WDR

World Development & Relief is the Methodist Church in Ireland’s international development team, working alongside locally led partners to tackle global poverty. Its approach is built around people rather than projects, recognising that communities understand their own contexts, challenges and solutions better than anyone arriving from outside. WDR supports that local knowledge with long-term partnership, helping create greater access to clean water, food security, education and opportunity.

The challenge was never simply to document the work. Each trip meant entering cultures, languages, relationships and ways of communicating that were not our own. We needed to understand the context, earn trust and tell stories accurately rather than arriving as outsiders and immediately placing cameras in people’s faces. The work had to show both need and impact without reducing anyone to their circumstances, finding the human connection that allowed people to represent themselves with dignity.

In Nepal, the focus was on women from lower-caste communities building greater knowledge of their rights, support for their mental health and routes towards economic independence. Working through trusted local relationships gave people time and choice over how their experiences were shared. We combined women’s own voices with everyday moments of learning, mutual support and work, acknowledging the discrimination they faced without allowing it to define them. The story remained centred on agency, solidarity and possibility.