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Faith-Based Organizational Identity in the International Humanitarian Sector: A Comparative Study of World Vision International, Catholic Relief Services, Islamic Relief Worldwide and Tzu Chi Foundation
University of Gävle, Faculty of Education and Business Studies, Department of Humanities.
2024 (English)Independent thesis Advanced level (degree of Master (Two Years)), 20 credits / 30 HE creditsStudent thesis
Abstract [en]

This master’s thesis studies four Faith-Based Humanitarian Organizations (FBO) in the international humanitarian sector: World Vision International (WVI), Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW) and Tzu Chi Foundation (TCF). Using a theoretical framework based on organizational identity, the research examines from the FBOs own views the causes behind their origins, the impact of external factors on their identities and strategies, their current self-perception, and provides insights for future faith-based humanitarian work. Through the qualitative methods, digital archival design and online semi-structured interviews with senior staff, the study’s findings shows that each FBO was started as a response to a specific humanitarian tragedy and was driven by religious motivation. Since the origin, the FBOs have adapted their organizational identities and operational strategies to external factors. WVI and CRS have gone from church-based to community-based approaches, IRW has worked to demystify Islam in humanitarian work, and TCF maintained a consistent Buddhist-based approach through for example a TV channel and academic symposiums. The research identifies the crucial need for FBOs to balance their religious identities with secular humanitarian principles, focusing on localization, community engagement, interfaith cooperation, and strategic presentation of religious identities. To build on this thesis, future research can focus on investigating and comparing more FBOs, their roles in disaster preparedness and communication strategies.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2024. , p. 75
Keywords [en]
faith based humanitarian organisations, humanitarian work, organisational identity
National Category
Religious Studies
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hig:diva-44775OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hig-44775DiVA, id: diva2:1873233
Subject / course
Religious studies
Educational program
Master Programme in Religious Studies
Supervisors
Examiners
Available from: 2024-06-20 Created: 2024-06-19 Last updated: 2024-06-20Bibliographically approved

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Faith-Based Organizational Identity in the International Humanitarian Sector: A Comparative Study of World Vision International, Catholic Relief Services, Islamic Relief Worldwide and Tzu Chi Foundation(695 kB)131 downloads
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CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

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Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • harvard-cite-them-right
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • sv-SE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • de-DE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
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  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf