What happened to domestic programmes? The intriguing case of Islamic Relief Worldwide

Islamic Relief Worldwide’s (IRW’s) Global Strategy 2017–2021 includes as part of its Goal 2 the commitment to “Manage sustainable domestic programmes in established partner countries, supported primarily by appeals and grants”. These ‘domestic programmes’ (DPs) have developed in what IRW term ‘Partner Offices’ which were originally established for fundraising and so are located within the Global North or parts of the Global South where funding is available. This chapter revisits the data collected for this research, using Bourdieu’s theory of practice, specifically the concepts of ‘habitus’ and ‘doxic’ fields or domains. It begins by situating domestic programming empirically, using examples from IRW and Oxfam International’s work. The chapter outlines the methodology used in the original research and the theoretical framework, defining habitus and doxic domains and how they are operationalised. It then explores the findings, considering how the DPs both reinforce and rupture the organisational habitus of IRW, doxic domain of ‘international development’ and the challenges this poses for IRW.

This is an Accepted Manuscript of a book chapter published by Routledge in Researching Development NGOs: Global and Grassroots Perspectives on 28 April 2023, available online: https://www.routledge.com/9780367489458