ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses how the translated on an operational level into practical issues where decisions made also came from the dynamics of what is constructed as "sacred" and as "secular" by different staff members occupying various power positions. It focuses specifically on the vulnerability of a particular category of staff within the Comite d’Entraide Internationale (CEI) and discusses how as a faith-based organisation it responded to the precariousness of its fieldworkers. The chapter begins with a description of the staff and volunteer structure in the CEI to illustrate the position of the fieldworkers. It examines the concept of brokerage as a form of mediation, considering the various actors of the CEI as brokers at different levels. The CEI brokers with donors were predominantly European or American, whereas the brokers with migrants were predominantly sub-Saharan African, reflecting the resources and skills of each different "type" of broker within the CEI.
