International Care Ministries

The need

The Philippines is home to more than 101 million people. Despite economic growth in recent years, 22 million Filipinos live below the national poverty line. Farthest below that line, in the most severe form of poverty, are seven million people living in ultra-poverty where their survival is at risk. ICM focuses on helping families who live in ultra-poverty, those who live on less than US$0.50 per person per day. Due to COVID-19, all progress out of poverty is reversed and even more people are now entering the poverty line and suffering from the impact of the pandemic. From ICM’s program experience, the ultra-poor face a multitude of heart-breaking challenges:
● Average daily income is US$0.26,
● 63% live in cramped homes,
● 32% have no electricity,
● 53 % do not purify water,
● 50% of household have illness,
● 10% of children are malnourished.

Our solution

We believe fostering healthy churches leads to healthy, thriving communities. ICM acts based on God’s calling to help the poorest of the poor through a continuum of hope – a series of ICM programs that begin with Thrive and progresses onto Transform which leads to Prevail.

Thrive. At the core of all ICM programs is the partnership with pastors of local community churches in the Philippines. Many of these pastors are poor themselves, yet they share ICM’s mission and calling to minister to the most vulnerable and in need. ICM invites local pastors to join the Thrive Network where pastors connect with fellow Kingdom workers in their area to learn together and support each other through prayer and fellowship. Through Thrive, local pastors become better equipped to become instruments of positive change in their communities leading to even deeper partnerships with ICM to reach and serve the poorest of the poor. Thrive pastors are encouraged to become program partners to bring Transform to their communities.

Transform is ICM’s core training program for ultra-poor participants integrating Bible-based values education with livelihood training, health education, and early childhood development. This is captured in the acronym H.O.P.E. (Heart for values, Opportunity for livelihood, Physical for health, and Education for early childhood development). For four months, ICM works with partner pastors to teach weekly interactive lessons that not only teaches essential life skills, but also forms a community of learning and fellowship among program participants. During Transform, participants learn how to develop good hygiene practices, form savings groups, while learning more about the gospel and forming deeper community bonds and friendships.

Prevail follows through on the shared community learning and gains made during Transform. Prevail provides continuous learning to help these groups further grow their financial assets, while building local leadership capacity. In addition to livelihood training, Prevail also builds a community of godly SG leaders who lead their respective community savings groups with joy and integrity as they work towards greater opportunities for economic growth and inclusion.

You can respond and make a life-time impact by donating to ICM. A donation of CAD3,000 is equivalent to impacting of one Transform community (thirty ultra-poor participants as direct beneficiaries, 120 indirect beneficiaries, and a formation of one savings group in the community).