Humanitarian Response Program Profile
Background
On every continent, there are communities in crisis where people’s lives have been severely or entirely
disrupted due to natural and/or human made disasters. The consequences of such disasters are most
severe for impoverished and marginalized peoples. Women, children, the elderly, physically challenged
people and those living with HIV and AIDS are most at risk because of their relatively low coping
capacities. Today, the number of forcibly displaced people worldwide exceeds 42 million, the majority
of them living within their countries as Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). Over 15 million of these
displaced people have fled their home countries and are living in refugee camps or in urban slums,
mostly in neighbouring countries.
PWRDF’s Humanitarian Response Program addresses the needs of people freshly affected by disasters
as well as those whose needs can be long-term such as IDPs and refugees. Despite the disruption to
their lives and increased vulnerability, communities in crisis bring coping mechanisms, strategies for
survival, skills, strengths, wisdom and knowledge to their new situations. PWRDF affirms their inherent
abilities to cope and respond. PWRDF’s accompaniment of such communities does not start from
ground zero but builds on lived experiences, values and traditions of communities that have survived
and continue to survive immense challenges.
Global Partner: ACT Alliance
PWRDF responds to emergencies through a global ecumenical body known as the ACT Alliance, of which
it is a member. ACT members on the ground inform the ACT Alliance of an emergency situation and
propose an appropriate response. Members around the world then mobilize resources to support those
affected. ACT provides PWRDF with an effective mechanism to respond to emergencies anywhere in
the world, as they happen. Local organizations have the knowledge, trust and the ability to work with
local people. Rooted in this context, ACT Alliance members can also follow up on the immediate
emergency response with essential, but longer term rehabilitation processes.
Canadian Alliances
PWRDF is a member of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank (CFGB), a Canadian ecumenical association of
fifteen church-based agencies working towards ending hunger in the Global South. Through CFGB,
PWRDF is now able to draw down CIDA matching funds, often at a ratio of 4:1, for food response
projects and also to collaborate with other member agencies on selected projects.
PWRDF is a founding member of Canadian Churches in Action (CCA), an informal alliance of 10 Canadian
church-based agencies, all of whom are also members of CFGB. CCA has enabled PWRDF to collaborate
with other member agencies on non-food emergency responses, such as shelter provision following the
2010 Pakistan floods. This work is enhanced by accessing grants from agencies such as CIDA, the
Manitoba Council for International Cooperation (MCIC) and the Saskatchewan Council for International
Cooperation (SCIC).
Response to Refugees
PWRDF’s refugee work has a national and an international component, supporting partners in Kenya,
Egypt, India and Sri Lanka who work with refugees, migrants and those who are internally displaced. In
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Canada, PWRDF works with ecumenical and secular partners in developing policy and advocating for just
and fair immigration law and practice. PWRDF also supports the refugee ministry of Anglican dioceses
that includes the sponsorship of refugees by dioceses and parishes that have signed a refugee
sponsorship agreement with the Government of Canada.
PWRDF Partner Profile
The National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) works with refugees in Kenya in refugee camps and
urban centres. Kakuma Refugee Camp is one of the country’s largest with an estimated population of
100,000, the majority of whom are from Somalia, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo
(DRC). NCCK programs focus on youth, the majority of whom are in the Kakuma camp, sex trade
workers, refugees from host communities, and vulnerable urban refugees. The program includes
information and awareness building, including prevention of HIV and AIDS, livelihoods skills and income
generation training and support for commercial sex workers who are prepared to leave the sex trade.
PWRDF has also worked with NCCK to provide durable shelter to the most vulnerable members of the
refugee and host communities.
Ms. Maria Luala, 30, was displaced by the conflict in the DRC and arrived at the Kakuma camp in June
2010 after a long and uncertain journey. She is a single parent with six children ranging in age from 3 to
13. Her husband disappeared during the conflict in the DRC and she does not know what has happened
to him.
Like the majority of refugees, Maria and her family live on the rations distributed to them by the United
Nations World Food Program (WFP) and their rights including freedom of movement are severely
constrained. Illicit brewing of alcohol resulting in high rates of alcoholism and commercial sex work are
some of the negative coping strategies that members of the refugee communities resort to. All of these
coping strategies exacerbate gender-based violence.
The NCCK program encourages and supports those at risk, such as Maria, to initiate income generating
activities. Self Help Groups raise poultry and rabbits, operate barbershops and hair salons, small
restaurants and grocery stores. A cooperative of 20 women and men supported by NCCK raise 100
laying hens. NCCK arranged technical and business training and the 20 members work in shifts to tend
the birds. Demand for eggs is high in the camp and in the host communities. Income for the month of
January 2012 was recorded at 24,280 Kenyan Shillings (roughly $300). Members share eggs that may
not be fit for sale and are allowed to take 2 eggs home every month.
Maria says the project has given the cooperative members more than just income. It has brought
refugees of different nationalities living in the camp together. “Instead of loitering around, we have
some work, and our mind is set. My children know their mom now goes for work” she says, adding that
she wants to raise her children in moral ways, and is supporting them in their education.
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