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Blogs, Social Empowerment for Excluded Castes (India)
November 11, 2025

When Sohadi Soren received a single goat through her local self-help group, she never imagined how much her life could change.

A mother and grandmother from a small rural village in eastern India, Sohadi was struggling to make ends meet after the sudden loss of her husband. Her family survived on a small plot of land, growing rice and vegetables mostly for their own table. Money was always tight.

Then came the goat.

The gift was part of a community development program supported by UnitingWorld through the Church of North India, Diocese of Durgapur. With training and encouragement from her group, Sohadi began to raise and breed goats. One became two, then three, and before long, she had a small herd.

Over time, Sohadi sold goats to pay off her family’s debts and even buy back land that had been mortgaged. The income helped her invest in cows and a threshing machine for her crops. Today, she provides for her grandchildren, pays for their schooling, and helps others in her village do the same.

“With that one goat I was able to change my family’s life,” Sohadi said. “I wish more people could have the same opportunity.”

Her story is just one example of how practical gifts—simple as a goat, a water pump, or a handful of seeds—can grow into lasting hope.

Through Everything in Common, UnitingWorld’s annual gift catalogue, every card and donation represents love in action. Goats that become herds. Seeds that become gardens. Clean water, education, small business support and more — all helping families overcome poverty and build brighter futures.

This Christmas, you can help more families like Sohadi’s turn small gifts into life-changing opportunities.

Choose  that fight poverty and build hope
www.everythingincommon.com.au

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Women's Empowerment and Peace Building (Maluku, Indonesia)
October 30, 2025

In Ambon City, Maluku, Linda Narua’s love of gardening began as a quiet hobby. Today, it’s helping her neighbours eat well, earn more and reduce reliance on imported food.

Through training and seeds provided by UnitingWorld’s partner, the Sagu Salempeng Foundation (SSF*), Linda turned her backyard into a thriving kitchen garden. She now grows kale, tomatoes, mustard greens and chillies, building food security in her community and cutting the need for foreign imports, a major source of greenhouse gas emissions.

When her vegetables started flourishing, Linda began sharing them with neighbours, who praised their freshness and flavour. Encouraged, she attended further training, learned efficient farming techniques, and started selling her produce locally. Her friendly approach and excellent quality soon won loyal customers, and she even began promoting her garden on social media to reach more people.

Now, her once-small hobby is a source of family income and community pride. Linda inspires other women in her village to plant their own gardens, reminding them that even small spaces can feed families and strengthen local resilience.

“I’m proud that my garden helps others,” she says. “We can all make something good grow.”

Supported by UnitingWorld, the Maluku Livelihoods and Peacebuilding helped 577 people like Linda start a kitchen garden in 2024-25. Six village governments were assisted to organise a kitchen garden competition that attracted an additional 120 participants. SSF also worked with villages to plant 2179 trees for disaster mitigation and adaptation. 

*The Sagu Salempeng Foundation is the development agency of our partner, the Protestant Church of Maluku.

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News, Partnering Women for Change (Pacific Region)
August 11, 2025

UnitingWorld launches regional initiative to support faith-led collaboration on gender justice

UnitingWorld and its church partners in the Pacific have launched the Oceania Faith Communities Advancing Safety and Equality project, with support from the Pacific Women Lead at the Pacific Community (PWL at SPC) program.

Each of our church partners brings unique strengths to efforts to end gender-based violence and promote equality and, by collaborating more closely, they can build on each other’s progress and create greater impact together.

The project meets the need expressed by the churches for stronger networks and opportunities to learn from one another by establishing a new Community of Practice (CoP) for Pacific churches working to advance gender equality, safeguarding and theological change.

The CoP will serve as a regional hub for collaboration, joint learning and advocacy, connecting women leaders, theologians and safeguarding focal points to share and develop resources, strategies and training. There will also be mentoring by theology experts for key gender leaders in the region.

Women and girls will be the ultimate beneficiaries, as churches deepen their commitment to safety, inclusion and the promotion of women’s leadership.

When theology is life-giving and affirms the dignity of all people, it becomes a powerful force for change, says Reverend Siera Bird, UnitingWorld’s Manager for Gender Equality and Safeguarding:

“Churches are already deeply embedded in their communities. By building their capacity and connection across the region, we’re equipping them to lead efforts for gender equality, social justice and family safety in ways that are culturally grounded and sustainable.”

