Protecting the Most Vulnerable
Our mission is based on the core values of love and respect. Together, we have the power to protect the most vulnerable and to restore human dignity. Reducing social tolerance toward sexual and gender based violence against women and children is critical to the success of our mission. Our initiatives support children who have experienced neglect, violence, exploitation, and physical and/or sexual abuse. We support the right of all children to survive and thrive, living up to their fullest potentials, especially children with disabilities. Our rehabilitation programs support their rights to health care, nutrition, education, social inclusion, and protection from neglect.
Preventing Sexual and Gender-Based Violence
Violence against women and girls is a major public health problem and a violation of women’s human rights. Over their lifetime, a substantial portion of the world’s women have experienced intimate partner violence, either physical, sexual, or non-partner sexual violence.
Reducing social tolerance toward sexual and gender-based violence against women is critical to the success of our mission to seek dignity for all.
CMMB has fought to stop domestic violence, physical assault, rape, and forced marriage. Strengthening capacity for response to gender-based violence survivors is key and requires the engagement of church, government, and other community leaders as well as teachers, women’s group representatives, and police. The establishment of a functional referral mechanism for response is critical to ending gender-based violence.
Empowering Vulnerable Women in Peru
In impoverished regions of Peru, women suffer discrimination because of their lack of education and poverty. CMMB is working to empower the most vulnerable women by providing them with training and tools so that they can become leaders and role models in their communities.
Restoring Dignity in South Sudan
Increased levels of awareness on sexual and gender-based violence issues among communities in South Sudan encourages women and girls to come forward, to report abuse and violence, and to seek protection. Education makes communities aware of the interests of survivors, their rights, and the law. Coordination and partnership among stakeholders ensures faster and better delivery of medical, psychosocial, safety, and security services for this extremely vulnerable group.
In South Sudan, CMMB has reached tens of thousands of adults and children with structured activities and awareness-raising sessions on gender-based violence and the importance of child protection. The awareness sessions focused on child abuse, child neglect, child labor, defilement, and gender-based violence issues—especially domestic violence, rape, physical assault, forced and early marriage, and denial of responsibilities and opportunities. To support gender-based violence survivors in a concrete way, CMMB trained social workers and counselors in case management and established Gender Desks to provide psychosocial support and referrals to medical care and legal assistance as needed.
Child Protection
For communities to create and maintain a protective environment for children, communities’ child protection actors must work together to form partnerships and build capacity in those who need it. Strengthening community-based child protective services takes training, mentorship, and supportive supervision, as well as cooperation among community-based child protection networks, health facilities, and relevant government entities. Psychosocial support, effective management of child-friendly spaces, child protection in emergency situations, strong referral systems, and specific training for child protection committees all make for strong, sustainable programs.
Empowering Families in Zambia
Just as it makes little sense to hospitalize individuals without first evaluating and treating their conditions, CMMB does not assume that sending children who have lost a parent or two to an orphanage should be the default procedure. In Zambia, under the Kusamala project for GHR Foundation, CMMB is working with government social welfare agencies to strengthen their capacity to protect and empower families and communities to protect and nurture their children, to prevent child separation, and to restore children to their families and communities if they have been separated. The spirit of compassion that grounds the project is embodied in it name (“to care for” in Nyanja, the language of eastern and central Zambia). We have trained hundreds of health facility staff and neighborhood health committees to recognize child protection issues and to utilize best-practice child protection and alternative care methods. CMMB is also establishing family support groups and village savings and loan associations to further support the families and communities.
Childhood Rehabilitation
The daily reality of life for children with disabilities and their families is frequently one of discrimination and exclusion—in all countries of the world.
With commitment, dignity, and love, all children must be allowed to reach their God-given potential.
We find it unacceptable for any child to be treated differently because of an intellectual or physical impairment.
Rehabilitation with Hope in Peru
In especially poor and remote communities in Peru, such as Huancayo and Trujillo, children born with disabilities and their parents face multiple obstacles, including lack of education, negative attitudes and stigma, and inadequacy of services—where they exist at all. Our approach under our long-standing Rehabilitation with Hope project addresses the right of these children to survive, thrive, and realize their full potential.
This community-based service program, supported by Peru’s Ministry of Health and by local and international universities, assists children with physical and mental disabilities by providing much-needed access to quality therapy, as outlined in the World Health Organization’s community-based rehabilitation model, spanning physical, language, cognitive, and socioemotional areas. The program specifically targets children of families with extremely low financial resources—families who would not otherwise be able to access professional rehabilitation services.