Prayer -  global and particular for children
Viva Network

Isobel Booth-Clibborn with children from the Grapesyard project in Korogocho slum in Nairobi [Photo: © Isobel Booth-Clibborn]

On 3-4 June 2006, Viva Network brought together Christians around the world to pray for children at risk. Isobel Booth-Clibborn works for Viva Network Africa. The World Weekend of Prayer for Children at Risk took place during the first weekend of June for the 11th year running. An estimated one billion children worldwide suffer from extreme deprivation.

Last year, 1.2 million people took part in such prayer. In 2006, Viva Network is partnering two other groups:

Oakseed Ministries is an organisation supporting children at risk in urban areas. Viva and Oakseed are joining forces to provide a wider range of prayer resources. Oakseed will also be running an essay competition for children, helping them explore the needs of other young people and respond in their own words;

The Global Day of Prayer (GDOP) mobilised 200 million people to pray for transformation in their communities and nations on Pentecost Sunday 2005. This year, Pentecost coincides with the World Weekend of Prayer, and Viva are partnering the GDOP to get prayer for children at risk onto the agenda for people taking part in events around the world. See www.globaldayofprayer.co.uk

Isobel Booth-Clibborn is the Regional Co-ordinator of Viva Network Africa.

Having helped to develop children’s work in the Church in both Uganda and Manchester, Isobel now has a wider brief of networking Christian groups concerned for ‘children at risk’ in Africa.

Isobel declares: “I find it a wonderful way to link up, work with and strengthen what Christians are doing for children here in Africa and to promote and share best practice.

“In Africa, the needs of children are in front of us every day from the streetchild who is hungry to the pregnant teenager who wants to abort her foetus.

“It is great to hear stories of how training has helped a project to improve (Nairobi 2005); to hear how a retreat has helped a child to let go of past hurts (Uganda 2005); to see 3,000 people on their knees crying out in intercession for children (Ethiopia 2006); to partner a network working with a government to train people nationwide in psycho-social care (Malawi) — all these make me realise that networking has the potential to help many projects, and thus many children, by helping people to do better.

“It’s inspiring to see and hear of how much Christians are doing in so many places — much of it unseen.”

She works in Kampala in a team of five people supporting the development of local and national networks of agencies working with such children as well as encouraging a regional strategy called “Hear the Cry”, through which regional groups are encouraged to work strategically together to make a greater impact on children’s needs and improve African children’s lives.

Isobel and the Viva Network Africa team act as advisers to these networks and seek to encourage effective networking in 11 cities in 9 countries in Africa.

CMS seconded Isobel to this role in Viva Network.

She writes: “Viva Network is a global movement of Christians passionately concerned for ‘children at risk’, and committed to every child having the opportunity to become all that God intends.”

“We work to find ways:

firstly, to improve the quality of care for children — helping each other to attain standards of excellence for our organisations, for example, coming together, through projects, to be trained in planning and accountability.

“For example, the Children at Risk Prayer Fellowship has more than 50 members working in the three main slum areas in Nairobi, Kenya. They’ve had a programme of capacity-building training courses. They’ve also done strategising, monitoring and evaluation; bookkeeping; time management and child development — felt to be very beneficial in helping projects organise and do their work better;

“secondly, to increase the amount of action on behalf of children — motivating and equipping a compassionate response.

For instance, a number of networks are exploring how to find ways to increase what churches do to care for children in their communities — networks in Kenya, Malawi, Uganda and Zimbabwe have groups linking up large organisations with church networks to run pastors’ conferences to mobilise more action on children’s behalf by the Church.

“These will precede training conferences for those working with children and also help to link church programmes to funding. They will encourage churches in what they are doing in their local communities;

“thirdly, to influence decision-makers to be an effective and powerful voice to promote justice for ‘children at risk’.

“For example, the Children at Risk Action Network (CRANE) and the Children at Risk National Collaboration of Christian Agencies (CaR NaC) in Uganda have a joint group working to change the adoption laws so that more children can find loving homes rather than grow up in institutions. They are also working with the government on the revision of the Children Act.

“In Viva Network Africa, we supply some of the oil for the wheels to help all this to happen. We act as a catalyst for the development of networks and other initiatives that collectively form the global movement that’s ‘Viva Network’. We are the networks’ networkers; our web link is www.africa.viva.org.

“Other organisations — in Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania and Zambia — are in close touch with us, checking out who is doing what work with children at risk and whether there is potential for an even larger active network. They appreciate being part of the wider Viva Network movement.”

Get involved in the Global Day of Prayer and World Weekend of Prayer for Children at Risk.

In 2005, over a million people prayed, hundreds of vulnerable young people became Christians at prayer gatherings in Ghana, Uganda and Madagascar, and many children received much-needed practical help.

See how God answers prayer and transforms lives.

World Weekend of Prayer for Children at Risk resources, including a PowerPoint presentation; Transform, a colour booklet full of stories, statistics, children’s activities and prayer points; posters; service plans and prayer materials in more than 12 languages, are available on the Viva website,