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Contribution short abstract

This presentation explores how foreign aid cuts reshape the role of faith actors in development. It examines opportunities and risks to rights-based approaches, and implications for a decolonised, locally driven aid architecture, marking a critical juncture for research, policy, and practice.

Contribution long abstract

The recent wave of foreign aid reductions represents a defining moment for the field of religions and development. Faith-Based Organisations (FBOs) have historically played a central role in service delivery, advocacy, and community resilience, yet these actors now face unprecedented funding volatility. This juncture raises fundamental questions about how religion is positioned within development policy and practice, and how scholarship responds to shifting global priorities.

This presentation will address four research questions:

1. How are current aid reductions reshaping the role of faith actors within development policy and practice?

2. What opportunities and risks emerge when faith actors assume greater responsibility in contexts of reduced donor oversight?

3. How do these dynamics challenge or reinforce rights-based approaches, particularly regarding gender equality, sexual minorities, and interfaith relations?

4. What are the implications of these shifts for the future of an aid architecture that is increasingly decolonised and locally driven?

This moment constitutes a critical juncture because it may redefine the normative frameworks and practical engagement strategies of the international aid system. On one hand, faith actors are well placed to sustain development outcomes through trust and local networks. On the other, diminished donor scrutiny risks amplifying forms of religious influence that conflict with rights-based development, such as proselytisation or exclusionary attitudes. By synthesising existing evidence and situating these trends within the historical trajectory of religions and development research, this study will illuminate how current disruptions could shape future scholarship, policy, and practice.