About Us
About Act for Peace
Act for Peace is the international aid agency of the National Council of Churches in Australia (NCCA), a council with 19 member churches. We work across denominational and other divisions to serve our member churches. Please click here to find out more about the NCCA and its member churches.
Act for Peace is a member of the ACT Alliance, which spends $1.6 billion per year helping communities affected by poverty or conflict in more than 140 countries.
Act for Peace is a member of the Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (HAP). HAP is an international self-regulatory body for the humanitarian sector. Its purpose is to achieve and promote the highest principles of accountability through self-regulation by members linked by common respect to the rights and dignity of beneficiaries.
What we do
We act for peace, especially by assisting the most conflict and disaster affected communities to be safe. This means empowering communities to prevent conflict, protect refugees and reduce poverty. A safe community is one in which all members can live in safety, dignity and are able to realise their rights.
We work with our project partners to:
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protect refugees: through assisting more than one million refugees and internally displaced people in the world’s worst conflicts
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prevent conflict: through destroying hundreds of thousands of bombs, weapons and items of ammunition and in so doing clear millions of square metres of land for safe community use; as well as establishing and supporting hundreds of peace committees and reconciliation processes
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reduce poverty: through assisting conflict and disaster affected communities to grow their self-reliance and develop new livelihoods
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empower communities: by being community-based and fully involving affected communities in our work, such as in disaster and climate change preparedness programs with some of the world’s most vulnerable communities
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For example, our project partners:
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in Somalia are assisting 200,000 people most affected by the 2011 famine and have cleared 70 tons of bombs, weapons and ammunition;
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in Iraq have so far removed more than 1.5 million weapons, bombs and items of ammunition, allowing communities to return to their land. Each year they clear and return to Iraqi communities around 3 million square metres of land; and
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in Burma / Myanmar and on its borders are currently the main humanitarian providers for 240,000 people displaced by the civil war, as well as assisting Burmese communities to retain their rights to land, locate landmines and provide prosthetic limbs for victims (even though this is illegal).
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The conflict-affected countries in which we work account for over 85 per cent of people who have recently been forced to flee because of conflict.
In Australia we work with Indigenous and refugee communities. None of our work would be possible without our supporters who give generously throughout the year, when emergencies break out and at Christmas, through the Christmas Bowl. Our supporters also act for peace through campaigns, such as banning cluster munitions, achieving the Millennium Development Goals and accelerating disarmament.
We began our work in 1948 helping refugees displaced during World War II. In 1949, we started our best known appeal, the Christmas Bowl, which has collected over $100 million for this work and reminds us that Christmas should be a time of peace for all.
We hope you find inspiring ideas on this website how you can join us and act for peace!
