Under the radar: Ethical issues surrounding foreign grassroots faith-based organizations working in China

Introduction/Objective: Profound transitions are currently taking place in China leading to a growing need for the development of public health infrastructure. While strict governmental policies surrounding official registration of civil society organizations (CSOs) limit the ability of foreign CSOs to enter the Chinese landscape, an unexpected player has slipped into Chinese civil society under the radar. Foreign grassroots faith-based organizations (GFBOs), forced to work outside the legal framework due to their religious affiliations, are able to secure funding through informal sources without being legally registered by the Chinese government. Their unofficial status grants them an “invisibility” that enables them to work with sensitive populations rarely accessible to officially registered CSOs. However, GFBOs often use systems of informal payments to ensure access to these populations, thereby reinforcing corruption and undermining healthy civil society development. This paper will explore the ethical issues surrounding the work of GFBOs in China today.

Methods: Using two case studies of GFBO-run programs at orphanages in Shenyang, China, this paper explores the following questions: 1) Are GFBOs efficiently providing health services to those in need? 2) Are GFBOs creating burdens for society? 3) If they are creating burdens, can these burdens be minimized? and 4) How do the benefits of GFBO programs weigh against the burdens they create?

Results/Conclusion: The work of GFBOs in China raises serious ethical concerns. While GFBOs provide clear short-term benefits to disadvantaged, hard-to-reach populations, their work is not always performed efficiently and creates long-term burdens that threaten healthy civil society development.