Africa
Liberia, Malawi, Nigeria, Uganda, Zambia, South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Mozambique
Asia
Philippines, Cambodia, Laos
Latin America
Nicaragua, Haiti, Ecuador, Honduras
North America
United States
Africa
Liberia, Malawi, Nigeria, Uganda, Zambia, South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya
LEAD
Partners Worldwide became active in Liberia through the dynamic relationship of Madison Square CRC congregation in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and the Providence Baptist Church in Monrovia, the capital city of Liberia. The primary focus is the training, capacity building, and growth of local business initiatives. Over 900 businesses have been assisted and are currently being mentored. Find out more at www.leadinliberia.netChristian Entrepreneurs Association of Malawi (CHREAM)
CHREAM utilizes small and medium-sized businesses and professional people to eliminate poverty and advance the Kingdom of God. Through their calling and ordination in the market place, they are addressing the economic and spiritual needs of Malawi’s Christian Entrepreneurs.Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F)
This project involves over 100 farmers and 400 businesses in growing and developing their skills to increase business and productivity in the agricultural sector. Farmers are improving yield and food security through conservation farming techniques.Water Wins
This is exciting, integrated with community development, and has high impact. Throughout the past few years, there have been a total of 115 boreholes drilled, serving dozens of communities. Steve Buer Well Drilling out of Caledonia, Michigan, in cooperation with an affiliate group out of Zeeland, Michigan—headed by Doug Tubergen—plan, encourage, and make annual trips to bring more clean water to the people of Nigeria. Carolyn Wynstra from Lynden, WA is also engaging 20 congregations to support this work. Please check out www.waterwins.com for more information.Partners for Christian Empowerment in Nigeria (PCEN)
There are three active chapters within PCEN with 148 business members. Several have been active since 2003. In 2006 training for the structure, policies, procedures, and board members was implemented. We are developing a personal business profile for each business including an action plan, a stewardship goal, and a mentorship component.Uganda Affiliate
Partners Worldwide is establishing partnerships with two local affiliates of business and professional people in Uganda. These groups are partnered with North American counterparts to provide business consultation to the group and individual members. The affiliates are organizing individual small and medium businesses and enabling them to grow and develop professionally, spiritually and in stewardship. The establishment of Uganda affiliates will help members to more effectively collaborate, exchange ideas/skills, mentor younger entrepreneurs, and network with other businesspeople locally, regionally and internationally.Ox Plows for Former Conflict Zones
Due to conflict situations in the past, most farmers in many parts of Northern Uganda have lost their most valuable assets. One of the most valuable is oxen plows and the oxen to pull them. This project involves over 40 farmers. Each farmer is receiving one ox and will pair up with a neighbor to receive a plow. The oxen have been given on a loan basis and are being paid back with a small interest rate after three harvest periods. The farmers are receiving additional training on improved planting, high-yielding seed crops, and crop maintenance and storage techniques. It is anticipated that the farmers will be able to effectively increase their yields by over 200%.Uganda Amaranth Project
Amaranth is a unique plant that has an ability to thrive in very harsh growing conditions. A small group of farmers and an amaranth processor are working to grow and market amaranth in Uganda. They are partnered with a group of farmers from North America to grow this industry and provide income for the farmers, jobs in processing, and provide a nutritious food supplement for the local people.Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F)
Farmers in Zambia are working together with farmers from Sunnyside, Washington and Food Resource Bank to improve the productivity of their farms. This includes crop rotation and the introduction of new varieties of soil-enriching plants and crops. In addition, training is provided to local farmers to insure that they improve their skills over the long term and have confidence in their abilities to change traditional methods of farming. The end result will be an adequate supply of food for their families and excess to sell in the local market.Christian Businesses with Integrity in Lusaka, Zambia (CBI)
This group of Christian businesspeople has come together for business training and mentoring. They organized and implemented a savings and loan program and began making loans in April of 2005.Villages of Hope
The Villages of Hope partnership is training young adult (18-25 years) orphans in commercial conservation farming and entrepreneurship, while being brought into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Graduates will gain ownership of their own land. Over 50 orphans have already been employed, providing sustainable income for over 120 additional orphans in their care. The Villages of Hope is one of the largest employers in the area, and is a catalyst for economic empowerment of over 300 families.
SAHAC
SAHAC is a South African-North American partnership uniting, mobilizing, and equipping existing community resources to cut in half the number of new HIV/AIDS infections within 5 years in participating communities. Partners Worldwide functions as the resource for the job creation component of the organization. Read more at www.sahac.org.Full-Scale Business Trust (FBT)
FBT is a savings and loan organization in the Mombassa area of Kenya which seeks to improve small and medium-size businesses and create employment. FBT has a membership of over 700 businesspeople, and creates an avenue for business owners to grow their businesses by the provision of loans, mentoring, networking, and encouragement.
Christian Entrepreneurs Savings and Credit Society (CHESS)
CHESS is a savings and loan organization based in Kiambu, Kenya. CHESS offers matching loan funds, networking and mentoring. Over 500 new jobs have been created since its inception, and is assisting over 300 small-business owners improve their products and services.
Heritage of Faith Orphanage
The vision of Heritage of Faith and Hope Children Rehabilitation Centre is to accommodate as many street children and orphans as possible within the community. This orphanage is teaching them to live by Christian values and offers them education. The Heritage of Faith orphanage also welcomes children of HIV/AIDS victims.Reformed Institute of Theological Training (RITT)
The purpose of this project is to increase the capability of RITT to provide ordained pastors for their denomination. An additional goal is to provide training in improved agricultural techniques for spouses who accompany their husbands. This combination of pastors and trained spouses will meet both the spiritual and physical needs of the congregations.Computer Training Centers
Nine computer training centers in conjunction with Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC) have been set up where people can come to learn keyboarding and computer skills for a fee which is less than a commercial school charges. The partner organization is able to have an income-generating project which is self-sustaining. Now many people can take courses to learn keyboarding and computer applications. As a result, many young people have been able to find employment.
