Mensen met een Missie

About Mensen met een Missie

Mensen met een Missie is a Netherlands-based organisation for international cooperation that is committed to changing beliefs that lead to discrimination, exclusion and violence across the globe.

Beliefs such as: men have more rights than women, one religion is better than another, or a person of a particular origin is worth more than someone of a different origin. Beliefs such as these, along with unequal power relations, are the cause of countless conflicts and have led to polarisation and violence all over the world. With terrible consequences for many. For the woman in Bolivia who is murdered simply because she is a woman. For the Muslim in Indonesia who sees his mosque being burned to the ground, while the local police let’s it happen. For the girl in Uganda who at the age of fourteen has to marry a much older man, simply because ‘that is the fate of girls’. Or for the casteless man in India who is not permitted to enter a temple because he is deemed unworthy.

Focusing on dialogue

These people are the reason why Mensen met een Missie exists. To ensure that no one should ever have to suffer this kind of violence, we focus on the core of the problem: the belief that one person is worth more than another. We believe that everyone is equal. But when people don't venture outside of their own circle, they are less open to other perspectives. And when conversation dies down, harmful prejudices grow. Violence becomes imminent. To prevent this, we facilitate and inspire dialogue and create a platform for positive role models. This allows us to change harmful beliefs, make people aware of the other side of the story and to support victims of violence.

Mensen met een Missie unites people who would otherwise stand in opposition. We encourage people to talk about harmful beliefs and work to defuse mutual hate and mistrust. We do this using a small-scale and local approach, together with hundreds of partner organisations in various countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, including India, Indonesia, Kenia, Uganda, Bolivia, Iraq and South Sudan.

Working together with local organisations

Living up to the name, our local partners are truly people with a mission: community leaders, religious leaders, small local organisations and young people with passion and boundless determination. They are people who are willing to stand up for change and who have a vision for the future of their community. No-one knows their culture, history and community better than they themselves do. They see the violence with their own eyes, every day. That is why they know best how to tackle these harmful beliefs in their own country. And that is why we are working with them to achieve our shared goal: a world in which people talk to each other instead of fighting each other. We do this by supporting them in many different ways, depending on what the situation requires. From training, financial support and lobbying, to forming a network, encouraging national and international cooperation and offering a platform for their work and local issues. That is how we work towards a world without polarisation.

Our roots

Mensen met een Missie has Catholic roots: the organisation was founded in 1931 to support Dutch missionaries. And while today our work is of a very different nature, our strongest motive remains the conviction that every person matters– regardless of their origin or faith, and regardless of who they love or how much money they have. Even now, the idea of caring for your neighbours and working towards peace and reconciliation is at the core of our work. The people with whom we work are very diverse, but they feel united by the same basic motives.