Anglican Relief and Development: Anglican leaders fund mission projects, plan for future

from Stand Firm by Sarah

The ARD is really a great initiative and excellent substitute for ERD. I hope everyone is telling their friends and family about this work -- there's more from the press release, linked here:

In the fiscal year ended this past June 30, ARDF doubled its income as well as its number of donors. Donor supported emergency relief projects totaling $647,000 for Chile, Haiti, Indonesia, Malwi, Myanmar, Samoa, and Uganda. Development projects were completed in Ethiopia, Nepal, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. ARDF also made a significant investment in planning for its future, looking at ways to increase the organization’s capacity to develop and fund mission projects and to invite more individuals to participate in ARDF’s mission to transform lives by bringing help and hope to those in need.

Chairman Bill Deiss, a member of The Falls Church in Virginia, challenged the Board with a 10- year vision that would increase the Fund’s budget to $12 million by 2015 and an additional $24 million by 2020. Jennifer Pioch, ARDF’s International Project Director, reported on the assessment process that evaluates each project upon completion to insure the effectiveness of every dollar spent and to improve the success rate of future undertakings.

At the direction of the board, the six development projects approved on the second day of the meeting are all to be based in Congo. Projects in Ghana and Cameroon are in the pipeline for 2011, and ARDF will launch an initiative in Sudan as soon as the political situation there stablizes. The projects include skills training for former soldiers, small business for women, an agricultural cooperative, and building projects.

Australians invited to our meetings expressed interest in the feasibility of establishing an Australian entity which could mirror the vision, objectives and methodology of ARDF.