Thank you
Your prayers and donations have such a significant and life-changing effect. Thank you for your wonderful support which enables us to build peace with those living in some of the world’s most challenging situations.
Evaluating our work
Monitoring and evaluating the effect of our work is something we take incredibly seriously. Each year, we go through a very thorough process in order to accurately report on what we achieved in the previous twelve months.
Enormous challenges in 2022
In 2022, Cord continued to stand up for those whose freedoms were restricted. The 2021 military coup in Myanmar still dominates life and pro-democracy voices are silenced. In Cambodia, opportunities for people to stand up for what they believe in continue to shrink. In Laos, communities were still impacted by illegal logging and land concessions with no access to compensation. With inflation over 30% in Burundi, this already incredibly poor nation faced further challenges. In such contexts, these factors contribute towards a cycle of violence and division.
But Peace is Possible
In 2022, with the help of your prayers and gifts, Cord’s work benefitted over 54,000 people across eight countries: Burundi and Uganda in East Africa and Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Thailand in Southeast Asia.
Your amazing support means young people and women, who are commonly marginalised, are being empowered to take their rightful place in decision-making spaces. They are putting themselves forward in elections to local committees, starting successful businesses and becoming peace mediators. Because of your love and generosity, we are seeing stories of reconciliation between communities and within families. Land rights are being restored, offering new hope and the chance for peace.
More people are flourishing thanks to your kindness
Cord’s mission is to develop positive and thriving relationships between individuals, communities and those in power. Such relationships help create safer and more stable societies where people can flourish. We take a 3 strand approach to building these relationships and last year, thanks to you, this approach meant that:
More grassroots organisations were strengthened
- In Burundi 100 new Self-Help Groups were created in addition to the 370 that were still operational from previous years, supporting people to deal with psychological trauma and pain.
- 2,688 people were running 300 businesses providing reliable income and building trust between entrepreneurs from different ethnic backgrounds.
- 378 Human Rights Defenders were able to meet their costs and continue their activities, including those protecting the land rights of Indigenous People.
- 165 Community Organisations were supported in developing plans to improve their sustainability.
More of those in power were able to understand the importance of working with grassroots organisations
- 223 representatives from local and national government attended events delivered by grassroots organisations.
- 33 grassroots organisations and 121 community representatives were invited to participate in policy discussions.
More opportunities were created for these two groups to work together
- 34 events were held in Burundi including theatre workshops, dialogues on community tensions and how to deal with the past.
- 14 Multistakeholder Dialogues where people including Environmental Defenders, private companies and Government representatives could meet, discuss topics and find solutions. There were 8 in Cambodia and 6 in Vietnam.
- 14 Sharing Events where people working on similar issues could gather in a safe place to network and share learning and best practice. These took place in Burundi, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar.