The project is driven by a steering committee made up of leaders from seven Pacific church denominations* as well as the Pacific Conference of Churches and the Pasifika Communities University. The broad collaboration has the potential to reach more than 989,000 people across the region.

The CoP will co-create theological and practical resources, including a new biblical-theological framework exploring gender, masculinity and femininity, and support joint campaigns for gender equality and social change. It builds on years of UnitingWorld’s partnership with Pacific churches and is one of the first regional initiatives of its kind to bring faith-based actors together around these goals.

The first online event, taking place this August, will explore the intersection of gender and climate. It is an opportunity to explore how climate change affects individuals differently depending on gender, and share experiences and practical solutions, helping build stronger collaboration around gender equality in climate resilience work.

*Denominations: Methodist Church in Fiji (MCiF), Presbyterian Church of Vanuatu (PCV), Kiribati Uniting Church (KUC), United Church in the Solomon Islands (UCSI), United Church in PNG (UCPNG), Ekalesia Kelisiano Tuvalu (EKT) & Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga (FWCT).

You can help make a difference for women and girls in the Pacific
through gender justice – donate now!

The Oceania Faith Communities Advancing Safety and Equality project is an initiative of UnitingWorld and its Pacific partner churches, with funding and technical assistance from the Pacific Women Lead at the Pacific Community programme.

The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the Australian Government, The Pacific Community (SPC), nor any affiliated organisations.

 

Pacific Women Lead (PWL) aims to promote women’s leadership, women’s rights and increase the effectiveness of regional gender equality efforts. The Pacific Community (SPC) is the key implementing partner of the regional Pacific Women Lead portfolio, through its PWL at SPC program.

 Pacific Women Lead is supported by the Australian Government through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

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Campaigns, Village and Economic Development (West Timor, Indonesia)
February 17, 2025
A huge thank you to everyone who gave any of the life-changing gifts from our Everything in Common gift catalogue during Christmas, and to everyone who made a donation. At time of writing, you’ve helped raise more than $350,000 through the catalogue, supporting our partners to impact their communities in so many different ways. Thank you!

New for Everything in Common 2024 was our Healthy Kids and Mothers card, helping provide care and nutrition to expectant mothers, newborns and families in the Alor and Rote Islands in Nusa Tenggara Timur (West Timor Province), Indonesia.

These islands are home to some of the poorest communities in Indonesia, where many people still live off the land in traditional subsistence lifestyles. With the rise of imported foods and uncertain growing seasons, families struggle to get the food and nutrition they need. Mothers and babies are the hardest hit, with malnutrition leading to high-risk pregnancies and stunting of children.

Our local partner, the Christian Evangelical Church in Timor, and their development agency TLM are determined to make change, both now and into the future.

Working in eight villages, our partners are:

  • providing health checks and education for pregnant women, new mums and their children
  • distributing locally-grown fresh vegetables and resources for families to grow their own food
  • installing clean water sources in villages that need it.

Looking beyond, our partners are using the villages as models to inspire others, working with local governments and church communities to tackle the heath crisis for good. We’ll keep you updated about progress with stories like Irma’s (shared below).

First published in UnitingWorld Update 2025-01 – download the full magazine PDF here.

“She is so healthy…”

Our church partner in Nusa Tenggara Timur (West Timor Province), Indonesia, distributes vegetable seeds for expectant mothers to provide for healthy nutrition during pregnancy, and for the family in the future.

Irma (pictured) said “growing vegetables is good for pregnant mothers, health workers … told me that. [When] I gave birth to my third child, she is 3.8 kg. She is so healthy, maybe because I consumed a lot of vegetables.”

This project was supported by the Australian Government through the Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP). 

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Community Health & Infant Nutrition (Timor Leste), News
August 14, 2024

UnitingWorld has been supporting our partner in Timor-Leste to help communities prepare for and respond to the impacts of El Niño.

As a small island nation, Timor-Leste relies heavily on rain-fed agriculture and imported food. Since September 2023, the El Niño weather event has led to drought-like conditions, irregular rainfall, and flash floods during the country’s main planting season.

The nation was already grappling with rising food insecurity, with twelve out of fourteen municipalities facing drought and almost a quarter of the population in Timor-Leste currently food insecure.

Our partner FUSONA* has been working alongside other church agencies as part of CAN DO** and local government bodies to roll out new large-scale projects to address climate change and keep people safe during disasters.

FUSONA is now working in three communities identified as most vulnerable because their crops were destroyed in flooding in 2021 and 2022. The project has provided seeds, tools and training in disaster preparedness and is working to improve access and preservation of water supplies.

