3. Thematic engagement

We will continue our sponsorship program and particularly sponsor more children in Sub-Sahara Africa. Our ambition is to better align the sponsorship strategy with the sector strategy of INCE, the International Network for Christian Education. With children and youth as ultimate target group, we will develop interventions for systemic changes in their environment, and thus our focus includes their families and communities, the schools and educational sector organizations and especially also governments, as key responsible system actors. Through our INCE partnerships we aim to influence policies, capacities of education partners and socio-cultural norms in education, and together develop market-driven responses for quality education. Within the systemic approach a new focus is on exploited children who fall outside the mainstream educational system. We will develop interventions to address root causes of exploitation and harmful practices focussed on restoration of these children.

Our target group are un- or underemployed young women and men (15-35) in low- and middle-income countries. Job Booster aims at connecting job seekers with employers and matching training but will put more emphasis on influencing the entire employment sector. In one way by working towards financially sustainable entities brokering employment and self-employment and additionally by working towards a sustainable cooperation of public and private employment organizations for a more inclusive labour market. To make our programming more inclusive we will target at least equal numbers of young men and women, and specific interest groups will be engaged such as organizations representing disabled persons, or for minority groups to contribute to the dialogue towards an inclusive labour market. AgriJob Booster interventions in West Africa will have a specific focus on climate resilient employment in the agricultural sector.
The direct focus on technical and vocational education and training (TVET) centres we have had for years will be shifted towards a broader view on decent employment and an inclusive labour market towards 2025. We will support TVET centres towards increased quality, financial sustainability, connection to Job Booster programs or other relevant networks and new initiatives in our Education program.

The central concept we work along is an inclusive value chain. With flourishing farmers, households and communities as ultimate goal, interventions aim at inclusive and well-organised value chains, thriving farms, regenerative resource management and shared decision-making in farm management. While actors at chain level form the point of engagement, systemic changes are aimed through influencing government policies (local, national and international) and engaging with input suppliers, service providers and (foreign) investors. Interventions will be developed around the Fair Factory model, with Woord en Daad developing social-economic programming and strategic partner Incluvest investing in a factory.

The direct target groups are households and farmer-entrepreneurs in underserved rural areas. Sub-themes in the portfolio development include Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), water for food and Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM). The central concept across the sub-themes is a servicing approach: a model to improve the services on district level and up, aiming at policies and regulation, service providers and end-users. With ambitions to improve water-, sanitation- and IWRM-services for all, we will design explicit targeting strategies for unreached including working with churches and community organizations and more emphasis on advocacy for inclusive regulations. We will seek to become part of broad national coalitions for system change, with a new emphasize on IWRM and contributing to climate-resilience of stakeholders and target groups.