Why Church & Community Mobilisation?
CCM is 26 times more cost-effective than traditional development and 4 times more sustainable. It works through lasting local structures like churches, empowers communities and gets government involved.
CCM training has equipped hundreds of communities to bring radical improvement to their lives. One of them is Mpyupyu, Central Malawi.
This is a priceless thing that we have received in our community! What has started here, let it spread everywhere!
- Mpyupyu Village Chief
Church & Community Mobilisation in Action
- understanding God's heart for justice and the church's call to action
The CCM Bible studies inspire the churches to understand God’s mandate for justice and to work with their communities. As one church leader says, “We now know the truth about the character of God...what really pleases God is caring for those in need.” The churches immediately put their learning into action, supporting widows, orphans, the elderly and others. Despite their poverty, church members all contribute. The pastor explains, “We are poor and we used to think that it was impossible to help others. But now we use the little that we do have.”
- everyone taking responsibility for their collective future
Churches bring together their communities to identify and prioritise their challenges. They use participatory activities that Eagles had taught them to break dependency and to find solutions, using their own resources. They even tackle hidden issues like gender-based violence. As the Mpyupyu Chief said: “We have learned to embrace our available resources. Things that we used to think were useless, we now use to develop ourselves. We have learned to be self-reliant as a community and as individuals.”
- with local resources to improve lives, especially the most vulnerable
CCM unites faith groups, communities and local government to work together. They gain the confidence and skills to tackle their problems, using the resources they have and also lobbying government to play its part. As a result, they improve their standard of living, education, health, relationships, and take care of their environment. “[CCM] is really helping us here…changing the mindsets of the people…We used to expect people from town to come and do things for us; now we do things for ourselves.” (Chair, Area Development Committee)
Research shows the cost-effectiveness of CCM
Eagles’ research was published in a peer-reviewed academic journal, Development in Practice
Key Findings
Our CCM approach has the same positive impact on people’s quality of life as a very successful traditional-style project but:
Low cost
It is 27 times cheaper
More sustainable
Communities are 4 times more confident to solve problems for themselves
More inclusive
Communities take more action to care for the most vulnerable