Topic code C4 Building hope and resilience in the present

The data for this topic code pointed to an important connection between World Vision’s faith-based development model and the building of hope in developing communities. That hope came through the consistent expression of kingdom values in the present and the community’s understanding that World Vision’s work was part of an overarching narrative about God’s love. This theme is of foundational importance. Development requires resilience, and resilience requires hope. This was a strongly supported and fully distributed connection (Figure 8.4).

People need to have a level of confidence about the future. When despair or fatalism take hold,

development work becomes very difficult. Cynicism and community disengagement make it very hard for projects

to be effective. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, it was reported that ‘Without hope, no

intervention will be effective nor sustainable.’41 There is a multi-layered connection between a faith-based approach to development and the inculcation of hope. Part of this is about living

40 _{Marquette, H 2013, ‘Corruption, religion and moral development’, in Clarke, M 2013 (ed.), pp. 220–237.} 41 _{Kilpatrick & Goode, p. 14.}

out kingdom values like love, care and encouragement, which may build trust with the development agency and its staff.

The data suggested, however, that the placing of an agency’s work within a religious narrative was also important. Comments made in communities included ‘God gives me hope for the future,’42 ‘We just have trust in God and hope that sometime it will be better’43 and ‘Faith gives people hope.’44 Furthermore, the disciplines of faith can build a kind of stoic endurance. The data from Lebanon illustrates this: ‘Faith is about commitment, we shouldn’t give up at the first struggle. Religion is about obedience and patience …’45 A quote from the capital Beruit echoed: ‘God is aware of our lot and looks after the poor. God is testing us, that’s why we are patient.’46

The particular way in which kingdom values built hope within communities differed according to the context. The differences were striking. In Senegal, a predominantly Muslim context, World Vision’s focus on living out kingdom values challenged the prevalent idea of

insha’Allah. The idea of insha’Allah is that God wills our present circumstances, thus

fatalistically precluding any action for change. This notion can be used to avoid personal responsibility and can ‘cause a sense of apathy …’47 _{After exposure to World Vision’s work,}

the imams spoke (unknowingly) in the language of empowerment. They stated that ‘When World Vision leaves we will teach about encouraging people to support each other, especially the poor’ and ‘Getting a federation from the community together to do what World Vision does.’48

In post-communist settings, the restoration of kingdom values was seen as vital to

restoring hope. Many communities have a damaged psyche, an engrained dependency and a sense of passive resignation. For example, the evaluation report for Bosnia and Herzegovina states: ‘In the post-communist period people to behave like somebody else will solve their problems.’49 A more detailed explanation came from Armenia:

Development is not just economic; it is much more than that. We have been under communist propaganda for 70 years and the church has been severely damaged as the propaganda has changed the mindset of generations, especially subsequent generations. This propaganda has established an atheistic generation and our values have been completely changed. Right now Armenia is in a state of transformation and we see

42 _{WV HR Coordinator, Bosnia and Herzegovina.}

43 _{FGD – Sokolac Community, ADP Krivaja, Bosnia and Herzegovina.}

44 _{FGD with youth from the Ain El Remmeneh Area, Lebanon.}

45 _{FGD Bkerkacha village community, ADP Bchare, Lebanon.}

46 _{FGD with women of ADP, Beirut area; These notes have been put in the first person for ease of expression.} 47 _{KII with an evangelist from SIM, Senegal.}

48 _{FGD with ADP Ndiognick Religious Leaders.}

development as the process to restore values. We do this as an organisation and support churches to restore values. The result will be people who will have values to serve their country and neighbours. It is easiest to start with children as they have not been affected

as much.50

Senior clergy in Armenia expressed the view that  the Soviet regime almost destroyed national and spiritual identity. A national leader stated that he saw the key to national reconstruction as re-establishing the moral authority of people. The essential task was moral formation leading to renewed hope.51 This observation echoed the comments of one theorist: ‘To survive, all societies need a minimum moral sense; acts of mercy are best done by the citizenry and not by an impersonal welfare state. Education, value formation and the use of power are approaches to changing social behaviour; but even more important than these is the ability to constructively engage structures, help communities to resources their own needs within their own context, and nurture a strategic minority that will create a presence and a voice in public space on behalf of the poor.’52

