Umoja: Transforming Communities [Guides]

Umoja (Swahili for ‘togetherness’), is a church and community initiative. It helps church leaders and their congregations work together with the local community to bring about positive change for the whole community. Umoja does this by helping these local institutions build on the resources and skills they already have. It is a process that inspires and equips local people with a vision for determining their own future with their own resources. The Umoja process is based on more than 20 years of experience of working with churches and communities throughout Africa and Asia.

Umoja consists of two main guides, one for facilitators and one for coordinators. The Umoja Facilitator’s Guide contains Bible studies, activities, energizers, tools, advice and a step-by-step process to help a church and community become inspired and start working for transformation in their community. The Umoja Coordinator’s Guide provides everything that an organization or church needs to know to start and manage an Umoja program across a number of local communities.

Last modified: July 23, 2021

Language: Bangla, Cantonese, English, French, Portuguese

RESOURCES

Tools

Examples

    COVideo19 Student-Led Initiative

    COVideo19 is an initiative led by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health students aimed at providing science-based, social media friendly information on COVID-19 in multiple languages. The students are part of the Digital Health Society, the student arm of the Johns Hopkins University Global mHealth Initiative.

    The video series, aimed at young, connected audiences around the globe, challenges viewers to become “public health warriors” and combines scientific knowledge about COVID-19 with instructions on how to help stop its spread. In addition to the introductory video—now available in 20 languages and counting—COVideo19 features brief Q&As in multiple languages that address common myths, misconceptions, and concerns sourced from students’ home communities, ranging from the effects of COVID-19 on mental health to the seasonality of the coronavirus. The videos are available on the School’s playlist.

    Source: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

    Date of Publication: May 17, 2020