ABSTRACT
FBDOs need to move away from development projects and accompany the poorest, supporting their efforts, and advocating for international change. This change in action requires shifting power relations between donors, practitioners, and the poorest. The previous chapters argued that for development practice to be Christian-infused, it needs to empower the poorest, expand its notion of justice, and accompany the marginalized. This chapter addresses how development practices could shift to accompany the poorest. Aid agencies tend to present a wide gap between the privileged North whose duty it is to give and the underprivileged South who desperately needs help. This tendency results in two problems: first, the power differential between the North and South is enshrined. Second, it ignores the power differential within communities in the global North. Since a theology of development understands power as empowerment and partnership with the most marginalized to work toward justice as crucial, FBDOs need to educate their constituents about empowerment and justice because justice for each of us relies on justice for all. Practitioners should be on the ground, living with the poorest, facilitating community interaction, enabling the poorest to make their own decisions, and amplifying the voices of the poorest in the North.
