Water
It is estimated that over one-third of Africa’s population lacks access to a clean, safe, and reliable water source. In Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs), the figure can reach as high as seventy or eighty percent of the population. Throughout these ASAL areas, water system development is needed to secure clean water that is sufficient for daily needs such as drinking, cooking, hygiene, agriculture, and for long-term community stability. Through its Water for Life program, CWSEA supports partners and communities to develop and implement community-based water systems, emphasizing the need for multiple water sources to ensure water security.

Water for Life

School Safe Zones
Education is becoming elusive for many children in Africa due to poverty, violent conflicts, regional disparities, harmful cultural beliefs and practices, HIV/AIDS and other factors. The vision of “School Safe Zones” stems from a fundamental conviction that if primary and secondary schools across Africa can be made attractive environments where children can learn and study in a secure and supportive environment, free from all forms of violence, these schools can become a stabilizing influence for society at large.

SSZ incorporates a variety of strategies such as the creation of local alliances and networks between schools, the government, NGOs, churches, and the private sector; the development of a Safety Standards Manual for all public primary schools; capacity building for local school management committees and teachers; and the promotion of child-centered learning, clubs, and competitions.

School Safe Zones

Orphans and Vulnerable Children
As HIV/AIDS has ravaged communities in sub-Saharan Africa, large numbers of orphans and vulnerable children have been left to provide care and support for themselves, their younger siblings, and their ailing parents and guardians. According to a 2006 UNICEF/UNAIDS/PEPFAR report, more than twelve million children in sub-Saharan Africa have lost one or both parents to HIV/AIDS, and that number is expected to rise as the disease continues to take its toll.

CWSEA Giving Hope methodology looks to empower youth caregivers to take care of themselves and their families. Activities range from the formation of psychosocial support networks, micro-enterprise training and support, training in kitchen gardens, and HIV/AIDS prevention education and healthcare counseling.

Giving Hope

Improved Livelihoods
The level of poverty in most of the countries in the Eastern Africa Region is alarming, characterized by the lack of access to basic needs such as food, education, health care, and shelter. CWSEA’s Improved Livelihoods program focuses on female empowerment as empowering women has shown to be a way of contributing to positive economic change for both the women themselves and their wider households. Women in the African context traditionally have been marginalized in terms of education and economic decision-making. In light of this situation, the Improved Livelihoods program uses micro-business training and support and adult literacy to help women cope with the numerous responsibilities that they face in a challenging economic and social environment.

Improved Livelihoods

Emergency Response
In East Africa, drought and famine are the two most common natural disasters. When disasters such as these occur, the church and other faith communities provide the ideal platform for the effective delivery of humanitarian assistance and other livelihood interventions due to their presence on the ground and their understanding of the communities. Through trainings in disaster preparedness, mitigation, management, and trauma healing as well as financial assistance for disaster response through ACT International, CWSEA works to enable churches to fully utilize their positioning within communities.

Emergency Response

Durable Solutions for the Displaced
Due to regional conflicts, a high number of refugees and displaced persons live throughout the Eastern Africa region. In response to this need, CWSEA supports partners working in refugee camps to equip refugees with the information and skills necessary to rebuild their communities and to reintegrate into society at large. Educational programming includes such topics as refugee repatriation, HIV/AIDS, malaria, and peace building. Educational support also goes towards improving the learning environment of schools and vocational training centers and strengthening relationships between refugee groups and host communities.