in practice

Many authors argue that we live in a post-secular world where religion persists, and where, in public affairs, religious views should have an equal voice with secularity. This article examines participation in international development through that post-secular lens: To what extent do the differing worldviews of the partners affect their relationships when designing and implementing development projects? Fieldwork for the research was conducted mainly through interviews with global donor and practitioner organisations working from New Zealand and with recipients on one project in Bangladesh. We used a typology of three different parties: recipients; secular donor and practitioner organisations; and faith-based donor and practitioner organisations (FBOs). In that triangle of relationships we found the three parties’ beliefs are intensely important to them. But we also found participation tends to be transactional in that the topic of religion is generally avoided, leading to unexplored assumptions and adverse consequences to development of trust between the parties. However, we observed that FBOs and recipients can, through religion, and regardless of what that religion is, have a natural rapport. This is important as less-developed countries are generally profoundly religious. Further, in an extension to some concepts of post-secularity, our research indicated there is value in not just listening but also in debating views in-depth as a pathway to creating common ground. This may be challenging for secular organisations, but facilitators who are accepted by the three parties as understanding and respecting their views could help achieve productive relationships.