Asia
Philippines, Cambodia, Laos
Philippines
Evangelical Business Entrepreneurs for Social Transformation (EBEST)
The business affiliate called EBEST is providing Christian fellowship, mentoring relationships, as well as access to capital for small businesses. This is a growing partnership that continues to bring transformation to hundreds of individuals through job creation, mentoring, and access to capital.Cambodia
Cambodia Christian Business Center (CCBC) is a dynamic group of micro, mid-size, and high-level entrepreneurs. CCBC meets monthly at the Phnom Penh based Open Gate Church to discuss practical solutions to member business challenges. CCBC also trains members on pertinent issues to financing and operating a business. Recently, CCBC published the first Christian businessperson magazine for the country of Cambodia!
Laos
In Laos, Partners Worldwide is connected through mentoring/training relationships to the leading entrepreneurs in the country. For more information on the programs and opportunities in Laos, please contact info@partnersworldwide.org.
Latin America
Nicaragua, Haiti, Ecuador, Honduras, El Salvador
Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F)
Because many in Nicaragua are not privileged to own their own land they are forced to rent land or work for larger farmers. Farmers in Iowa understand the importance of owning land and the stability and security that comes with it. As a result, they started a Farmer-to-Farmer partnership and are purchasing large tracts of land in rural Nicaragua, subdividing it, and selling it to landless farmers. By addressing the problem of farmers with “no land and no capital,” the partnership has grown to include six landbanks and thriving farms. Now, the farmers are growing high value crops, exporting coffee, have put in water systems for their communities and are sending their children to school. Each year for the past four years the Iowa farmers have returned to work along side these new land owners, encouraging them in their shared language—a mutual love for the land.Business-to-Business (B2B)
A group of Christian businesspeople from Michigan and Illinois have developed a partnership with RPN (Business Professional Network) in Managua, Nicaragua. These two affiliates share a vision for growing businesses in Nicaragua that reflect the values of Christ. Through individual and group business mentoring together with access to capital, these businesspeople are working together to creat jobs in Nicaragua.
Partners for Justice
Legal professionals from North America mentor, support and encourage fellow attorneys and advocates in Nicaragua through a partnership with the Christian Center for Human Rights (CCDH). Together they have helped with the development and sustainability of Houses of Justice throughout the country where Nicaraguans can go to receive education on civil rights and social justice issues as well as to receive legal advice and counsel.
Nehemiah Center
Partners Worldwide has partnered with the Nehemiah Center in Managua, Nicaragua for many years on several different levels; from the development and implementation of their vision of holistic transformational development, to the construction and relocation to their current building and direct involvement with the business and water programs managed by the Nehemiah Center’s Ezra team. Read more about the Nehemiah Center and its specific programs at www.nehemiahcenter.net.Haitian Partners for Christian Development (HPCD)
This group of about 50 Christian business and professional people in Port-au-Prince is committed to supporting each other and developing Christian business groups in cities all over Haiti. This mutual support is crucial since living in Haiti and being in business is especially difficult. In addition to developing these new affiliates, HPCD has also established a business incubator in Port-au-Prince where small businesses can grow while they share the costs of electricity, water, security and office equipment. Find out more at www.hpcd.orgJerusalem S.A.
A business affiliate from Brookfield, Wisconsin has established a partnership with Jerusalem, S.A., a business group in Gonaives, Haiti that manages a number of different businesses. Their latest business is a block-making factory that employs 30 people. The group in Wisconsin provides business mentoring and training for the management of the Haiti group.Partners for Christian Development - Ecuador (PCD-E)
Business people from North America have come together to walk alongside a non-profit Christian organization based in Quito, Ecuador called Partners for Christian Development- Ecuador (PCD-E). Working together, they are offering training and mentoring to local businesses that hope to start or grown their own small business. PCD- E also assists businesses with access to capital through their revolving loan fund. The vision of this partnership is to transform communities and promote reconciliation between the rich and poor populations in Ecuador, through small and medium business development, based on biblical principles and Christian values.Diaconia Nacional
This group is the social outreach arm of the Christian Reformed Church of Honduras. At this point in time the North American Affiliate of Partners Worldwide from Pella, Iowa, is walking alongside the income generation program of Diaconia Nacional, which has established credit unions in the areas where there are Christian Reformed churches. These credit unions are establishing a culture of saving by requiring their members to regularly save before receiving loans. Partners Worldwide is seeking to build on this foundation by actively working with entrepreneurs that are seeking to grow their businesses.Stewardship of Christian Ministries (SCM)
Stewardship of Christian Ministries (Ministerios Cristianos de Mayordomia) works in Nueva Suyapa, an impoverished neighborhood outside of Tegucigalpa. For many years SCM has had community development programs in Nueva Suyapa, in the areas of education, healthcare, youth development and micro-credit. The North American Affiliate of Partners Worldwide from Pella, Iowa, has come alongside SCM to provide mentoring and support to the credit program, in order to help support some of the small and medium businesses that have grown out of the micro-credit program. www.mcmhn.org
Partners Worldwide has a small, yet growing, ministry of businesspeople involved in supporting each other and addressing poverty and unemployment in North American communities. In New Mexico, successful business-to-business mentoring relationships are creating businesses and jobs that are supporting families and transforming lives. In Michigan, entrepreneurs are coming together to see how to support each other, to mentor one another, and grow in “faith, ministry, and stewardship.”