ABSTRACT
Faith-based organizations are often first responders in many humanitarian crises across the world and they are also among some of the largest NGO actors in the humanitarian field. Nevertheless, their religious identity is often either ignored by other actors, or simply overlooked. This article provides insight into why religion matters to development cooperation and humanitarian action. It emphasizes the importance of faith-based work and describes a concrete situation whereby decades of engagement by such humanitarian actors can sometimes be silenced. The chapter argues that appreciating the role of faith-based actors and their engagement with the secular community is essential. It concludes that humanitarian actors from global faith traditions can be instrumental in developing more effective humanitarian and developmental practices for the common good.
