Theologies and Practices of Inclusion

Insights From a Faith-based Relief, Development and Advocacy Organization

Kurlberg, Daehnhardt, Nina Kurlberg, Madleina Daehnhardt

• Publisher: SCM Press
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9780334060574
• eBook ISBN: 9780334060598
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

Inclusion has recently become a high priority issue within the development sector, brought to the fore by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development's commitment to leave no one behind. Practices within the remit of inclusion often focus on increasing access and meaningful participation, with emphasis placed on bringing those at the margins to the centre. This book challenges such centre-focused practices from a global perspective, based on research conducted within the Christian relief, development and advocacy organisation Tearfund and beyond.

Offering inspiration for practitioners within the sector and faith-based organisations in particular, as well as an academic contribution to the fields of international development studies and theology, the book aims to bridge theology and practice in an accessible way.

Consisting of 13 chapters and case studies, the book draws on the wisdom of a diverse team of contributors at the forefront of international development, working in a variety of contexts. These include South Africa, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, Ecuador, Panama, Bolivia, the Philippines, Iraq, Egypt and the UK. Highlighting 'journey', 'change' and 'belonging' as three key aspects of inclusion, the book explores the outworking of theologies of inclusion within organisational practice.

With a foreword by Ruth Valerio, and an afterword by Catriona Dejean.

Part 1: Inclusion and Faith-based Organizations

Introduction

NINA KURLBERG AND MADLEINA DAEHNHARDT

When the Covid-19 outbreak was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization in March 2020, there were those who claimed that the virus was a ‘great leveller’ (see, for example, Kapadia and Sirsikar, 2020). In other words, it was assumed that the virus would affect everyone in the same way without discrimination, and have an equalizing effect on society. Yet, it soon became apparent that this was far from the case, and that Covid-19 had instead exacerbated existing inequalities – on the basis of race, ethnicity, sex, disability, age and class. UN Women (2020), for example, highlighted that across ‘every sphere, from health to the economy, security to social protection, the impacts of COVID-19 are exacerbated for women and girls simply by virtue of their sex’. The UK’s international development network, Bond, drew attention to the fate of older people, who ‘suffer doubly in crises: not only are they disproportionately impacted, but they are also neglected and discriminated [against] in the response’ (Lilly, 2020). Vaccine nationalism began to surface across the globe, excluding many majority world populations from receiving protection from the virus. In the UK, ethnic minorities were also disproportionately impacted by the virus, and a Public Health England report noted that racism and discrimination may have been a contributing factor (Razai et al., 2021, p. 1). Thus, these groups of people – women and girls, older populations, economically poorer nations and ethnic minorities – experienced discrimination and marginalization in the global response to Covid-19 on account of their diversity: they were excluded.

In their article on ethnic disparities and Covid-19, Mohammad Razai et al. cite a powerful phrase from Alexandre Dumas’ 1844 novel The Count of Monte Cristo, ‘moral wounds’, using it to refer to the racism underlying the plight of minority groups. Dumas wrote: ‘Moral wounds have this peculiarity – they may be hidden, but they never close; always painful, always ready to bleed when touched, they remain fresh and open in the heart’ (quoted in Razai et al., 2021, p. 1). These same words could be used to describe the impact of the injustice and discrimination that prevail around diversity. Yet, such moral wounds – although painful – are fertile ground for creative and constructive theological thinking, as practical theologian Mary McClintock Fulkerson argues:

Theologies that matter arise out of dilemmas – out of situations that matter … [T]heological thinking is generated by a sometimes inchoate sense that something must be addressed. Such a process itself is defined by an a priori logic of transformation. More precisely, transformation is inherent in the image of the wound, for it invokes a sense of something wrong – of a fracture in things that should be joined or whole. The very sense of harm implies an impulse toward remedy – a kind of longing for it to be otherwise. (McClintock Fulkerson, 2007, pp. 13–14)

Herein lies the purpose of the present volume. As the title suggests, its focus is on theologies and practices related to the topic of inclusion within faith-based organizations (FBOs). Inclusion is a broad concept that evades easy definition and one that will be unpacked throughout the book. The word ‘inclusion’ may sit uncomfortably with some readers: it could be perceived as seeking to erase all value judgements, ending in value-free chaos, or, by contrast, as implicitly imposing norms. Yet, at the same time, there is also a sense of excitement around inclusion, since its recent prominence within the public sphere provides organizations with the opportunity to put in place change processes that have the potential to bring life and joy to the whole, not just to previously excluded groups. As will become apparent to readers, although exclusion, diversity and equality are not explicit within the title, they are implicit throughout the book. The emphasis has been placed on inclusion to signal the questions at the heart of the book: What is inclusion, theologically and practically? How can it heal the wounds of exclusion? What should organizations and communities that desire to be inclusive be aiming towards? In addressing these questions, the book seeks to inspire readers to revisit their own theologies and practices towards inclusion: a process that has the potential to be transformative.

The book draws in part on the experience of Tearfund as an FBO that intentionally seeks to prioritize diversity and inclusion. Tearfund was established by the Evangelical Alliance in 1968, yet, even today, theological reflection is a foundational element of its life and work. The organization embarked on its diversity and inclusion journey in 2017, setting out to create an inclusive and diverse workforce, decentralizing its leadership structure and initiating organization-wide workstreams that imbues all aspects from human resources to communications, programming and theology. It should be pointed out, however, that the chapter contributors bring their own voices and perspectives, which are not necessarily those of Tearfund, though many are employed by Tearfund.