As part of the project, schools are being engaged in disaster risk reduction training to equip youth to be able to help their communities during emergencies. Youth will also conduct tree planting in their schools and wider community to reforest vulnerable areas and reduce disaster risks.

With improved knowledge of food production, processing and storage and how to mitigate disaster risks, the project will help whole communities be better prepared and resilient to future disasters.

Timor-Leste Community Health Update

Timor-Leste has one of the highest rates of malnutrition among children in the world.

Our church partner IPTL and FUSONA have decided to shift the focus of their work from running health clinics to addressing food insecurity among the rural poor in three communities.

The decision was made based on the resources and technical capacity available in FUSONA and the increased capacity of the Timor-Leste government to provide health care services.

The first phase of the redesigned project is already underway, expanding the kitchen garden activities to 100 new families in vulnerable areas, providing seeds, tools and training to help people grow nutritious food on their land.

This was made possible thanks to your support. Thank you!

Header photo: Paulina in Same Timor-Leste was helped to expand her food garden thanks to UnitingWorld supporters and our partner FUSONA.

*FUSONA is the development agency of the Protestant Church in Timor-Leste (IPTL), a partner of UnitingWorld and the Uniting Church in Australia.

** The Church Agencies Network – Disaster Operations (CAN DO) is a consortium of Australian faith-based agencies.  

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Campaigns, Social Empowerment for Excluded Castes (India)
July 25, 2024

Laboni (pictured above with her mother) grew up in a typical rural village in West Bengal, India, where education is out of reach for many because families are too poor to invest in it.

Stuck in a cycle of poverty like this, going to school never seems as vital as the tasks of daily survival. Children grow up to help in the household or in the fields as soon as they are able; girls are married off young.

“My family was eager to marry me off at an early age,” Laboni now reflects. “It was not just because of my family but also according to our tribal culture; every girl between the ages of 13 and 15 should get married.”

Our church partner, the Church of North India-Diocese of Durgapur, saw the situation and believed that things could, and should, be different.

They supported Laboni’s education, and she became the first in her family to ever finish school. Today she’s pursuing her dreams: working on a university degree and hoping to return to her community as a teacher to inspire others to follow in her footsteps.

“The girls of my village [now] see me, and they are encouraged to study. I’ll tell them to go further,” says Laboni.

“I would urge every girl to stand on her own feet. We girls can participate in the development of our family, society and village.”

Thanks to UnitingWorld supporters and our partnership with the Australian Government, our partners also helped transform Laboni’s whole village and beyond, providing hundreds of families with income-generation support, training in agriculture and animal husbandry, and family health interventions.

The Diocese of Durgapur now runs 27 study centres currently supporting 420 children and a community development program working across 25 villages and two urban slum communities. Since they began the project, our partners have helped more than 2,000 children like Laboni with high-quality education support and career skills.

The wider community development work has grown to impact 1,698 households and 7,691 people with income-generation support, training in agriculture and animal husbandry, and family health interventions.

Laboni’s village is now a different place because of the love, hard work and dedication of our partners spanning more than a decade.

That’s why we believe this type of sustainable community development, led by local partners is the most effective weapon we have against poverty and injustice.

It’s an incredible blessing that we can play a part in creating such profound and lasting change. 

You can play a role too. Your support can help expand this live-changing work in India and beyond.

Click here to join our network of faithful monthly givers working together to build a more just and equitable world. Or find out more about this project here.

     

This project is supported by the Australian Government
through the Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP).

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News, Social Empowerment for Excluded Castes (India)
July 15, 2024

In the final months of the financial year, we told the story of Laboni, who grew up in a tribal village in remote West Bengal, India.

It’s a place where education is out of reach for many because families are too poor to invest in it. Children grow up to help in the household or in the fields as soon as they are able; girls are married off young.

Our church partner, the Church of North India – Diocese of Durgapur, supported Laboni’s education, and she became the first in her family to ever finish school. Today she’s pursuing her dreams: working on a university degree and hoping to return to her community as a teacher to inspire others to follow in her footsteps.

“The girls of my village [now] see me, and they and they are encouraged to study. I’ll tell them to go further!”  says Laboni.

“I would urge every girl to stand on her own feet.  We girls can participate in the development of our family, society and village.”

The impacts of our partner’s education support won’t stay with Laboni and her peers but will be felt for generations to come…

THANK YOU to everyone who donated to our End of Financial Year Appeal to enable our partners to give opportunities for people to live whole and hopeful lives, as God intended.

