We want to see communities transformed

Local churches begin a lifelong journey when they embrace and commit to partnering in God’s mission to bring restoration.

This journey empowers them, changes mindsets and brings about transformation in both the church and the community. The church seeks ‘whole-life’ change, and responds to the needs of their local community holistically and from within. Their destination is what we refer to as ‘Church and Community Transformation’ (CCT) as people realise their potential and recognise the resources God has given them.

CCT approaches vary and are adapted for every different country and church context. They need to be locally-owned to be effective: there is not a set of fixed steps that works everywhere. But we know that, universally, local church leaders and facilitators are key agents of change as they walk closely with individuals and communities.

Again this year, we’ve seen churches stepping up and responding to crises, conflicts, Covid-19 and climate change. These responses have included: peacebuilding, livelihoods, water and sanitation, climate-smart agriculture, self-help groups and savings groups, waste management and small scale enterprises, and changing social norms and negative behaviours – particularly related to gender-based violence.

All of these initiatives are locally-owned and led by churches and local partners. We have seen that their close collaboration at the heart of community brings transformational change.

 What we learnt

Working with both faith leaders and community members to address negative social norms and mindsets such as attitudes of dependency needs to be an important part of our livelihoods programmes.

To strengthen economic sustainability, climate-smart agriculture and other environment-related livelihoods programmes should integrate financial management
and business training. Connecting the products and services that communities provide to real markets helps them achieve better incomes.

We know we can go further

We are firmly convinced of the importance of involving women and young people closely in our peacebuilding work. This has proved harder than anticipated, however, due to a number of barriers including literacy levels. We will be more deliberate in identifying obstacles and adapting our programming accordingly. Wherever possible, we will try to ensure our peacebuilding work builds on programmes that address gender inequality.

Going forward in 2022/23, we aim to: 

• Support projects that produce green jobs, demonstrate sustainability and reduce inequality in programmes in at least 15 countries
• See 28,000 churches mobilised and achieving transformation in their community
• Help build relationships between communities in conflict and across social divides in 15 countries