The promotion of kingdom values are essential to this kind of moral renaissance. In Albania, there could have been no clearer evidence of the need to instil hope at a community level than the local names chosen for each of the six ADPs:

• ‘Friendship and hope’ Vlora ADP

• ‘Partners for hope’ Elbasan 1 ADP

• ‘Together for a brighter future’ Elbasan 2 ADP

• ‘Better world for children’ Lezha ADP

• ‘Joyful and prosperous future’ Librazhd ADP

• ‘New beginnings’ Kurbin ADP.

In Rwanda, a strongly Christian context, hope was instilled by World Vision staff and community leaders explicitly modelling trust in God. This produced a sustaining hope at the community level. There were two detailed explanations given for how the personal example of World Vision staff translated to hope at a broader community level.

In the first example, an ADP staff member explained the connection this way: ‘WV serves the most vulnerable, often the very poor. As conditions slowly improve in the community, the worker, who is a Christian and from a Christian organisation, credits God for this. This

50 _{FGD, Idjevan staff, Tavush ADP, Armenia.}

51 _{KII with Prelate from the Armenian Apostolic Church.}

52 _{Maggay, M 2008, ‘Justice and approaches to social change’, in Hoek, M & Thacker, J (eds.), Micah}

Challenge: the church’s responsibility to the global poor, Paternoster, London, pp. 126–132, at p. 132. Referred to in Goode 2010a, p. 25.

encourages the community to trust God and to hope in God.’53In the second example, from the same FGD, humility was the key: ‘The community has development problems beyond the understanding or capacity of the worker. The worker then calls a meeting with the

community. The worker does their very best to try and resolve as much as possible together with the community. The worker will then “commit the rest to the Lord in prayer.” This illustrates to the community that the worker trusts God with difficulties and uncertainties. This encourages the community to do the same, and this builds hope.’54

In Tanzania, however, hope was of the ‘stoic endurance’ variety. It was stated that ‘last year we cultivated our lands but the rains did not fall and we did not get enough harvests. But we are planting again this year having faith in God that He will bring enough rain and a good harvest will be realised.’55

8.1.4.1 Preliminary analysis

Hope is critical for development to succeed. There is a correlation between World Vision’s commitment to living out kingdom values and the inculcation of hope. Exactly how this happened varied according to the context. Several different connections were noted.

In some contexts, the example of lived Christian values enabled the community to break through fatalism or cynicism and engage with development work. This included one Muslim context where fatalistic views about the will of God were common. For other communities, both Christian and Muslim, the overarching religious narrative of World Vision’s work seemed to help inculcate a kind of stoic endurance. In ex-communist settings, kingdom values played a central role in the moral (re)formation of communities. In East Africa, the modelling of thankfulness and trust by World Vision staff was instructive for the broader community.

While the ways in which hope is formed may differ, the necessity for hope is hard to gainsay. Almost anything can be endured when there is hope. The evidence showed that World Vision’s commitment to living for the kingdom and the broader narrative of its work provided an incubator for hope.

53 _{FGD with Robero ADP staff, Rwanda.}

54 _Ibid.

8.2 Standing against evil

Living for the kingdom has its corollary in standing against evil, as anything that

dehumanises and diminishes the fullness of life must be opposed. It has been observed that ‘The modern idea of development may be seen … as the secular translation of a millenarian belief, once general in Europe, concerning the construction of a perfect world. Inherent in this thinking are an aspiration to eliminate evil in all its forms from the earth …’ 56 When it comes to influencing public policy and claiming human rights, this process has been framed in the development lexicon as advocacy. For World Vision, it also retains more direct spiritual conceptions.