Together we raised $496,000, an incredible result! It will be combined with funding we can access from the Australian Government, which will help us make an even bigger impact on poverty and injustice in our world.

Here’s some more of the change you’ve helped create!

Just 20 years old, Simran is a tailor earning an income of around AUD$91 a month. The job represents a huge change for her whole family – and not just materially. Simran’s three elder sisters are all married, and Simran says her parents had been preoccupied with seeing her wed.

Simran met a Community Facilitator from the Diocese of Durgapur, who encouraged her to undertake training at their Stitching and Tailoring Centre. Her training allowed her to secure her first job as a tailor.

“Initially, my father discouraged me from taking up the tailoring job thinking that it might not look good for our family,” Simran says. “But he has since changed his perspective.”
Now, as a working woman, Simran is independent, contributes to the household income, and is eager to encourage other young women to consider a career before marriage.

Back in 2013, Sahadi’s family lived off what they could grow on a small patch of land – paddy, mustard and vegetables. Then Sahadi joined a Self-Help Group established by UnitingWorld’s partner in Durgapur. Within a year, she had received, as an investment from the group, a single goat and livestock breeding training – a huge opportunity she was eager to make the most of!

When food and water are scarce, it’s no small task to keep a goat alive and successfully breed it. But Sahadi was incredibly determined and over the past ten years she has increased her goat flock to 15! Already this year, she has sold seven goats and added an extra AUD$551 to the family income. Her entrepreneurial spirit on fire, Sahadi also invested in three cows – one for domestic use, the others for sale at market bringing in an additional AUD$147.

When a submersible water pump arrived in his village, courtesy of UnitingWorld partners in Durgapur, Dinanath Mahar was delighted. He’d watched his parents struggle as the land was so difficult to farm without irrigation.

And now – WATER! Dinanath underwent training with the Community Development Program and began cultivating crops, including sesame, mustard, paddy, and potatoes. The outcome? An additional AUD$991 per year. The family invested the money back into their farm, buying a second-hand power tiller and a motorcycle to move around the property.

For the first time, they could afford better health care and education. Dinanath’s granddaughter was born in a private health care facility, the first in her family with this start in life. Dinanath’s daughter-in-law, observing how effective the program was, joined also and is now breeding goats, bringing yet more income.

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Disaster Preparation and Climate Change (Pacific Region), News
July 10, 2024

20 years ago in March 2004, church leaders from across the Pacific gathered in Tarawa, Kiribati, to lead a vital consultation on climate change. Out of the consultation, they released the powerful Otin Taai* Declaration, committing their churches to urgent action and calling on Christians throughout the world to act in solidarity.  

To mark 20 years since the consultation, the Pacific Conference of Churches hosted the Otin Taai +20 Conference, a gathering of members and partners to take stock of the impacts of climate change, the lack of an appropriate collective global response to the climate emergency, and to discern how best to work together on the issue into the future.  

UnitingWorld Head of Programs Peter Keegan attended the event on behalf of the Uniting Church in Australia along with Rev. Alimoni Taumoepeau from the Synod of the Uniting Church in NSW and ACT. Peter shared, ”

“As we knelt to pray on muddy sands beside seawaters that just a generation ago had been fertile and productive land, the reality was starkly evident before us. What was a prophetic warning in the Otin Taai Declaration twenty years ago is today a reality. And it is a reality that is impacting all of the peoples and creatures of the earth.” 

Otin Taai +20 was another powerful time of sharing about the impacts of climate change on people, communities and biodiversity across the region.  From the 2024 gathering, PCC members and partners released the Tuākoi ‘lei** Declaration. 

“God has called creation out of the chaos of ocean covered earth, yet the actions of fossil fueled greed, selfishness and apathy, manifested as extractive industries and economic globalization are driving us back to chaos as we experience the ocean rising to reclaim the earth, our common home. 

We call the world to embody neighbourly love, compassion and hope, which are needed more than ever to turn the tide for climate and ecological justice.” 

Read the 2004 Otin Taai Declaration here.

Read the 2024 Tuākoi ‘lei Declaration here.

*Otin Taai is the iKiribati phrase for “sunrise”.  
**Translated from the Tuvaluan phrase for “good neighbour” or “loving neighbour”.

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Campaigns, Project Updates, Social Empowerment for Excluded Castes (India)
June 26, 2024

Sophia Lakra discovered a passion to help others early in life.  

