Here are a few of the many places Church World Service is making a difference...

World Map

Click on a dot on the map to learn about some of the places where CWS is making a difference.
Note: The name of the location should appear when you move your mouse over a dot.
indicates countries where CWS is working in partnership and/or maintains ecumenical relationships


Photo: Rev. Buck Cochran	CROP Hunger Walk Millions of people join in or support CROP Walks each year because millions of people around the world have to walk just to survive. "We walk because they walk" -- in solidarity, in unity, to make a difference. Last year, CROP Walkers, volunteers, and sponsors in some 2,000 U.S. communities raised more than $15 million to feed the hungry, protect children, assist uprooted people, and help families and communities around the world help themselves. Of that amount, more than $3.6 million was shared with local hunger-fighting initiatives -- food banks and community gardens across the U.S.

Photo: Tom Hampson/CWS	Advocacy Through the CWS Website, educational resources, and newsletters, CWS informs supporters about issues important to us all -- water, HIV/AIDS, fair trade, human rights, debt, vulnerable refugees and asylum seekers, etc. For example, this past year, CWS has encouraged supporters to urge the U.S. Congress to take more action to stem violence in the Darfur region of western Sudan.

Photo: Lutheran Family Services in the Carolinas/2006	Refugee Resettlement Working with participating denominations and congregation cosponsors, CWS and its network of 40 affiliate resettlement agencies in 25 states resettled 5,285 refugees, including Somalis, Meskhetian Turks, stateless Vietnamese from the Philippines, and Uzbeks, as well as 2,459 Cuban and Haitian entrants in the U.S. in FY 2006. The CWS Religious Services Program, working at eight Department of Homeland Security immigration detention centers, strives to ensure that worship opportunities, scriptures, and one-on-one pastoral care are available to immigrant detainees from around the world, regardless of creed.

Photo: Erika Iverson	Beginning the Refugee Resettlement Journey Staff of the CWS Joint Voluntary Agency in Nairobi, Kenya, and the CWS Overseas Processing Entity in Accra, Ghana, cross the continent interviewing and processing U.S. refugee resettlement applications from sub-Saharan Africa through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. government.

Photo: Rick Reinhard Photography	Interfaith Summit on Africa Delegates from 23 African nations came together with U.S. faith leaders, advocates, and policymakers in July 2006 for the first-ever Interfaith Summit on Africa. The Washington, D.C., event, coordinated by CWS, addressed issues including small arms trafficking; malaria and HIV/AIDS; durable solutions for displaced people; sustainable economic development; interfaith alliances; and the impact of faith voices in government policymaking.

Photo: Lynn Broussard Photography	Church World Service Kits This past year congregations and groups donated more than $5.1 million in Health Kits, School Kits, Baby Kits, Emergency Clean-up Buckets, and Heart-to-Heart Kids Kits -- helping neighbors at home and around the world with items that may seem small but make a huge difference in an ongoing development program or when disaster strikes.

	Southern Africa CWS is putting special focus on serving women and children. Initially supporting efforts in Mozambique, Malawi, and Angola, CWS is expanding several innovative programs: Giving Hope, which is working to empower orphans and vulnerable children affected by HIV; Water for Life, which brings solutions for community-based sustainable water development; Angola's Literacy for Women’s Solidarity and Social Change; and Mozambique’s PEDRA program for girls' education and protection.

	Food emergency in Africa Since November 2005, many parts of Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Tanzania have been experiencing drought and famine conditions. CWS is responding in Kenya as a lead agency in a multi-agency response that includes relief and rehabilitation activities, including the distribution of food and water, and borehole drilling and/or repair in key areas.

Photo: Charlotte Brudenell/ACT-Caritas	Through its Durable Solutions for Displaced People program, CWS helps meet the needs of people in protracted refugee situations. For example, more than 300 Burundian youths living in refugee camps in Tanzania are learning a trade, taking classes in tailoring, motor vehicle mechanics, carpentry and joinery, masonry and bricklaying, electrical installation and wiring, and computer/internet skills.

	CWS Giving Hope Program More than 17,500 HIV/AIDS orphans and other vulnerable children in Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya are participating in an innovative program that addresses their rights and needs and empowers them with agricultural, vocational, and life-skills training.

Photo: David Bower/CWS	School Safe Zones Model schools in Kenya, part of the CWS Africa Initiative, are sparking momentum to ensure not only nutritious meals, but also a safe environment, and adequate educational resources for children in Africa’s most challenged regions. The Africa Initiative focuses especially on children, people living with HIV/AIDS, and the uprooted. It seeks to address root causes of hunger and poverty, and gives specific attention to the needs and rights of African women and girls.

Photo: Harun Tambing/CWS-Indonesia	Tools & Blankets From blankets, tents, bedding, and other emergency supplies in the wake of disasters, to material assistance, education and training, and small enterprise loans as part of sustainable development programs, some 9,000 congregations and groups across the U.S. hold Tools & Blanket programs each year, providing more than $3.76 million to help neighbors in need.