Catholic and Non-Catholic NGOs Fighting HIV/Aids in Sub-Saharan Africa

Issue Framing and Collaboration

Bibliographic Data

ID4444151
AuthorsLisa L Ferrari (University of Puget Sound, corresponding author)
Year2011
Volume25
Issue1
Pages85-107
Publication date2011-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Relations (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0047-1178 • E-ISSN: 1741-2862
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0047117810397001
OpenAlexW2070192102
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited29

While governments in sub-Saharan Africa work to provide in-country relief for the HIV/AIDS crisis, much health care and infrastructure comes from local or international non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The literature on NGOs suggests that collaboration increases their efficacy. Many non-Catholic NGOs do not work collaboratively with Catholic NGOs on HIV/AIDS, though the Catholic Church has rich and varied resources at its disposal for relief work. Observers often characterize the incompatibility of Catholic and non-Catholic NGOs as tactical, especially with regard to condom use. However, divergent issue framing is a critical and more fundamental distinction between the two groups. Contrasting the Catholic Church's unique spiritual frame with the scientific frame of many non-Catholic NGOs highlights the epistemological and teleological differences between the two. Reconciling these differing approaches, or finding ways to cooperate despite them, is a key element of promoting broader NGO collaboration on HIV/AIDS relief work. This theoretical analysis suggests directions for future empirical research

Economic growth · Economics · Framing (construction) · Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) · Political science · Public relations · Sociology · Work (physics) · International Development and Aid · Medicine · Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare · Religion, Society, and Development · Virology