Faith Based Organizations And Social Welfare

This volume seeks to understand the role and function of religious-based organizations in strengthening associational life through the provision of social services, thereby legitimizing a new role for faith in the formerly secular public sphere. Specifically, we explore how a church in a postcommunist setting, during periods of economic growth and recession in the wake of transitions to capitalism, and with varied numbers of adherents, might contribute to welfare services in a new political regime with freedom of religion. Put another way, what new pressures would be placed on the secular welfare state if religious organizations (Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, others) simply stopped offering their services? By examining public perceptions of the church, changing dynamics of religiosity, and church-state-civil society relations, the volume places these issues in context.

Leading scholars examine how the church, community organizations, and the government must work together to provide for America's poor in the aftermath of welfare reform. . Who will provide for Americas children, elderly, and working families? Not since the 1930s has our nation faced such fundamental choices over how to care for all its citizens. Now, amid economic prosperity, Americans are asking what government, business, and non-profit organizations can and can’t do and what they should and shouldn’t be asked to do. As both political parties look to faith-based organizations to meet material and spiritual needs, the center of this historic debate is the changing role of religion. These essays combine a fresh perspective and detailed analysis on these pressing issues. They emerge from a three-year Harvard Seminar sponsored by the Center for the Study of Values in Public Life that brought together scholars in public policy, government, religion, sociology, law, education, and non-profit leadership. By putting the present moment in broad historical perspective, these essays offer rich insights into the resources of faith-based organizations, while cautioning against viewing their expanded role as an alternative to the government’s responsibility. In Who Will Provide? community leaders, organizational managers, public officials, and scholars will find careful analysis drawing on a number of fields to aid their work of devising better partnerships of social provision locally and nationally. It was named a Choice Outstanding Academic Book of 2001..

Faith-based organizations continue to play a significant role in the provision of social work services in many countries but their role within the welfare state is often contested. This text explores their various roles and relationships to social work practice, includes examples from different countries and a range of religious traditions and identifies challenges and opportunities for the sector. Social Work and Faith-based Organizations discusses issues such as the relationship between faith-based organizations and the state, working with an organization’s stakeholders, ethical practice and dilemmas, and faith-based organizations as employers. It also addresses areas of debate and controversy, such as providing services within and for multi-faith communities and tensions between professional codes of ethics and religious doctrine. Accessibly written by a well-known social work educator, it is illustrated by numerous case studies from a range of countries including Australia, the UK and the US. Suitable for social work students taking community or administration courses or undertaking placements in faith-based organizations, this innovative book is also a valuable resource for managers and religious personnel who are responsible for the operation of faith-based agencies.

This book addresses the discourses, agendas and actions of Muslim faith-based organizations and activists to empower Muslim communities in contemporary sub-Saharan Africa. The individual chapters discuss how traditional Muslim welfare and charity institutions, zakat (obligatory or mandatory almsgiving), sadaqa (voluntary almsgiving and donations) and waqf (pious endowments), are used to improve social welfare, focusing on instrumentalization and institutionalization in the collection and distribution of zakat. The book includes case studies from West Africa (Ghana, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Senegal), the Horn of Africa (Somalia) and East Africa (Kenya and Tanzania), highlighting the role and interplay of local, national and international Sunni, Shia and Ahmadiyya Muslim faith-based organizations and NGOs. Chapters "Muslim NGOs, Zakat and the Provision of Social Welfare in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Introduction" and "Discourses on Zakat and Its Implementation in Contemporary Ghana" are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

Faith-based organizations continue to play a significant role in the provision of social work services in many countries but their role within the welfare state is often contested. This text explores their various roles and relationships to social work practice, includes examples from different countries and a range of religious traditions and identifies challenges and opportunities for the sector. Social Work and Faith-based Organizations discusses issues such as the relationship between faith-based organizations and the state, working with an organization’s stakeholders, ethical practice and dilemmas, and faith-based organizations as employers. It also addresses areas of debate and controversy, such as providing services within and for multi-faith communities and tensions between professional codes of ethics and religious doctrine. Accessibly written by a well-known social work educator, it is illustrated by numerous case studies from a range of countries including Australia, the UK and the US. Suitable for social work students taking community or administration courses or undertaking placements in faith-based organizations, this innovative book is also a valuable resource for managers and religious personnel who are responsible for the operation of faith-based agencies.

This book examines the role of faith-based organizations in managing international aid, providing services, defending human rights and protecting democracy. It argues that greater engagement with faith communities and organizations is needed, and questions traditional secularism that has underpinned development policy and practice in the North.

This book explores the scope and breadth of religious organizations in social work practice. It begins by tracing the origins of the social work profession back to the earliest civilizations and their religious traditions, establishing the precedent for a fruitful commingling of religion and social welfare. The contributors propose that religious/faith organizations can assume responsibilities for social welfare in the 21st century, using the Korean Church as one example of an effective provider of social services. A 12-step model for religious organizations to use to develop community action programs is also presented.

Read the latest studies on the effectiveness of religious-based services—and the problems revealed in the assessment The Charitable Choice provision and the Bush Administration’s National Faith-Based Initiative have broadened the scope of social services delivered through faith-based organizations. There are expectations that these faith-based social service providers will be more effective—but how should that effectiveness be measured? Faith-Based Social Services: Measures, Assessments, and Effectiveness explains the nature and quality of religion-based social service delivery while serving as a point of reference for future research and work. This unique source tackles the important, complex issue of measuring the effectiveness of faith-based social services in comparison to secular services while providing analysis of the latest available studies. Faith-Based Social Services: Measures, Assessments, and Effectiveness provides a conceptual analysis of FBOs (faith-based organizations) that reflects the need to gather detailed studies to assess social service effectiveness while reviewing the crucial issues challenging public policy. The latest empirical research is detailed, including the problems found when comparing secular and faith-based social service providers, their organizational structures, and the types of services offered. Analysis is included of the data from a three-state evaluation of welfare to work programs, a study of four types of faith-based services found in four cities, and an assessment of a church-based program for teenage drop-outs. Topics in Faith-Based Social Services: Measures, Assessments, and Effectiveness include: discussion on how social science research shunned faith-based services and how this neglect affected effectiveness problems inherent in efficacy assessment making funding priorities decisions the causes of outcome differences a model of evaluation based on randomized controlled clinical trials using measurement practices currently used by the nonprofit sector comparative case studies in transitional housing, parent education, and residential substance abuse treatment programs latest analysis of research involving faith-based organizations and the provided services’ efficacy much more! Faith-Based Social Services: Measures, Assessments, and Effectiveness is illuminating reading, perfect for social work professionals, students, educators, sociologists, religious leaders, and seminary educators.