Habitat in Asia/Pacific: Managing Growth, Involving Youth

Habitat for Humanity International’s Asia/Pacific area office faces a welcome challenge: keeping up with and managing exploding affiliate growth. In the last six years, Habitat’s work in the region has grown from five active countries to 19, and youth programs have especially taken off, with thousands of young people getting involved in the region. “It’s exciting for us to think about how the Habitat movement could change in the future based on the level of involvement throughout the area,” says Steve Weir, vice president of HFHI’s Asia/Pacific region.

Maintaining a Christian focus in an area of the world that encompasses many different religions is a priority for the Asia/Pacific office. “We have attracted some very committed Christian leaders in every country in Asia,” Weir says. “It’s on that foundation that the program will be able to grow.”

Challenges Faced:

• Working in countries with religious diversity.
• Keeping up financially with affiliate growth.
  
  

Goals for the Future:

• To expand programs into additional countries.
• To increase funding from within Asia from 30 percent to 50 percent.
• To get started in at least 12 other countries in the next three years.
• To have about 75 percent of the staff from Asia. Currently, about 60 percent of the field staff is from Asia.
  
  

A Call for Prayer:

• Pray for wisdom on how to support and develop programs in countries with religious diversity.
• Political unrest in Fiji has led HFHI’s Asia/Pacific area office to investigate relocating the Pacific area office. Pray for wisdom and funding.
• Pray for the recruitment and training of qualified staff.
  
  

--Rebekah Graydon





Reprinted from Habitat World Magazine, October/November 2000.
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©2000 Habitat for Humanity International