Religion and development

Over the past seven years Dr Philip Fountain has worked alongside colleagues at the National University of Singapore’s Asia Research Institute in conducting pioneering research on the entanglements between religion and international aid and development. Development scholars still tend to imagine that religion has little to do with the work of development organisations in initiating social and economic change, but Philip’s work has shown how mistaken this assumption is. His research has highlighted how contemporary encounters with religion decisively shape development outcomes. Careful examination of the history of development also reveals deep religious roots that continue to shape the social and moral imaginary, field practices and organisational infrastructure of NGOs today.

Components of this research were generously supported by the Henry Luce Foundation with a grant of US $400,000 for studying ‘Religion and NGOs in Asia’ (2015–2018). A highly productive collaboration, the project has resulted in the publication of multiple books and articles. Handy overviews of this research, published in 2018, include a blog post on ‘Religion and NGOs’ and a paper on ‘Religion in the Age of Development’, available in open-access online and both co-authored with Michael Feener.