Compassion International Qavah Workshop

Mexico City | 8-15 October, 2011

 
 

Qavah training workshop, Mexico City 8-15 Oct 11

‘Qavah’ is a resource for local churches working in partnership with Compassion International. It seeks to build their capacity to work with and respond to community needs. This is important because Compassion recognizes that its child-focused ministry sits in a context of families and community, which if ignored, will ultimately impact the future development of the child.

Qavah is a Hebrew word meaning ‘binding together, eagerly waiting, hoping for, expecting’. This term captures a sense of optimism and hope, along with the idea of working together which is essential for positive, lasting change.The name is also inspired by the Old Testament reference, Isaiah 40:31.

The Qavah workshop for teams from Mexico and Honduras took place in Mexico City - one of the world’s fastest growing conurbations. Mexico City’s metropolitan area population is currently estimated at more than 21 million people, making it the largest metropolitan area in the western hemisphere and the fifth largest agglomeration in the world.

(Above) A rooftop view of Mexico City

 

 

 

Mobilizing the local church to work with its community

Qavah aims to help the local church to support and work with its community in meeting local needs. An action learning approach is used to engender confidence and self- directed development and the process is designed to awaken awareness of the role of the church in meeting the needs of the poor.

Qavah uses bible studies and an array of practical activities to mobilize the local church via a series of key steps: (1) Envisioning the church; (2) Celebration; (3) Describing our community; (4) Analyzing and prioritizing; (5) Dreaming dreams and taking action.

(Right) The workshop included participants from Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, USA, Africa, Australia, the UK and Peru.

(Left) Richard Teare participates in a team game called ‘the longest line’ – this helps participants to realize that they have more resources than they imagine ...

 

 

 

Next steps for Qavah and GULL

Qavah is led by Compassion’s Church Partnership Team and Wolfgang Riedner, Church Partnership Director and his colleagues are using the GULL system for their own personal and professional development.

As Qavah is essentially about helping people to discover and fully utilize their own potential, it is an outcomes-directed process that can be used by partner churches in a variety of ways. Qavah will be used to prepare new church partners, to work with youth, to equip churches to advance without on-going support from Compassion, to support on-going Compassion programmes and for Advocacy.

As the Qavah pilot is implemented in a number of countries spanning East Africa, South East Asia and Latin America, Wolfgang and his team plan to use the GULL system to recognize the outcomes (termed ‘Progress markers’) and the individual and collective efforts of participants.

(Right) The Qavah workshop participants from Mexico and Honduras

 

GULL is a not-for-profit foundation registered in California, USA. GULL is recognized by the Government of Papua New Guinea & endorsed by other Governments, Leaders & Institutions.

 
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