How we work

Saving lives

Norwegian Church Aid strives to deliver the required aid at the right time, and provide the support that is most required at any given time. At the same time, we strive to strengthen the ability of the local communities to handle crises and preserve their dignity.

Norwegian Church Aid’s emergency preparedness division coordinates and directs this work. We are specialized in the area of water, sanitation and hygiene, psychosocial work and logistics and procurement. In an emergency situation, NCA staff can be dispatched to the field immediately. In addition, the team can enlist extra personnel from a separate emergency roster, meaning that extra resources are available when the need arises.

You can read more about the emergency preparedness roster here.

Norwegian Church Aid’s emergency response team cooperates with ACT Alliance and with the organs of the UN system.

Read more about our international emergency response network here.

Changing lives

Determined and patient efforts are required in order to improve human quality of life.

Norwegian Church Aid therefore engages in long-term commitments to provide aid to poor and oppressed groups. We aim to strengthen the ability of people to cope with their life situation, and to contribute to changes in the structures that cause oppression and poverty.
 
The reasons why the poor and oppressed fail to have their basic human rights fulfilled are many and complex. In order to contribute to creating permanent, positive change to the living conditions of the poor and the attitudes of the rich, we need to work on many different levels simultaneously.

Norwegian Church Aid is engaged in long-term development cooperation at the following levels:

• Locally, by supporting specific projects
• Nationally, by encouraging national governments to fulfil their obligations
• Regionally, because to an increasing extent development issues involve several nations at the same time
• Globally, because the frameworks for development of sustainable living conditions and resolution of conflicts are largely determined by global institutions.

Fulfilment of civic, cultural, religious and basic social rights is a precondition to enable people to participate in development processes and to achieve sustainable living conditions. Norwegian Church Aid aims to involve the target groups in these efforts, and women in particular, in a way that can help these groups become self-supporting.

Changing the world

Together with its partner organisations, Norwegian Church Aid works to influence political decisions and attitudes in favour of a more just world.

Norwegian Church Aid seeks to influence the decisions made by authorities and businesses with regard to issues that affect the political, economic and social rights of the poor.

Norwegian Church Aid addresses decision-makers in Norway as well in the regions where we are active. These efforts to influence decisions could also target multinational corporations and multilateral organizations. The large networks of which Norwegian Church Aid is a part enable us to achieve a wide mobilization for influencing decisions in favour of the poor and oppressed.

Norwegian Church Aid also works to influence the attitudes of individuals, congregations and local communities, to induce them to fulfil their obligation to act to promote human dignity and human rights. In particular, it is essential to foster attitudes that promote human rights, as expressed in the various UN conventions and declarations that promote responsible management of the environment.