An analysis of the agricultural assistance activities of United States-based religious agencies: the role of the mission staff, the local community, the host government, attitudinal and institutional factors, and technology

This study focuses on the agricultural assistance activities of a select group of religious agencies that in combination administer a significant proportion of United States-based religious aid abroad with respect to agricultural assistance. The primary purpose of the study is to discover how these religious agencies handle technical assistance, identifying differences between their approach as opposed to others and attempting, in the process, to identify factors that increase the chances for success of agricultural projects aimed at benefiting the rural poor in the developing Third World countries. An analytical framework, constructed around the issues influencing project success that have warranted frequent discussion in the development literature, is utilized in examining the agricultural assistance activities of the religious agencies selected for inclusion in the study. The missionary force of these United States-based religious agencies is drawn upon extensively as an invaluable, though largely untapped, source of information concerning what does, and what does not, enhance the effectiveness of agricultural assistance efforts. For analytical purposes, the issues to be addressed in the study have been divided into the following five categories: the role of the mission staff, the role of the local community, the role of the host government, the role of "attitudinal and institutional" factors, and the role of technology.

A questionnaire, carefully formulated to address the issues deemed relevant to the study, served as the primary technique for data collection. The questionnaire not only provided the researcher with statistical information but, perhaps more importantly, with extensive written comments by survey respondents that aided tremendously in identifying factors that increase the chances for success of agricultural assistance projects.

The agricultural assistance efforts of United States-based missionary-sending agencies are distinguished by the fact that they are normally person- rather than project-centered. Agricultural missionaries are more concerned about helping "people" than about conducting "projects." Indeed, the emphasis placed by mission agencies on "wholistic" ministries is consistent with the recent call in the literature for more of an anthropological approach in the field of agricultural development.