Importance of Role and Agency of Fieldworkers in Transformational Development Work by Christian NGOs

Abstract

This article makes the case for the agency and the role of fieldworkers as critical considerations in community development projects of NGOs and in transformational development work undertaken by Christian NGOs. For the latter the role and agency of fieldworkers become even more important, as inner transformation and transformation of relationships requires fieldworkers’ investment through relationships in people and not just interventions in programme population. The article explores the concept of agency, personhood, social changes and transformational development and what they mean for the transformational development work of Christian NGOs. The paper argues that donor funded programs, which give prominence to external interventions but pay lip service to actor-oriented approaches create tensions for the frontline workers and instrumentalises them. The paper closes with recommendations for Christian NGOs in helping to reconcile fieldworkers’ agency and their role in transformational development even as NGOs work with donor funding in development projects.