A newly formed apostolic development organisation has launched a grassroots initiative aimed at helping communities identify and address poverty, limited access to education, women’s economic exclusion and other challenges commonly associated with the apostolic constituency.

The Apostolic Projects and Development Organisation (APDO) says its approach differs from programmes designed outside the communities they are intended to serve.

APDO Executive Director Gibson Botomani said the organisation emerged from conversations within communities about mothers skipping meals so their children could eat, young people with skills but no opportunities, children struggling to remain in school and elderly people lacking adequate support.

“We are two months old. Yes, only two months. But we were not born yesterday in spirit,” Botomani said at the organisation’s breakfast launch meeting in Harare on Wednesday.

Rather than arriving with predetermined solutions, the organisation will work with apostolic communities to establish their priorities and develop programmes around what people say they need.

While several apostolic organisations already operate in Zimbabwe, APDO says it is established specifically to confront social and economic challenges from within the constituency through a community-led development model.

Its programmes will focus on education, health, child welfare, women and youth empowerment, disability inclusion, rehabilitation and sustainable livelihoods.

Registered as a Private Voluntary Organisation, APDO says it will operate independently of individual churches while working across different apostolic groupings.

Bishop Charakupa said the organisation was created to move beyond short-term assistance by helping families build sustainable livelihoods and create opportunities for vulnerable people.

Professor Davidson Munodawafa, APDO Director of Education, Health and Child Welfare, said the organisation’s work would centre on improving access to education, promoting community health and protecting orphans and vulnerable children.

“The state of any nation is judged by the health hyand well-being of its young people and communities. This cannot be achieved by one sector alone,” Munodawafa said.

He said APDO would collaborate with government, churches and development partners while ensuring that its programmes reflected priorities identified by communities.

“I am here to be part of the solutions and not the problems. I am here to help build bridges and ensure that our programmes align with national priorities,” he said.

The launch was also attended by representatives of the Zimbabwe–China Business Association.

Xuezhi Du, Deputy Director of the Zimbabwe–China Exchange Centre, encouraged Zimbabwean and Chinese organisations to invest in cultural-intelligence training to improve cooperation and understanding between communities.

APDO International Advisor Pastor Admire Mukondwa, speaking from the United Kingdom, said the organisation’s early stage offered an opportunity to establish strong systems of integrity and accountability.

“APDO is a young organisation, and I want to say plainly that this is not a weakness. It is an opportunity,” he said.

APDO is initially operating in Harare Province and plans to expand into other areas based on needs identified by communities.

The organisation says its success will depend on ensuring that apostolic communities are not treated merely as beneficiaries of outside interventions, but as active participants in defining the problems affecting them and designing the solutions.