In this introduction, the editors first review inclusion as it is currently discussed across the wider development sector, and then faith-based organizations in particular. This sectoral overview is followed by a theological positioning of the topic: insights on inclusion are drawn from several works across the theological literature. Lastly, the structure of the book is introduced in its four parts.

Inclusion and the development sector

The topic of inclusion is a contemporary and fast-emerging one in the international development sector. Predecessors of the inclusion agenda were concerned with ‘marginalized groups’ in the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), when the term ‘marginalization’ was in wider use. According to the UN, the MDGs were ‘specifically designed to address the needs of the world’s poorest citizens and the world’s most marginalized populations’ (UN, 2015, emphasis added). Post-2015, with the ‘Leave no one behind’ 2030 agenda, there has been a shift towards addressing the root causes of persisting inequalities and towards inclusion. Now, inclusion often refers to the ‘meaningful participation’ of previously excluded groups, such as people with disabilities (Guterres, 2020; Rattray and Lako, 2018). Here, inclusion – understood as a comprehensive structural approach – is seen as key to achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

This shift towards inclusion is reflected in the recent use of language appropriated by international organizations. Here, the term inclusion is often used with reference to representation in both development programmes and in internal organizational cultures and systems. For example, Bond’s ‘News and views’ webpage shows several blogs, events and podcasts in 2020–21 making the case for fostering diversity and inclusion in the UK NGO workforce, for diversifying racial representation, and for the use of ethical and inclusive language, as well as for promoting inclusion of people with disabilities in programming (Bond, 2021). However, when we compare different INGOs (international NGOs), it appears that what exactly is understood by inclusion, and which groups of people are included in this drive, is far from homogenous. The difference in uses of the term ‘inclusion’ is evident in a search exercise we conducted on external-facing NGO websites, as part of a comparison of organizational priorities.1

We selected a total of 17 INGOs and FBOs in this screening exercise.2 The main themes that emerged from the review of mainstream INGO reports in relation to inclusion were: education, disability, gender and LGBTQI+ inclusion. A similar emphasis on gender and LGBTQI+ exclusion is reflected in the latest annual State of Civil Society report, which identifies the main trends impacting civil society each year (Civicus, 2020). Linkages to financial inclusion, sustainability, social protection and human rights were made across organizations. The link between socio-economic vulnerability and socio-economic exclusion was highlighted in particular, whereby economic and social reasons for exclusion are deeply intertwined (Morgan, 2016; Stewart and Khurshid, 2019). Intersectionality has become prominent in more recent publications across the sector, explicitly linking age, gender and diversity (AGD) inclusion to the principle of ‘leave no one behind’ and the SDGs. The AGD approach emphasizes the way in which individuals can experience differing levels of vulnerability and exclusion depending on intersecting identity factors, for example, displaced older women or economically poorer girl children (Beales, 2000; Plan International, 2020). An AGD approach enables programmatic and humanitarian responses to be adapted inclusively to different needs through ‘meaningful participation’. The need for inclusion and meaningful participation of older people and people with disabilities in humanitarian action has gained traction across the sector more recently (CBM et al., 2018; Elrha, 2020; HelpAge, 2018; Plan International, 2020).

Our screening exercise showed that exclusion of different groups from services and programmes is extensively discussed. For example, Plan International primarily understands inclusion in terms of ‘tackling exclusion’; inclusion is discussed as relating to both an approach to programme development – reaching excluded groups – and a principle within the organization’s set-up and culture (Plan International, 2015, p. 3). In response to the growth in 2020 of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, organizations have written statements outlining their stance on building inclusive anti-racist organizations (Save the Children, 2020). Gender equality and inclusion are often discussed in combination, since sharing power, achieving non-discrimination and gender equality, promoting gender justice and realizing girls’ rights are seen as a fundamental part of an inclusive society (Plan International, 2017; ActionAid, 2020). Child-centred organizations, such as UNICEF, Plan International and Save the Children logically focus on inclusion themes relevant to children in lower- and middle-income countries, mainly targeting barriers to inclusion in education, such as poverty, geographic location, gender, ethnicity, disability and HIV stat...

Table of contents

• Copyright information
• Contents
• Contributors
• Acknowledgements
• Foreword
• Part 1: Inclusion and Faith-based Organizations
• Introduction
• 1. One Body, Many Voices: Theological Perspectives on Inclusion and Diversity from the Global South
• 2. Embrace in the Margins: A Theological Framework for Inclusion
• 3. Case Study: Racial Justice
• Part 2: Inclusion as a Journey
• 4. Between Longing and Fear: Peacebuilding and Religious Diversity
• 5. The Pilgrim Identity: A Biblical Basis and Motivation for Inclusiveness
• 6. Case Study: The Journey of the Latin American Campaign ‘As Born Among Us’
• Part 3: Inclusion as Requiring Change
• 7. Inclusion in a Networked Society: Digital Theological Perspectives
• 8. Interrogating Gender, Faith and Masculinities: Tearfund’s Transforming Masculinities Approach
• 9. Case Study: Localization and Inclusion
• Part 4: Inclusion as Belonging
• 10. Belonging to ‘The House of the Lord’: Ageing and Inclusion in the Rwandan Church
• 11. ‘Nothing wey no get cure for this world’:1 Interrogating Healing and the Miraculous for Women Living with Disability and HIV in Nigeria
• 12. Disability-inclusive Self-help Groups: Lessons from Tearfund in Ethiopia
• 13. Abya Yala: ‘A house that sings for all nations’1
• Afterword