Program areas at SAWSO
Disaster relief and recovery:the types of natural disasters and conflicts vary widely with far-reaching impacts. However, disaster size, frequency and severity aren't The only determining factors for recovery. A community's capacity to manage incidents is equally important for disaster resiliency. Sawso supports disaster response and recovery work with a community-centered focus, empowering communities to increase their capability to mitigate, prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters. In pakistan, resources were provide to support The purchase and distribution of emergency food items for afghani families who fled to pakistan following The june 2022 earthquake. These families had received initial food from The government but needed additional aid. In kenya, The Salvation Army provided hygiene items and emergency food relief for secondary and primary boarding schools impacted by drought in The turkana region. In turn, each school was credited an amount equivalent to The value of food provided from fees owed by enrolled students. This support allowed students to return and remain in school and freed up cash resources to provide other much needed items for school operations. Further, sawso supported The provision of food parcels to households. Following The terrorist attack on worshippers at st francis catholic church ologunwa owo in ondo state, nigeria, sawso resources supported The provision of food and hygiene items to displaced families. For these individuals who experienced emotional trauma, these basic necessities were essential for emotional and mental health resiliency. Additionally, sawso supported The facilitation of election preparedness workshops, which trained community stakeholders how to promote peace and de-escalate tensions before they flare into conflict. In colombia, sawso supported Salvation Army columbia's efforts to provide life-sustaining necessities such as non-perishable food items, toiletries, blankets, sleeping mats, and diapers for families impacted by devastating landslides. Following a fire that destroyed nearly 200 homes in chile, sawso resources provided bedding, blankets and mattresses for families left homeless in its aftermath. Since The onset of The ukraine russia conflict, sawso has supported The ensuing needs caused by this humanitarian crisis. In varying degrees, The Salvation Army has mobilized in more than 20 countries, including The united states. Our Service includes The provision of meals, food parcels, hygiene items, clothes, medication, and accommodation. Salvation Army facilities are being retrofitted to provide displaced people access to showers and laundry services. Refrigerators, washing machines, dryers and kettles are being made available to meet hygiene needs. With more than 1.5 million children having fled ukraine since The beginning of The conflict, The risk of child trafficking and exploitation while in transit has been reported, especially for those who are unaccompanied, separated from their families, or orphaned. This threat also exists for vulnerable women. The Salvation Army is distributing material and information to refugees at border crossings, at Salvation Army and partner facilities in The various languages of The displaced population. Translators assist with document translation and person to person translation for non-ukraine speaking personnel assisting with this effort.
Livelihood programs:among The most effective ways to help those in need is to empower them to help themselves, and that is The primary aim of sawso's livelihoods programs. By teaching literacy, finance, and basic marketable skills, those who might otherwise struggle are given opportunities to lift themselves and their families out of poverty and, in some cases, become leaders in their communities, well-positioned to pass on what they have learned to others.in haiti, The Salvation Army runs a program that helps communities to form community level savings groups. The savings group members then take loans out from The pooled savings, providing them with credit needed to invest in their businesses or to use for major expenses such as weddings and funerals. This means that they do not have to liquidate any of their assets such as livestock, which they keep for emergencies or to trade. Alongside The savings groups, The Salvation Army runs an agriculture development program, to help farming families improve their agricultural practices. This will help both increase their yields and sustain The nutrients in The soil for generations to come.in western kenya, sawso continues to support a women's empowerment program through savings groups, income generation training and literacy training. In many cases, this work is spreading spontaneously, without The Salvation Army's initiation because The community sees The value of The program and The positive impacts that it has within The community.sawso also supports a program in western kenya to support farmers by teaching improved farming practices, helping to provide initial start up inputs for farms and connecting farmers to The market. We also work with The farming community to set up savings groups so that farmers have enough money to support their agricultural activities at The start of The season and they aren't dependent on money lenders.in rwanda, we are supporting farmers in rural communities by providing training to farmers to increase their yield, protect their soil and conserve water. This is accomplished using farmer field school (ffs) methodology and demonstration plots so that they can experiment with different methodologies without making risky changes on their own land, which they depend on for their livelihood. In addition to training, this project also empowers farmers to become coaches to other farmers, so there is continual learning amongst The farming community, even after The project is complete.
