Church World Service becomes member of ACT Alliance launching today
Wednesday, March 24, 2010

New York-headquartered Church World Service celebrates its membership as a founding member in the newly-formed ACT Alliance, one of the world's largest humanitarian bodies, which officially launches today.

Angelene Pierre, 13, and other children in Port-au-Prince participate in an art program sponsored by Viva Rio, a Brazilian non-governmental organization whose work with survivors of the January earthquake is supported by the ACT Alliance. Photo: Paul Jeffrey/ACT Alliance

New York-headquartered Church World Service celebrates its membership as a founding member in the newly-formed ACT Alliance, one of the world's largest humanitarian bodies, which officially launches today.

The ACT Alliance is comprised of more than 100 member churches and church-based humanitarian groups working in 125 countries with a combined operating budget of $1.5 billion.  In addition to Church World Service, the current United States members of the ACT Alliance are the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, International Orthodox Christian Charities, Lutheran World Relief and Presbyterian Disaster Assistance.

The new alliance combines the former ACT International (est. 1995), which focused on longtime disaster relief and rehabilitation with the former ACT Development, which focused on sustainable development, and further expands its work to include advocacy.

The creation of an alliance of church-based agencies means that the Alliance's humanitarian and development work will reach every corner of the globe, said ACT Alliance General Secretary John Nduna, because churches and church-based agencies “impact the lives of the poorest in societies around the world."

"We find ACT Alliance members in every part of the world -- members are grounded in local civil society.  Almost everywhere we find churches, we have ACT."

Church World Service Executive Director and CEO John L. McCullough believes that CWS membership in the ACT Alliance "immeasurably enhances" his agency's effectiveness and reach.

"As part of the alliance we work as a strong, coordinated global network sharing specialized knowledge, improving access to funding, and raising a strong advocacy voice," McCullough said.

ACT Alliance members retain individual identities while working collaboratively. For example, nine individual agencies who are ACT members--already working in Haiti at the time of the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake--immediately began collaborating with each other to respond to various aspects of the emergency. Six weeks later, ACT members were able to respond in the same collaborative way to the earthquake in Chile.

Such responses build on ACT work in previous emergencies, such as the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Darfur, Sudan, and the collaborative efforts during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

Donna Derr, who coordinates international disaster response and development for Church World Service, underscored the significance of the alliance, whose members’ strong local roots enable the alliance to provide locally-based knowledge, analysis and understanding in emergencies and disaster, and in development.

"The importance of the alliance is in working for and among the world's poorest people, and ACT Alliance members like CWS are well-established organizations with proven track records of working in these communities," said Derr, who also is a member of the ACT Alliance Interim Governing Board.  

Today's launch is being marked with celebrations and commemorations on every continent where ACT members work or are based.  In the United States, ACT members are commemorating the day in separate events within each agency.

ACT Alliance offices are in Geneva, Switzerland.  The website for ACT Alliance is actalliance.org. View the video ACT Alliance - one rhythm, one world.

How to help

Contributions to support the life-saving work of Church World Service may be made online, by phone (800-297-1516), or sent to Church World Service, P.O. Box 968, Elkhart, IN 46515.

Media Contact:
Lesley Crosson, 212-870-2676, lcrosson@churchworldservice.org
Jan Dragin, 781-925-1526, jdragin@gis.net

  Browse news release archive