Sustainable Livelihoods and the Environment
In rural Cambodia, HIV/AIDS awareness remains low. The LWF provides home-based care to PLWHA. © LWF/DWS Cambodia |
The LWF Guiding Principles for Sustainable Development (Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader) 
, adopted in 2000, articulate a holistic approach in addressing the dimensions of human rights, gender, environment and communication in the process of achieving sustainable development.
Sustainable Development
LWF/DWS understands that sustainable development is as much a process as a goal, leading to a life of dignity for people in relationship to the overall context of their community and the environment that sustains them. Development that isolates a person from part of himself or herself, from the community or from the ecosystem which supports life is not sustainable. Rather, development is a process of change by which the basic needs and human rights of individuals and communities in any given society are realized while, at the same time, protecting the basic needs and human rights of other communities and future generations.
Environment
Water harvested on the upstream of Madzivire Dam in Matabeleland South. |
DWS is committed to conducting its development and emergency activities in accordance with its guiding principles for sustainable development, and with the best environmental practices to sustain the natural environment. To this end, DWS is committed to implement standards of development assistance in a responsive, effective and professional manner. Such standards not only comply with legislated environmental requirements, but also respond to the social, economic and environmental expectations of our partner communities and stakeholders.
Sustainable Development and Environment Desk
Young boy collecting water from an improved water supply system. |
One of the duties of the Sustainable Development and Environment Desk within DWS Geneva is to support country programs in implementing sustainable development actions in their projects and programs and to link them with global processes and initiatives. It is expected that this work is done in close coordination and consultation with all interested stakeholders, mainly LWF field offices, related agencies, grassroots organizations and LWF member churches. The major task is to work collaboratively with the country programs to jointly identify and strategize interconnected initiatives that provide the bases for appropriate actions, according to the needs and possibilities of each program.
Current activities focus on key areas such as food security (including organic agriculture and the implications of genetically modified organisms); water and soil conservation; the interrelation of trade and development; the impact of HIV/AIDS on the sustainability of communities; and the promotion of community-based competencies such as micro-finance.
For further information please contact:
Program Officer Mr Duane Poppe.
