Approach
Woord en Daad was established in 1973 and is based in The Netherlands. Woord en Daad cooperates with partner organizations in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The approach of Woord en Daad consists of direct poverty alleviation, reinforcement of civil society, and policy influencing.
Driven by Hope
As Woord en Daad we are hopeful, and not primarily because we see a number of opportunities among the worrying trends. Our deep personal and organizational motivation of hope is fed by the Biblical vision of Gods coming Kingdom, amidst the many still visible signs of brokenness. As we move into a period of fresh organizational strategy the same mission keeps driving us: in a broken world full of poverty and injustice, Woord en Daad seeks to make the signs of God’s coming Kingdom visible.
We connect people worldwide in their efforts to overcome poverty and to realize a dignified existence with impacts in the North and the South. We do so as a value-driven constituency organization: our supporters value a professional approach and their identity expressed throughout the programs we implement and lobby work we do. At the same time, we bring stories from our Southern target groups to our supporters and facilitate dialogues on connecting their identity to fair lifestyle choices that leave hope for everyone.
What characterizes us?
A 2019 external program evaluation concluded that Woord en Daad fills a clear niche of entrepreneurial programming and has successfully started a move towards interventions that influence an entire sector. As we build on this we can only do so, through working with a rich and growing network of both Christian core partners and technical project partners.
Our identity is spread throughout our programs like yeast and dough, not separable. As we increasingly work in consortia with various partners, our collaboration broadens and diversifies. The opportunity we see is to share from our abundance: through dialogue and committed collaboration show partners what drives us and how we work.
In all programs we will work with ethical practices, derived from our core values and translated to the thematic programs and countries where work is implemented. The value dialogue we herewith bring will characterise our collaboration with core- and project partners and define what we see as result. Meanwhile we continue to invest in a developing core partner network sharing our Christian motivation of hope. How the dough and the yeast will interact on the many levels where we do our work, will be an ongoing theme we will have a dialogue on with our constituency.
Justice and compassion
We aim to overcome poverty by sustainably transforming people and societies. We connect people, communities, schools & educational centers, entrepreneurs, social institutions, local and national governments, and local NGO’s worldwide. We are driven by the Christian perspective of justice and compassion, to realize a dignified life for every individual.
Consortium building & system change
Woord en Daad aims to sustainably improve lives of vulnerable people, to realize a dignified existence for every individual. We believe a system change approach is needed to realize this, so Woord en Daad cooperates in multi-stakeholder partnerships with governments, businesses, civil society organizations and knowledge institutes as much as possible to reach a maximum of impact. We work in long term partnership with civil society actors. Lobby and advocacy are also important for our development approach.
Project-based
Woord en Daad’s organizational structure is project-based. This approach has arisen from our strong cooperation with external parties and allows us to work agile in teams. Our strategic partner organizations are advised and encouraged to follow the same organizational strategy and participate in an entrepreneurial way in consortia and project teams. We can support partners in following this agile way of working in teams, by offering consultancy support, e.g. using a value drive mapping.
5 key programs
- International Network for Christian Education (INCE) improves national education standards in each country involved.
- Job Booster connects youth to the labor market needs and can facilitate vocational training and job coaching. We stimulate the employment market by setting up local social enterprises.
- Sustainable Water focuses on WASH, water-for-food, and Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM).
- Fair Factories focus on enabling food-processing SMEs to produce more food fairly with a positive social impact and profit for all parties involved.
- Natural disasters are becoming more and more frequent worldwide. We are called and would like to assist our vulnerable neighbor in need, and provide emergency relief immediately after a natural disaster.
Planning, monitoring, evaluation, and learning
Woord en Daad measures the successes of the programs constantly by using the ‘Planning, monitoring, evaluation, and learning’ (PMEL) cycle. People are the center of our work in all of the programs. Woord en Daad works together with partners to provide help in the most efficient way and to create strong strategies and programs together.