Development, Divinity, and Dharma: The Role of Religion in Development Institutions and Microfinance

Faith-based institutions are getting involved in economic development programs, including microfinance, and many foreign donors are looking to religious organizations for new ways to reach the poorest people. This book considers the work of a number of these, of different faiths, and asks what is special about them. Do religious links make these organizations more or less effective? Should spiritual development and economic upliftment be kept apart?

Development, Divinity and Dharma explores these questions by examining a number of Hindu, Christian and Muslim institutions in India and in Pakistan. Its main focus is the Shri Kshetra Dharmasthala Rural Development program, which though little known outside south India, has changed the lives of almost half a million people, including Hindus, Muslims and Christians, through social and economic development programs which are motivated by religious faith.