Paper short abstract:

This paper compares strategies used by Christian and Islamic NGOs in Côte d'Ivoire. Drawing on national and transnational networks, a growing number of religious NGOs develop children-oriented programs that weave together humanitarian aid and proselytizing activities.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper, we address recent developments in strategies used by religious NGOs that focus on the welfare of children in Côte d'Ivoire. While children's evangelization is not central to the literature on religion and development, since the 2002 political and military conflict in Côte d'Ivoire, actions geared to children and their salvation have significantly grown with the creation of Christian and Muslim NGOs dedicated to them. At the crossroad of national and transnational networks, a number of religious NGOs have developed extensive programs that weave together humanitarian aid and proselytizing activities. The apparent tension between these two realms of social actions raises, on the one hand, the issue of the dynamic roles of religious NGOs in the reconstruction of an Ivorian public space. On the other hand, it points out potential diverging notions of "development" between international donors, local governments and actors of religious NGOs. The paper is based on ethnographic field research conducted in the city of Abidjan in 2011 and 2012. On the basis of extended case studies on Christian and Muslim NGOs, we propose first to highlight common elements to their children-oriented strategies. In the second place, we will show how doctrinal standpoints, social and political networks as well as economic resources account for divergences in their actions and programs. The analysis will draw attention on how both Christian and Muslim NGOs base their programs on education and the construction of schooling facilities, while Christian NGOs also appeal to a subtle juxtaposition of gift, play and evangelization.