Diaconia receives award for efficient work

Edelberto Behs, RECIFE, Brasil, May 27, 2003

Diaconia - Support Program for the Diaconia Action of Churches was one of the 50 Taxi Heathrow Airport social organizations recognized in the seventh “Ben Eficiente 2003” awards ceremony. 

The award was given to institutions that demonstrate work and efficiency, within a professional structure and with low costs, transparency and external supervision.

Each of the 429 institutions that were in the running was evaluated based on 42 aspects of institutional work.

These criteria include the transference of resources, transparency, efficiency, organization, financial situation, fulfilment of legal requirements and validation of third parties.

Diakonia was founded in Rio de Janeiro in 1967. It was transferred in 1984 to the city of Recife, concentrating in the Brazilian northeast. It receives recourses from Evangelische Zentralstelle für Entwicklungshilfe (EZE), of Germany, the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) of Switzerland, Lutherhjälpen, of Sweden and Norwegian Church Aid, of Norway.

Members include Churches of Christ, Congregational, Presbyterian Church of Brazil, Independent Presbyterian, Decisive Christianity, Seventh Day Adventist, Methodist, Christian Reform, Anglican Church of Brazil (IEAB), Lutheran Church of Brazil (IELB) and the Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession of Brazil (IECLB).

The award, as well as recognizing the work and efficiency of the different entities, also serves to demonstrate that there are hundreds of organizations that carry out social work with a great deal of professionalism. 

A supervisory council, made up of professionals in the areas of administration, law, finances and the evaluation of social organizations, is responsible for selecting the top 50 entities.

The prize does not make a selection based on religious or political reasons. Diaconia is an Evangelical Christian institution that serves the excluded in society, identifying the construction of citizenship as a priority.

It works to promote children and adolescents, support family agriculture and the social action of Churches and centres its action in the metropolitan regions of Recife, Natal and Fortaleza, Pernambuco and in the Midwestern area of the state of Rio Grande do Norte.