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APPROACH
St. Martin Approach
Only through community
St. Martin-CSA has developed its own unique approach in addressing the needs of vulnerable groups of people. As the mission
statement already suggests, the organisation does not directly target the vulnerable. The focus is on the able people; on the community,
which in turn will take care of the needy people among them. For this reason the motto of St. Martin-CSA is: ONLY THROUGH COMMUNITY.
Solutions to the problems of the beneficiaries
are always looked for by the community and in the community itself. The role of the staff is only to facilitate.
Believing in the potentiality of the community
St. Martin-CSA works from the conviction that resources in the community are sufficiently available; that
there are many people of goodwill. What is required is to mobilise the people and the resources and to promote solidarity
and sharing. Only by promoting these values, changes in the lives of the beneficiaries will be lasting and will be sustained
even when St. Martin-CSA will no longer be there. At the same time the organisation believes that by involving the community,
people who otherwise would not have known the presence and struggle of
vulnerable people, now have a chance to grow themselves: to grow in love for their neighbours, who are in need.
Volunteers
The work of St. Martin-CSA is done through a network of community volunteers,
who are recruited from different churches. They undergo a process of spiritual and technical
formation so that they are empowered to make real changes in the lives of the beneficiaries: they will
for example learn how to care for a neighbour sick of AIDS, how to handle a case of violence or human rights
violation or how to guide and counsel a family, whose children are at risk of running to the streets. They also
learn how to involve other people in the community: for example how to motivate others to give time for visiting a
child with a disability, how to raise funds to finance the medical treatment of a beneficiary or how to finance the
secondary school of an AIDS orphan. Only in those situations where the resources in the community fall short, St. Martin-CSA
will seek for funds elsewhere.
A second group of volunteers work at the management level of the organisation. They sit in committees and direct
the activities of the programmes. St. Martin-CSA believes that involving the community can only effectively be done
if the same community is involved at the planning and decision-making level.
A long-term process
Transformation of communities is a long-term process that requires patience and a humble attitude. The results
cannot be seen immediately and are at times not very conspicuous. The problems and struggles are many to overcome. But, St.
Martin believes that the final result will not only be a beautiful one but also one that will really last.
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