CHRISTIAN AID NEWS

Building equality: Christian Aid partner
AWEC helped teenage prisoner Nozeni
Izatullah (centre) – convicted of a ‘moral’
crime – learn embroidery and literacy skills
to help her find work upon her release
Christian aid is ambitious and
impatient for change. We know that the
work we’ve been able to do in the past
six decades has improved the lives of
millions, but we also know that to
achieve lasting change on the scale that’s
needed, we must build an even bigger
force for good. to do this we seek to
strengthen our work through
partnership. We know that it is by
working together with others that we can
achieve an end to poverty for the world’s
poorest people.
The time is now
the world in which we operate is
changing dramatically, and on so many
fronts: economic power, available
resources, ideologies, communications
and climate. While some of these things
may be used to help in the battle against
poverty, they can also threaten the ability
of vulnerable communities to claim their
rights and gain equality.
societies today are becoming
increasingly unequal. Power is shifting
to the fast-growing economies of the
global East and south, while
international institutions find themselves
overwhelmed by the task of tackling the
world’s economic problems. supplies of
resources – from copper to water, food
to fossil fuels – are getting tighter, and
those with the greatest power often
exploit it. new conflicts emerge. our
insufficient care for our planet leads to
more frequent natural and man-made
disasters, and increased migration.
and alongside all this, technology is
transforming the way we interact, trade,
create communities and build political
movements. Globalisation certainly
opens up opportunities but it can also
undermine cultural diversity and local
enterprise.
in the face of these threats to the
world’s poor, Christian aid believes it is
essential that individuals and
communities play an even stronger role.
and that they come together to stand
alongside each other – to use their
influence to protect the rights of all and
ensure the dignity of every person.
Partnership with whom?
Who are the partners with whom we
seek to work? they are many and varied:
the churches and other nGos, certainly,
but also government and businesses.
and we seek to build partnerships with
individual supporters – all of you who so
tirelessly organise and influence your
communities: raising and giving money,
praying, campaigning and building
political pressure for change. Each of us
lives within a network of relationships,
which give us opportunities to influence
others: within our communities and our
churches, in our business dealings and
with our shopping choices and our
political actions – to name just a few.
and each and every one of us can
influence these relationships for good.
in our churches and communities, we
can raise awareness, give, act and pray
in support of Christian aid. as voters and
lobbyists, we can use our power to rouse
the conscience of politicians by
campaigning on issues such as tax
justice and climate change. and as
consumers and campaigners we can
change the policies of business, large
and small, through initiatives such as the
trace the tax campaign.
Christian aid is committed to growing
and deepening relationships between
individuals, communities and countries;
between civil society, business,
government, charities and churches;
between people of all faiths and of none,
in order to evolve and strengthen a vast,
necessary and unequivocal movement
for change. this is what we call our
Partnership for Change.
To seek what?
Christian aid’s analysis of poverty is that
at its root is a lack of power: the power,
for example, to have your say and be
heard, to know your rights and demand
them, to have access to essential
services, to share fairly in the world’s
resources and to have the security of not
just surviving, but also of thriving.
rooted in our belief in a creative and
loving God, Christian aid is clear that
poverty can be eradicated through
supporting and empowering individuals
and communities to change their lives.
We believe we can achieve this ambition
by focusing our skills and experience
where they can make the greatest
impact.
• The five examples outlined on the
following page highlight those areas on
which we will focus. Bless you and thank
you for all that you do to partner with us
to turn our new strategy into real and
lasting change.
Christian Aid News 19