When a teenage girl living in a socially and economically difficult area of Cape Town becomes a young mother, she is thrust into bringing up and caring for a precious new life – and yet is often ill equipped to do so. However, if a young girl is well equipped for becoming a woman, she […]
Tag: Training
Increasing quality and credibility
BY ANNA BARKER “Not all church leaders are trained about how to manage organisations. We work on a programme called QIS where we go right through the entire organisation – their sustainability, governance, registration and compliance – so that they don’t have any gaps and are absolutely compliant with the laws of the country.” (Gary […]
Why Families Matter
It’s estimated that there are 145 million registered orphans across the world, and of these only about 9 per cent have lost both parents. Many families are unstable and millions more children are separated from one or both parents due to violence, abuse, alcoholism, substance abuse, HIV/AIDS, and other conflicts. Too many children are suffering […]
“We trust you”: the power of relationship
BY KEZIA M’CLELLAND This Spring, Eastern Ghouta, 10km from the centre of Damascus, saw seven weeks of intense bombardment and destruction, in which at least 301 children lost their lives. It’s easy to feel helpless as we watch situations like this unfold and, as the fighting continues outside the headlines, it can be hard to […]
Floating Churches & Firm Foundations
BY JUSTINE DEMMER Justine Demmer, Viva’s Network Consultant for Asia, gives us a glimpse into a recent trip to Cambodia where she visited a floating church, and the children who call it home. I step outside of our accommodation in Siem Riep, North-Western Cambodia to find an open wagon drawn by a motorcycle. Our child […]
Teaching Teachers to Play
BY JANET GAUKROGER Janet Gaukroger has been working with our partner network CRANE in Uganda for over 10 years. On her most recent visit last month, she helped lead a learning retreat for ten young women who are training to be early childhood teachers. She tells of her experience meeting the group of soon-to-be teachers […]
Hygiene training protects Nepali communities
The Nepal earthquake almost three years ago left thousands living in temporary shelter. Community rehabilitation is a continual process, which carries on long after global media attention has faded away. CarNet Nepal (Viva’s Partner Network in Nepal) has been working on a central tenant of rehabilitation and ongoing community health effort: training in hygiene care. […]
Lava Floors and Magic Helmets
BY HANNAH BARR At Doorsteps, we’re now a few weeks in to the second year of running Find Your Fire, our youth leadership development programme. We’ve had such a strong start to the year and have been really blown away by how much interest and enthusiasm there has been for the project from young people, […]
Ordinary people saving lives
BY LIZ CROSS Betty, Anna, Fiona and Harriet really are a force for a change in their communities. Joy radiates from them and they are constantly laughing and joking around with one another. These are four of our volunteer peer health educators who I have the privilege of meeting whilst visiting Uganda. Going for a […]
Philippines’ volunteer training in response to conflict
Starting today, PCMN, our partner network in the Philippines, is holding three days of training for 60 volunteers to respond to the psycho-social and emotional needs of displaced children affected by the Marawi conflict. Around 360,000 people are displaced by fighting, which broke out in May between government forces and the ISIS-inspired Maute rebel group. […]