Church World Service, based in the United States, works domestically and through local organisations in 80 countries to provide assistance to those affected by disasters. Donna Derr, associate for international emergency response, spoke to Lauren Pollock about the organisation's plans to become more active in Colombia, North Korea, and the Middle East.

AN: What is the mission of Church World Service?

DD: Our mission encompasses several areas -- relief and development, immigration and refugee services, advocacy and education, and what we call mission partnerships.

AN: In what area has your organisation made the most positive impact on society?

DD: I would have to say that domestically I think it is in the way we have tried to engage people through our CROP (Christian Rural Overseas Program) sponsored walks, which are one of our primary fundraisers. We have engaged people in way that provides an opportunity for education about some of the hunger and health emergency issues around the world that they might somehow affect through their support. Internationally, one of our strengths is that we don’t see the need to open a lot of offices and stamp the Church World Service name on them in different countries. Instead, we find local churches or NGOs that can provide assistance to people. Then that also helps boost the local economies in the countries where we work.

AN: How does Church World Service receive its funds?

DD: The CROP walks are a major fundraiser for us. We also receive substantial support from block grants from our member denominations. For example, the national offices of the Presbyterian and American Baptist churches give block grants to support the work of Church World Service. We do direct mail initiatives a couple of times a year that allow for support from individuals. We also receive and seek out foundation funding from U.S.-based foundations. Finally, for a select few of our programmes, we do receive funding from the U.N. or from the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration here in the United States. Occasionally, as in the case of Indonesia, we receive some USAID (U.S Agency for International Development) funds.

AN: What does Church World Service do specifically to help women?

DD: In terms of international aid, I think a great deal of focus after any emergency is on who are the most vulnerable of those affected. So often our assistance is focused on women, children, and the elderly. In the current emergency, particularly in Pakistan, we have pre-crisis done quite a bit of work with street theatre and other kinds of educational tools to promote the rights of women in communities. We are utilising some of the women’s cooperatives and groups that have developed to help us in this emergency. They are doing some income generation work for us, making quilts and blankets that we’re going to be using in some of the settlement sites where we’re serving. I think women are always a focus. We work really hard to make sure that women-headed households are among those whom we give special attention in any response.

AN: You said development is a key part of your mission. Can you describe what you call people-centred development programmes?

DD: We work primarily with and through partners in much of our development work, meaning we support partners who are often local NGOs, councils and churches to put forward development proposals that seem appropriate for their area and economic circumstance. Then we support them in that activity both financially and with technical assistance, so it’s very people-centred in the sense of building the local capacity to manage their own development activities. In the context of our relief, immigration, and other programme areas of activity, we see ourselves as very people-centred because we do hold ourselves to the value that we need to serve based on need alone and regardless of any other issues like religious affiliation or ethnicity.

AN: How is your organisation trying to stop the spread of AIDS?

DD: At the moment, we are very focused on that activity in Africa, and we are exploring how to expand what we are doing beyond Africa. We are supporting educational activities like AIDS education and awareness programmes that some of our partners are carrying out. We are also supporting hospice programmes for those with AIDS in certain countries.

AN: What challenges does Church World Service face?

DD: There’s an increasing amount of need that we see because of the large numbers of disasters and development needs in different countries. There is also an increasing number of major health issues that have the potential to become catastrophes. How one focuses one’s resources, which are always limited, is always a difficult question.

AN: What are some of the organisation’s long-term goals?

DD: In terms of collective goals, we have agreed to work toward HIV/AIDS education awareness and response. That’s a priority for us. Certainly another goal for us is simply what we call capacity building, whether it be for emergency response and development or education and advocacy. Capacity building really puts our partners in a particular country at the forefront of what we should be doing there. They can help us decide what we should be doing in terms of education and advocacy. Finally, we’ve identified some geographic areas of concern that we intend to develop in the next three years. Some of those are Colombia, North Korea, and the Middle East.

AN: What are some of your upcoming projects or programmes?

DD: We’re looking at emergency activities in a couple of areas -- obviously Pakistan and Afghanistan. Another continues to be Indonesia. We’re also continuing to try to broaden our emergency response activities in West Africa, particularly in Sierra Leone and Liberia. At this point, we have the possibility of supporting our partners in these countries. They’ve proposed some expanded response programming in areas that are now open to them, in terms of helping people who are returning to their communities who had been internally displaced or those who were combatants who have now disarmed moving back into their communities. We’re trying to get into place some permanent housing for these people. We want to help with housing, school and clothing supplies for children, and getting health clinics back up and running. We are trying to give financial support and some technical support in the health care area and material assistance that we’ll be purchasing in the region or sending from here in the United States.g from here in the United States.