What we want

Partner sein, the charity of the Swiss Old Catholic Church, supports and assists projects for the social and economic development of deprived peoples in the poorest countries of the world. Our projects aim to enable people to help themselves and have an emphasis on food, health and education. Our active dialogues with local project partners allows us to understand the needs of the people. It is an expression of solidarity, as expressed in the Gospels, for more fairness and more social opportunity.

In Switzerland Partner sein strengthens the awareness of the Old Catholics concerning for a mission and development cooperation. Abroad Partner sein supports and accompanies projects that promote the spiritual and economic development of disadvantaged people in the sense of the Christian message.

For this Partner sein in Switzerland maintains a close cooperation with other organizations with similar targets, especially with the aid agencys of the two important sister-churches. During the yearly ecumenical Lenten Campaign, the aid agencys HEKS, Fastenaktion and Partner sein since 1993 are working together and via their Lenten agenda, poster campaigns and media activities all three together manage to reach the majority of the Swiss population. Each and every Old-Catholic household is separately addressed to support Partner sein's Lenten fundraising with an individual amount. In addition also on Trinity Sunday in all services of the Old-Catholic Church a special mission offering is taken up.

All projects supported by Partner sein abroad are offering help for self-help. Sustainable development cooperation does lead out of financial dependences into an organizational and economical autonomy. After a certain time-period of the project setup our local project partners are trained to successfully and autonomously continue the projects. When this target is met Partner sein will retreat and support new projects. As a sign of applied Catholicity the partnership dialogue between the Church and the respective project partners is the primary concern.