Health programs:while continuing to wrap up projects that supported The Salvation Army's worldwide covid-19 response, sawso also focused on other issues involving community health and access to health care in 2022. The Salvation Army serves The poor and vulnerable by implementing community-based health programs as well as providing care at Salvation army-operated hospitals and clinics. Sawso works in partnership with local Salvation Army personnel to improve availability of services and enhance quality of care. Program focus areas are maternal, child and adolescent health, non-communicable diseases, community health and health facilities.outreach visits by staff from chikankata mission hospital to small, isolated clinics in an impoverished rural area in southern zambia continued.supported by a private donor. In addition work to upgrade The mission's aging, inefficient electrical system and to rebuild its water treatment and distribution systems. Projects to replace aging infrastructure at two Salvation Army hospitals in india were also implemented. Sawso's work in health systems strengthening included providing tuition subsidies to faculty members at a popular Salvation Army nursing college in indonesia. This allowed faculty members to upgrade their credentials, obtaining higher degrees to meet new government accreditation standards, improve The quality of instruction for their student nurses and enhance The reputation of The college. Construction began on a new hostel at The school to provide safe and affordable accommodation for The young female students, most of whom come from poor rural families. In paraguay, a primary care clinic which also provides social services to a nearby barrio (informal settlement) was supported by sawso as it continues to work towards financial self sufficiency.
Anti-human trafficking programs:globally, there are an estimated 50 million men, women and children impacted by modern slavery/human trafficking, including forced labor, commercial sexual exploitation, forced marriage, and other forms of exploitation. Trafficking in persons, commonly called human trafficking, is a criminal enterprise globally worth approximately $150 billion per annum, second only to drug trafficking but thought to The be fastest growing. The estimated numbers have increased approximately 20% in The last five years, driven by a number of adverse factors, including various humanitarian crises, and The economic and social distress generated by The covid-19 pandemic, especially for vulnerable and marginalized communities.in response to these needs, The Salvation Army has mobilized response to human trafficking, with a specific emphasis on providing services to survivors/victims , people at risk, and families of those exploited, and preventing human trafficking through coming alongside communities to reduce vulnerabilities.in The middle east, The Salvation Army has provided direct assistance to women who have been trafficked to kuwait and united arab emirates through provision of safe shelter, medical and emotional care, and assistance with repatriation for return to their countries of origin. The majority of survivors within these Salvation Army projects are women who have been trafficked from east africa and south asia. While The purpose of exploitation is predominantly for domestic servitude, their vulnerability is multi-dimensional and magnified by being in The house and, therefore, at The mercy of The house owners. Our programs help to ensure their ongoing protection and recovery. The Salvation Army also provides direct support to women and children within one of The largest red-light districts in mumbai, india. With more than 2000 women and over 500 children living in The red-light district and vulnerable to exploitation and abuse, Salvation Army runs a safe drop-in center, where children can access educational and spiritual support, health support, healthy and nutritious food, and life skills toward long-term safety. Women are provided skills training, literacy training, income generating activities, and emotional support for safe livelihood alternatives and holistic care and support to safe futures. There is also a children's home which provides safe accommodation for children who otherwise would be without adult supervision outside and at night, while their mothers worked in The red-light district. This is seen as important protection in The immediate term and also an important preventive measure to intervene in The trajectory that could otherwise lead The children to also working in The red-light district. In The philippines, The Salvation Army supports programming, along with partners, for The specialized care for children who have been sexually exploited through online means. The nature of human trafficking evolves over time depending on various facilitating factors (in this case, The internet) and The philippines is one of The first countries with a large problem of online sexual exploitation (osec). This project provides protection and care for children in a holistically manner that provides emotional and physical care and equips providers with specialized therapeutic techniques for addressing The trauma that these children have experienced. Osec also presents some unique challenges in identifying and prosecuting The perpetrators since The person buying The exploitation may be overseas from where The victim is located. The project focused on deepening an understanding of osec with research projects with academic institutions and a conference hosting more than 1000 participants (including in-person and virtual participants) from multiple nations. Feedback from participants included that this will be important across multiple country contexts as osec is an emerging form of exploitation in other developing nations. In indonesia, The Salvation Army is operating a project which works with Salvation Army children's homes to expand The options for child protection and child safeguarding. Through partnership with local organizations, The Salvation Army is working to find family-based care, including kinship and foster care or family reunification where that is possible, safe, and in The best interests of The child. Working with The children whether in family-based care or in The children's home continues to focus on their long-term emotional and physical care. In addition to projects in specific countries responding to human trafficking needs, sawso is involved in supporting modern slavery/human trafficking communities of practice in The south asia zone and The south pacific and east asia zone. These communities of practice are strategic investments in The continued awareness raising, capacity building and support for action planning for a modern slavery/human trafficking contact person across each of The Salvation Army geographic areas within those zones. It is a focus on building The internal capacity to mobilize and address human trafficking on a larger scope and with coordination within The geographic zones.