Growing up among the poor in West Bengal, she saw the incredible potential of young people as well as the barriers preventing so many from realising their dreams. 

Children became either trapped in a cycle of poverty, or they found a way to escape.  

The difference, as Sophia saw it, was education.  

She wanted to help keep disadvantaged children in school. So she studied hard and at age 21, Sophia became a teacher. 

“I wanted to do something worthwhile in my life,” she says. “I love working with children and I always wanted to make a difference in their lives.” 

“Education has the ability to transform individuals and communities, giving children wisdom, skills and values that enable them to make important decisions and solve problems.” 

Sophia’s passion led her to further studies in social work, and to join the Community Development Program run by the Church of North India, Diocese of Durgapur.  

She is now a Program Facilitator, overseeing study centres that are impacting hundreds of children each year with much-needed education support for disadvantaged children. 

“The major barriers holding these children back are more than just living below the poverty line, it’s the low self-esteem, fear and self-doubt that comes from their families living that way,” she says. 

“Through education, we help children to become confident in who they are … to know what is right from wrong … to have the courage to raise their voice and speak against injustice.” 

“Their knowledge helps to fight social evils like poverty, gender inequality and the caste system. They have a healthier life.”  

Since joining the Community Development Program, she’s now watched generations of children born in slums walk into study centres as toddlers and leave as adolescents, vastly better equipped to find productive work or pursue further study. 

“Mentoring these young souls is such a beautiful experience,” she says. 

“Through education and life skills training, I believe I am preparing these children for life. I care for these children, guide and love them the way I would like my own daughter to be cared for.” 

“It can be stressful at times, but my passion rewards me when I see a smile on these children’s faces.” 

Sophia told me that many of the children stay in close touch and even come back to volunteer in the project to help others. I asked why she thought that was and for her it’s simple:  

“Education changes people… People change the world.” 

Amen.  

Our partners like Sophia are working hard alongside thousands more people on community-wide, sustainable initiatives to end poverty.  

Many of our supporters have already given generously to help us reach this year’s target of $500,000 so that we can fully fund our projects across Asia, Africa and the Pacific.  

With only a few days left in the financial year, please consider a donation to support our work to end poverty and create justice alongside people like Sophia.  

www.unitingworld.org.au/endpoverty

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Campaigns, Community Health & Infant Nutrition (Timor Leste), News
April 30, 2024

46-year-old Bernadeta has long been a gardener.  

Around her home in rural Timor-Leste, she’s tried her hand at growing more than just staples. 

“I was growing vegetables such as bitter-gourd, string-beans, eggplants, water-spinach, green vegetables, lettuce and spinach,” she says. 

But it wasn’t until UnitingWorld’s partner FUSONA* offered her some assistance and invited her to help lead a gardening group that her garden became the primary source of income for her family. 

“When FUSONA’s staff came to introduce the kitchen garden program to me and my neighbours, I was excited and happy to join because they offered different seeds for us to grow and we don’t need to spend money to buy them,” said Bernadeta. 

So she joined the first training and agreed to lead a gardening group while she expanded her own kitchen garden. 

“The first time we joined as group, I learned new things and we had to decide how we would work together, assist each other and build trust,” she said.  

“At first it was a bit confusing for me as group leader to embrace all members with different ideas, characters, behaviours and mindsets, but we made decisions about how we could work for a better result for group.”  

They decided each person would work on the shared land according to what they were confident in and what they could manage.  

“It was important to acknowledge that each member would produce according to their strength and we formed a working rhythm that was understood among the group,” said Bernadeta. 

“When it comes to harvest time, we harvest and bring to the market to sell. And sometimes people are coming to our gardens and buy fresh vegetables here.” 

The group has decided they need to move to a bigger area of land in order to produce more vegetables to meet the market demand, and are working to figure out a sustainable water source for it.  

“As a group we are so pleased and thankful to FUSONA for supporting us with seeds to produce more in our gardens, said Bernadeta.  

“I love my kitchen garden and hope that FUSONA can continue to support our group with sourcing equipment as we get bigger!” 

We look forward to keeping you updated about Bernadeta’s group and the wider project.  

Thank you for helping make it happen!

Thank you to everyone who donated to support our food crisis appeal or gave gifts of seeds and kitchen gardens from our Everything in Common Gift Catalogue. You’re helping people like Bernadeta to build food security and generate an income for whole families.

*FUSONA is the development agency of the Protestant Church in Timor-Leste (IPTL), a partner of UnitingWorld and the Uniting Church in Australia.