The Place of Faith in Humanitarian Engagement with Displaced Communities

Abstract

The secular framing of humanitarianism privatizes, marginalizes and instrumentalizes religion. Mental health and psychosocial support is a key programming area with displaced communities. Faith-based organizations have been active in supporting such interventions, but there is little evidence of religious perspectives being meaningfully incorporated in programming. This is despite mounting acceptance of the relevance of religious resources, beliefs and practices for community recovery. Analysis of the work of local faith groups working with Syrian refugees in Jordan similarly indicates how a secular script obscures and constrains the contribution from religious sources. The language used in documents exploring key areas of humanitarian strategy-humanitarian reform and disaster risk reduction-also demonstrates the uncritical presumption of a secular perspective which obstructs engagement with faith.