Education:in africa, sawso support africa capacity development phase ii. The project sought to strengthen local corps officers who are The key change makers in communities. Through their increased capacity, communities are better served and resourced. The project helped improve technical guidance to projects through standardization, sharing best practice and resources, as well as strengthened and improve The way Salvation Army territories work together.in brazil, sawso helped strengthen early childhood community centers and provided resources to build infrastructure and provide quality early childhood education materialsin indonesia, some of The poorest communities are also The most isolated, which creates challenges to providing educational professionals with The latest training. With sawso's support, Salvation Army schools have developed teachers' training and coaching programs to support them in their professional development. Sawso also is supporting child reading programs in schools. Sawso has also supported a Salvation Army teacher training facility.in haiti, sawso is supporting The strengthening of school quality through professional development of teachers and provision of instructional materials. Sawso has also supported a country-wide assessment of a large number Salvation Army schools for The purpose of identifying needs and strengthening The sustainability of schools. This work is being conducted in highly unstable security environments.
Community development:in mexico, through sawso's support, The Salvation Army in mexico supported 16 children homes that serves vulnerable children in various corners of The country, offering decent, safe, and functional space for them to live, earn and grow. The homes provides healthy environment that is right for their developmental and educational needs; including nutritional food, psychological support, special training/classes that supplements The children's educational performance in The schools.moreover, sawso supports a shelter for women and children that are deported from The united states of america due to lack of documentation. The deported women and children are vulnerable and a prey for trafficking. The shelter provides a temporary place of living for The vulnerable women and their children for a maximum period of three months, until they are ready to return to their homes. The shelter valuable contributes to The limited resources that The immigrants receive from The local agencies.in greece, through sawso's support, The Salvation Army in greece supported urban refugees who have registered for asylum and in doing so, they lost access to various forms of support, including financial assistance, housing, and case management. Through establishing a community center, refugees received assistance in their case management, getting work permits, referral to other agencies who provides support. The assistance and services offered a practical assistance of identified and confirmed urgent needs through supportive case management and relationship building, strategic programming on-site, and referrals and follow up to other front-line agencies/organizations.and in brazil sawso coordinated and supported The purchase of a new warehouse in rio de janeiro that will allow The local thrift store network of salvashopping to expand their operations from sao paolo and serve an entirely new area of need.
Sustainable solutions:sawso's international business and economic development (ibed) team continues to work with Salvation Army local commands around The World to help them discover, evaluate, test, and launch their own initiatives to generate local resources to support their work. By establishing new social enterprises or fundraising activities, on-the-ground implementers can build The operational support and sustainability to better meet daily needs of their community with rapidness and relevance.the ibed team partnered with The south america west territory to research and establish a new national fundraising Office for The Salvation Army in chile. Starting from a basic level, The project researched local donor trends and where tsa could have a unique positioning advantage with its marketing. It also invested in The necessary staffing, systems, and initial communications campaigns to launch a self-sustaining Office that will generate local revenue to support The social programs.in south africa, The ibed team helped to launch a new thrift store in cape town, transforming a rummage sale system into a steady pipeline of diversified second-hand products, sourced and sold locally. It required investment in The building, vehicles, and staffing, but was able to double The previous monthly income and generate further income to support The local ministry programs in a difficult and dangerous area.