THE Methodist Church has renewed its commitment to local partnerships with individuals and organisations to help some of the world’s poorest communities.

Its international relief and development charity, All We Can, launched a new strategy this month, designed to fulfil the Church’s vision of “seeing every person’s potential fulfilled”. The charity works with grass-roots organisations in some of the world’s poorest communities in Asia and Africa, as well as with church and humanitarian-aid partners around the world.

For the past six years, it has pioneered a partnership model intended to deliver long-term sustainable change. It describes its new five-year strategy as ambitious and a move away from “conventional project-focused funding” to long-term relational partnerships with organisations rooted in and serving local communities.

The chief executive of one of All We Can’s partners in Uganda, Katesi Najjiba, said: “We have to think about the community that we serve. We have to think about what is best for that community and what really needs to be input. And this is something that All We Can has actively facilitated: it has enabled us to be flexible in our planning, and it has freed us to think outside the box.”

The chief executive of All We Can, Graeme Hodge, said: “As we stand at this crucial moment in time for vulnerable communities across the globe, we are recommitting to our belief in the power of partnership, and are excited to continue on our mission to enable flourishing and resilient communities.

“We are not naïve to the challenges that we are facing, as we continue to wrestle with climate change, poverty, and coronavirus — but we know that, when transformation is owned and led by passionate people, rooted in their local community, incredible things can happen.”