The NACSEA Relief Fund can look back on an impactful 2024. The relief fund’s efforts made a difference in education, food security, livelihood programmes, and disaster relief. And all thanks to generous donors, energetic volunteers, and reliable partners.
“Our 2024 Annual Report is not about boasting or placing ourselves on a pedestal of accomplishments. The purpose is solely and only for transparency,” Urs Hebeisen, the president of NACSEA Relief, says in his foreword. Based on the biblical parable of the talents, the New Apostolic aid agency in South-East Asia is called to give an account of its actions.
Photos: NACSEA Relief Fund
Focus on education
NACSEA Relief is particularly proud of its educational projects. Several school buildings have been built or renovated in remote regions of the Philippines, for example in Davao Occidental, T’boli, and Banate. These initiatives give children access to schooling who previously had to walk for hours to get to school.
The scholarship programme once again proved successful: a number of scholars passed their examinations, for example in medicine and criminology. A further 17 students graduated this year. In 2025, a total of almost 88 young people will receive help on their educational journey.
Help in an emergency
Heavy rains caused floods and landslides and destroyed homes, food supplies, and crops in parts of Mindanao in February. NACSEA Relief was able to assist over a hundred affected families. After a fire destroyed a family’s home, the aid agency helped rebuild the house. And a family on the island of Negros, who rely on fishing for their daily sustenance, received help after a typhoon brought devastation and damaged their fishing boat, jeopardising their livelihood. The El Niño phenomenon has significantly impacted agriculture in the Soccksargen region, where seeds were provided to smallholder farms to prevent famine.
Compliance management
In order to further raise professional standards, NACSEA intends to introduce compliance management with a particular focus on corruption prevention and whistleblower protection. Support is provided by the partner organisation NAK-karitativ from Germany.
There were also logistical changes: the office of the South-East Asian relief agency moved to the premises of the New Apostolic Church Philippines in order to keep their overhead to a minimum and save on rental costs and use the donations more efficiently. “While the New Apostolic Church is now our landlord, we continue to operate independently, maintaining our legal status,” the report states.
Cross-border operations
Special support came from partner organisations such as NAK-karitativ in Germany, NAK-Humanitas in Switzerland, and the New Apostolic Church Canada. Together, they contributed 43 per cent of the financial donations. A further 6.5 per cent came from the German Unfried Stiftung and 15.6 per cent from the New Apostolic Church International based in Switzerland.
“Through our partnerships in Switzerland, Germany, and Canada, we can plan bigger projects but small outreach programmes that provide direct help remain close to our hearts,” the annual report says. “It does not always have to be a big project to do good.”
Focus on the future
The focus for 2025 is clear: the priorities are education, livelihood, food sustainability, and disaster relief outreach. At the same time, NACSEA Relief wants to give young people more responsibility in order to secure the future of the organisation.
The 2024 Annual Report cites Galatians 6: 9 in closing: “And let us not grow weary while doing good.”