Global Food Initiative grants aid food security and related work of church partners

The Church of the Brethren’s Global Food Initiative (GFI) has issued a recent round of grants supporting work for food security and related needs including $15,000 for purchase of farmland in Uganda, $6,470 for a well project in the Democratic Republic of Congo, $825 for a farming project of the emerging Tanzania Church of the Brethren, $5,000 in continued support for the Soybean Value Chain project of Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria, and $15,000 for the Wings of Blessing and Hope Farm Poultry Project of ASIGLEH, the Church of the Brethren in Venezuela.

For more information about the GFI, go to www.brethren.org/gfi.

To donate to the work of the GFI, go to https://churchofthebrethren.givingfuel.com/gfi.

Uganda

A grant of $15,000 funds the purchase of farmland in Uganda, to be used by the emerging Church of the Brethren in Uganda to meet critical food needs for vulnerable children, while also supporting other ministry goals. The church in Uganda has prioritized this project due to its importance in providing nutritious food for the church’s Rising Star Orphanage and Junior School. Additionally, it will facilitate vocational training programs in farming, while the sale of surplus food will assist with financial sustainability of these ministries.

Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

A grant of $6,470 supports implementation of a well project to provide drinking water in the DRC, providing a hand-pump well for clean drinking water for the Ngovi congregation of l’Eglise des Frères au Congo in South Kivu Province. Presently, the closest tap water is about 1 kilometer (.62 miles) away from the church, and that source is not accessible every day. This well will be constructed in the church plot, will serve all the activities of the church as well as church members and more than 1,300 members of the surrounding community. Grant funds will be used for supplies, labor, and groundwater testing.

Tanzania

A grant of $825 supports a farming project of the emerging Tanzania Church of the Brethren, which was planted in the country by the neighboring Church of the Brethren in Burundi. This project will assist church members with growing their farming skills, as they work together to plant maize (corn) and beans. The crops grown will serve as food for church members and surplus will be sold to support congregational ministries. The Maize and Beans Project will support church relationships, provide practical experience, and address some of the basic nutritional needs of the community.

Nigeria

A grant of $5,000 offers continued support for the Soybean Value Chain project of Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN) and its agricultural program that is part of EYN’s Integrated Community Based Development Program (ICBDP). The Soybean Value Chain Project seeks to promote awareness and cultivation of a valuable crop that can be processed into value-added, nutritious products to be marketed and sold for income. This “value chain” seeks to alleviate poverty, increase incomes, and develop livelihoods for small holder farmers. This grant provides sustaining support for the project’s Volunteer Extension Agents, and will provide a yearly stipend for 15 agents as they conduct their activities and support farmers in 45 communities in three church districts throughout Adamawa State and southern Borno State of northeast Nigeria.

Venezuela

A grant of $15,000 supports the Wings of Blessing and Hope Farm Poultry Project of ASIGLEH (the Church of the Brethren in Venezuela). This agricultural project will serve as an income and livelihood generation project for several church pastors and to support the national ministry of ASIGLEH. The project includes raising broiler chickens and laying hens, with a goal to produce and sell 300 broiler chickens weekly in the first year. Additionally, it will start with 200 laying hens to produce eggs, expanding to 400 laying hens. Funds will provide start-up operating costs for the poultry project, support adaptation of chicken houses existing on farm property, the purchase of chickens and hens, feed, transportation, marketing costs, and more. In the future, this project will have a training program (farming and ministry skills) housed on the farm. Farm proceeds will be reinvested into ASIGLEH’s denominational ministries. The project also includes mutual aid components of church members caring for each other and providing accessible, affordable protein for the local community.

ASIGLEH recently completed the purchase of a seven-hectare farm (17.3 acres) in Tovar, Merida State, which was funded by a variety of Church of the Brethren supporters including the Global Mission office as well as individuals, congregations, and Brethren World Mission.

For more information about the GFI, go to www.brethren.org/gfi.

To donate to the work of the GFI, go to https://churchofthebrethren.givingfuel.com/gfi.

#MissionAndMinistryBoard #StrategicPlan #RacialJustice #LoveOurNeighbors #Discipleship #NewTestamentGiving

———-

Find more Church of the Brethren news: