Country Programs

BEC

Thematic Programs

•  Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development

•  Ecology Protection and Promotion of the Integrity of Creation

•  Children and Women Development and Social Services

•  Relief and Rehabilitation

•  Alay Kapwa

•  Peacebuilding

Support Programs

•  Project Services and Resource Mobilization Unit

•  Advocacy, Research, and Communications

Alay Kapwa (AK) is the Lenten evangelization action program of the Philippine Catholic Church. Created in 1975 by the Catholic Bishops, it is implemented by NASSA as a part of its commitment to bring out a society enlivened by the Gospel values of justice, peace and love for our less fortunate brothers and sisters.

Alay Kapwa means offering (alay) who we are and what we have to our neighbor (kapwa) as an expression of solidarity with the other exemplified by Christ's death on the Cross. “Offering one's self to others” is the guiding spirit of the AK program, calling all to share time, talent, and treasure with the poor.

The AK program facilitates NASSA's local fund raising initiatives. Contributions to the AK program are used to support and sustain social action initiatives on peace advocacy, democratic governance, ecology, sustainable agriculture, children's rights, disaster management, and other development projects by NASSA, DSACs, and BECs.

NASSA's Peacebuilding program addresses issues arising from militarization and insurgencies, clan/tribal conflicts, development aggression, terrorist threats, and territorial/agrarian disputes that displace local communities and/or violate human rights. Thus, NASSA envisions transforming the BECs as catalysts of peace, promoting and supporting initiatives in communities who suffer from the adverse effects of unpeace.

Peacebuilding strategies include grassroots-level awareness training and formation of peace groups composed of all religions, races, ethnicities, in the village, diocesan, and national levels; income generation project and microfinance development within the community; and advocacy and lobbying for good governance and rights-based campaigns.