Orchard: Africa

Protecting the vulnerable takes a sustainable platform and great programmes. The local church is the platform from which Orchard: Africa operates because the Church is one of the most sustainable community based organizations in the world, able to reach where many other established organizations cannot.

Poverty and injustice creates vulnerable communities. Orchard Africa’s mission is to protect the vulnerable by developing and equipping the local church to be responsive to poverty and injustice in their communities.

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The four programmes offered are the tools that the church is equipped with, empowering them to impact their communities:‍

The Food & Agriculture programme emphasizes food security by providing meals and teaching communities to grow their own food.
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The Education programme helps local churches start a preschool, provide an after-school learning center, and conduct life skills and entrepreneurial training for older students.

The Care programme equips church leaders to be the hands and feet of Jesus through home-based care, trauma counseling, HIV/AIDS prevention, and orphan intervention.

The Ministry programme focuses on training, mentoring, and equipping local African pastors and their churches to respond to the immediate needs of their own community.

IMPACT DATA

While the richest Africans get ever richer, extreme poverty in the continent is rising. Africa is the second most unequal continent in the world, and home to seven of the most unequal countries. In 2022, around 460 million people in Africa were living in extreme poverty, with the poverty threshold at 1.90 U.S. dollars a day.

INGREDIENTS

To replicate this project your church will need

• An unmet need in the local area to respond to poverty and injustice
• A Project Co-ordinator who is passionate about helping people
• Local churches willing to work together
• A strategy for rolling out the most relevant programme for the region
• Skilled and unskilled volunteers with a heart to help

METHOD

Steps to run this project:

1. Register on the Orchard Africa website and get more information about becoming a partner
2. Meet with local churches and assess the unique needs of the area
3. Appoint a Project Coordinator
4. Undertake Orchard Africa training
5. Embark on the roll-out of the first programme and evaluate