Episcopal Church Ministry Receives Million to Protect Women and Girls From Violence in Africa

Episcopal Relief Gets Massive $8 Million Grant to Fight Violence Against Women and Girls Across Africa

Episcopal Relief & Development has received an $8 million grant from The Laura Ellen and Robert Muglia Family Foundation to expand its work combating violence against women and girls in five African nations.

The four year grant will fund programs in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Liberia, and South Sudan. The organization aims to reach half a million people with prevention, survivor support, and community engagement efforts.

In the first year of the partnership, the ministry reached approximately 85,000 people in rural and hard to reach communities in Liberia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The work has been to connect survivors to medical, economic and legal support and engage communities' faith leaders in violence prevention efforts.

Abagail Nelson, Executive Vice President of Episcopal Relief & Development

The program equips local faith and community leaders to address root causes of violence. It blends faith based engagement with behavioral science to challenge harmful behaviors and dispel myths and stigmas that perpetuate violence against women and girls.

Presiding Bishop Sean W. Rowe praised the grant, stating:

This expression of Christian charity will enable Episcopal Relief & Development to significantly scale up its innovative and impactful work.

The Laura Ellen and Robert Muglia Family Foundation has supported Episcopal Relief & Development since 2005. This latest grant represents the most significant investment in the organization's gender based violence prevention work to date.

The initiative will connect survivors with medical, economic, and legal support while engaging religious networks in prevention efforts across all five countries.

$8 Million Church Grant Targets Violence Against Women in Five African Countries

The five target nations face some of the highest rates of gender based violence on the continent. South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in particular, have been ravaged by decades of conflict that disproportionately affect women and girls.

Episcopal Relief & Development's approach is notable for its emphasis on working through local faith communities rather than imposing outside solutions. By equipping pastors, church leaders, and community elders to address the problem, the organization builds sustainable, grassroots change.

The Crusader's Opinion

This is what the Church is supposed to look like. While governments throw money at bureaucratic programs that never reach the people who need them, Episcopal Relief & Development is putting boots on the ground in the most dangerous places on earth for women. These are communities where speaking out against violence can get you killed, where survivors are shamed into silence, where girls are treated as property.

The Church has a moral obligation to stand in the gap for the defenseless. Every denomination should be doing this work. Every Christian should demand their tithes go toward protecting the vulnerable, not building bigger sanctuaries.

Take Action

• Donate directly to Episcopal Relief & Development's gender based violence programs at www.episcopalrelief.org
• Support The Shepherd's Shield, which funds Christian protection work worldwide at www.TheShepherdsShield.org
• Pray specifically for women and girls in Burundi, DRC, Kenya, Liberia, and South Sudan who face daily threats of violence
• Contact your church leadership and ask what your congregation is doing to combat gender based violence locally and internationally
• Share this story on social media to raise awareness about faith based approaches to ending violence against women