Christian Aid Changemakers’ Conference

As Christian Aid marks its 80^th anniversary, supporters from up and down the country will be gathering for the annual Changemakers’ Conference – Changing the world together.

The event is an opportunity to hear the results from Christian Aid Week 2024, find out about the stories behind this year’s appeal and meet up with other supporters and Christian Aid staff and partners.

If you can’t make it in person, there are other ways to join in – from regional watch parties to watching online.

Among the guests will be Gerardo Calderón Tobar, who is the Programme Manager in Guatemala – the focus of this year’s Christian Aid Week.

Guatemala is part of the Central American Dry Corridor, an area which endures unpredictable rain patterns, bringing both severe droughts and catastrophic floods. These challenging conditions used to be predictable and manageable. Now, the climate crisis is causing seasons to intensify and shift erratically. As a result, vital crops are failing, plunging farming families into hunger and poverty.

Christian Aid has been working with its partner, Coordinación de ONG y Cooperativas (Congcoop), and alongside communities, to combine traditional farming with newer ways of working.

Thanks to supporters throughout the UK, Congcoop is able to offer training and tools so farmers can diversify and grow more resilient crops, build water recycling systems using household items, and create organic fertiliser. They are also supported with selling produce locally and campaigning for their rights against land grabs by industrial plantation owners.

As well as looking ahead to Christian Aid Week, the conference will also be reflecting on the charity’s 80 years of work and accomplishments, including an update on ongoing initiatives in places like Gaza.

During the afternoon, there will be seminars and workshops, organised in partnership with Faith for the Climate , which will be recorded for those not attending in person, and a more in-depth Q&A with the visitors from Guatemala.

To complement the in-person event, there will be more than a dozen Changemaker Watch Parties taking place across the country where people can join with fellow supporters and Church Engagement and Fundraising Officers to watch the conference via live-stream.

To register, visit www.christian-aid.org.uk and go to Events – and if your church or Christian Aid group would like to host a watch party, please email gro.d1767877275ia-na1767877275itsir1767877275hc@ol1767877275leh1767877275.