Development Education by the World Council of Churches and its Commission on the Churches' Participation in Development from 1966 to 1991

2020년 2월

서울대학교 대학원

협동과정 글로벌교육협력 전공

이화진(Rebekah Hwajhin LEE)

This study examines the case of development education by the World

Council of Churches (WCC) primarily through the Commission on the Churches’

Participation in Development (CCPD) between 1966 and 1991 to show how the

organization’s values, development perspectives, and development education

approaches were shaped and negotiated through different phases. The WCC’s

place as an international faith-based development organization (FBO) involved

in development education will be examined to find potential implications for

both the development education sector and the faith-based organizations

approaching development education.

The main research question is formulated as follows: between 1966 and

1991, how did the WCC and its subunit CCPD conceptualize development and

development education? Sub-questions include: What were some internal and

external factors that contributed to the emergence of critical pedagogical

development education in the WCC? What factors led to shifts in perspectives on

development and development education through different phases? The research

questions are answered by examining the history of the WCC and the CCPD and

analyzing based on conceptual frameworks drawn from literature review on

development education by non-government organizations (NGOs).

Categorizations of practices in development education by Arnold (1988) and

Krause (2010) were examined to form a conceptual framework with which to

examine the WCC’s development education. The perspectives on development

cooperation were identified as charity, interdependence, and liberation, and the

approaches to development education were identified as public relations and

fundraising, awareness raising, mobilization, and empowerment. With the

framework five key questions were also formulated to analyze the findings on

issues of funding, service projects, political stance, partnership with the North

and the South, and education as process and outcome.

Archival documentary materials were gathered as primary and secondary

sources to examine the organization’s values based on theology and ecumenical

social thought, along with its development perspectives and development

education approaches in four different phases. The phases are contextualized

through reviews of literature on development education by NGOs in those time

periods. Internal and external factors that contributed to shifts in perspectives

and approaches were considered.

In the first phase from 1966 to 1970, the WCC followed the mainstream

perception of development as economic growth. While structural change was

necessary, it assumed a harmony of interests between the North and the South.

The WCC called for churches and nations to increase development assistance

and contribute a share of their budget. The development education secretariat

was formed in the WCC in 1968 to raise awareness of development issues, and

motivate Northern constituents to participate in political campaigns and

encourage monetary contribution.

In the second phase from 1970 to 1975, the CCPD was formed based on the

requests by the churches in the South for a more equal development partnership

with the churches in the North, based on the principles of social justice, selfreliance, and economic growth. Influenced by the emerging dependency theory,

liberation theology, and critical pedagogy by Paulo Freire, the CCPD soon

incorporated principles of liberation, people’s movement, and conscientization,

and adopted the strategy of networking, decentralization, and experimentation.

Development education was based on a conflict perspective of liberation rather

than harmonious interdependence, and was practiced by coordinating visitations,

workshops, and consultations for development education partners and political

action groups, primarily in the North. Fundraising in the North was to also serve

as an instrument for development education.

From 1975 to 1981 in the third phase, the WCC and the CCPD

supplemented their actions with theological studies, and more specifically

focused on partnering with member churches. Development education became

even more essential to the CCPD’s strategy to support the churches’ own

reflections. With a new formulation of an ideal society as just, participatory, and

sustainable, the WCC sought to support the non-aligned nations in the Cold War

global structure with their proposal for a new international economic order.

Based on the perspective on development as liberation, the CCPD sought to

assume a catalytic role within the WCC to challenge the Council and the

churches to question the status quo. The CCPD study on “The Church of the

Poor” became the foundational theological articulation on the churches’

participation in development. But development education, along with the CCPD

and the rest of the Council, encountered resistance from the member churches

reluctant to take political action. It was also difficult to move the North’s

constituents from awareness to action, to connect global issues with their local

concerns, and to raise funding without appealing to a sense of charity. These

issues motivated the CCPD and its development education partners to reflect on

the pedagogical process of development education and identify several existing

models, and come up with a model of ecumenical education. Ecumenical

education incorporated both the conflict model of liberation and conscientization,

and the softer model of global awareness for intercultural understanding. Partly

given budget cuts, organizational overlap, and the demands to cross-fertilize

development education with Christian education, the desk was realigned as a

joint venture between the CCPD and the Subunit on Education in 1981.

The global context in the fourth phase between 1981 and 1991 changed the

character of development education which was now called education for justice,

peace, and integrity of creation. The WCC’s priority was to facilitate the

conciliar process of justice, peace, and the integrity of creation (JPIC) by

responding to various contexts and cultures of the local and regional movements

and church groups. The CCPD continued to be activist in character, but became

less politically vocal and worked more through the institutional church channels

than in the past decade. Development education that was incorporated into

ecumenical education based on both the concept of liberation and

interdependence was intended to reconcile the oppressor and the oppressed

through dialogues in regional JPIC workshops. The fundraising and awareness

raising components continued in the CCPD, along with empowerment through

critical analysis, though the action component was less highlighted.

The WCC and the CCPD’s experience show how an international

ecumenical organization conceived of international development cooperation and

promoted critical development education. The Committee tried with difficulty to

hold education and fundraising together without compromising on its values.

And rather than providing temporary service projects, the Committee embraced

its role in education and advocacy through networking with the partners in the

South. It also promoted political education and action for social justice and

systemic change, but encountered resistance from those reluctant to commit to

political action or side with what they equated with Marxism. The CCPD also

tried to prioritize participation and input from the marginalized South, but its

relationship with various Northern partners with whom the Commission

promoted development education was less clear. The CCPD’s emphasis on action

was also supplemented by its reflections on theology and pedagogy.

Development education was eventually combined with other aspects of

education in the WCC and was incorporated into ecumenical education. This

advanced pedagogical reflections on development education but resulted in

downplaying the critical political action component and separating education

from development cooperation in the WCC. The final emphasis on reconciliation

in ecumenical education tried to work toward peace and unity while giving due

attention to tensions and grievances, but in the general global climate of

conservatism and neoliberalism in the 1980s and the 1990s, and the churches’

reluctance to address tensions, the WCC returned to the softer forms of

development education.

The WCC and the CCPD’s experience with development education holds

several implications. Today fundraising continues to be an instrument of

development education. Ways to transparently and critically link both elements

must be devised. Specifically, critical development education should also be an

essential element in development cooperation and NGOs as not just a program

thrust but as a mode that defines partnerships of solidarity and mutual learning.

Critical development education should also include a political dimension,

especially in the non-formal sectors through NGOs and FBOs. Especially for

Christian FBOs, critical development education with its unity of action and

reflection should be a foundation for its political activism. Such development

education facilitates a way toward the churches and the ecumenical movement’s

own renewal.