FAITH-BASED ORGANISATIONS IN THE CONTEXT OF SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA: TOWARDS A CONCEPTUALISATION

Authors

  • Willie van der Merwe Secretary: Service and Witness, General Synod, Dutch Reformed Church, Hatfield, South Africa.
  • Ignatius Swart Executive Director: Academic and Research, Huguenot College, Wellington, South Africa.
  • Jurgens Hendriks Department of Practical Theology and Missiology, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15270/45-2-210

Abstract

In South Africa the state strongly expects the religious sector – or more specifically the
collectivity of faith-based organisations constituting this sector – to make a meaningful
contribution towards the country’s struggle against poverty and HIV and AIDS (Koegelenberg,
2001, 2007; Swart, 2008). The debate on the role and contribution of faith-based organisations
(hereafter FBOs) in social welfare and social development is not unique to South Africa,
however, and has been conducted in other parts of the world for the last decade or more
(Cameron, 2004; Cnaan, Farnell, 2001; Jeavons, 2004; Netting, 1984; Netting, Thibault &
Ellor, 1990:17; Smith, 2002; Wineburg & Boddie, 1999; Yeung, 2003). Although the debate
has been going on for quite some time, generally speaking the terms “religious sector” and
“faith-based organisations” are still used in a vague and unfocused sense in the literature and no
widely accepted definition can be found. This causes confusion about exactly what kinds of
organisation are being referred to (Netting, 2004:136; Sider & Unruh, 2004:109).

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Published

2014-06-18

How to Cite

van der Merwe, W., Swart, I., & Hendriks, J. (2014). FAITH-BASED ORGANISATIONS IN THE CONTEXT OF SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA: TOWARDS A CONCEPTUALISATION. Social Work/Maatskaplike Werk, 45(2). https://doi.org/10.15270/45-2-210

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