World Relief Announces Launch of New Local NGO in Cambodia, Celebrates Final Programming Milestone for World Relief Cambodia

82-year-old global humanitarian organization continues in mission to equip and send local leaders

Contact: Lauren Rasmussen, media@wr.org, 802.310.4255

BALTIMORE, Md. – Today, World Relief announced the creation of a new fully local independent Christian NGO in Cambodia, birthed out of World Relief Cambodia: Reach and Renew Mission. Led by an all-women leadership team and board of directors, the organization’s mission is to empower the church to serve the most vulnerable.

At 82 years old, World Relief has long held as a core value the importance of empowering, equipping and sending local leaders, which is why, despite having worked across 100 countries, the humanitarian arm of the National Association of Evangelicals only maintains international offices in eleven today, aside from disaster response contexts. The organization seeks to go boldly into the world’s most fragile contexts, places where environmental factors, conflict, displacement and other shocks intersect with opportunities for community and institutional development.

“The work of World Relief Cambodia reflects the restorative power of the Gospel to bring lasting, whole-life transformation. This happens through relationships with neighbors, local churches and ultimately with God. I’m deeply grateful for our faithful Khmer staff and for the collaboration with the local authorities that makes this work possible,” said Brandon Prichard, country director of World Relief Cambodia and board member and advisor for Reach and Renew Mission. “That same commitment to lasting change continues through Reach and Renew Mission — change that strengthens the neediest communities, equips local leaders, and transforms lives not only for the long term but for eternity. It has been a privilege to learn from and walk alongside our brothers and sisters in Cambodia, and as I continue to support them, I’m inspired by their courageous leadership and significant progress as a fully Cambodian-led organization.”

World Relief began work in Cambodia in 1990 to assist during the humanitarian crisis along the Thai-Cambodian border as the country emerged from civil war and genocide. Staff and volunteers faced significant risks – including loss of life – to deliver lifesaving food and essential services to displaced families. From these early relief efforts, World Relief Cambodia was officially launched in 1993, quickly expanding programming through a holistic set of programs serving children, mothers, and eventually entire communities, including efforts designed to combat child trafficking and prevent the abuse, exploitation and neglect of children, and child survival projects designed to address underlying health issues. Adapting World Relief’s Church Empowerment Zone (CEZ) model to Cambodia’s faith and social context, World Relief Cambodia has worked with more than 800 churches through seven church networks in five provinces to identify community needs and mobilize collective action. World Relief Cambodia works out of four offices across the country.

“Building on World Relief’s legacy, Reach and Renew Mission will continue as a faithful partner with the local church,” commented Romroth Chuon, interim director of Reach and Renew Mission and former director of programs at World Relief Cambodia. “Through this partnership, we seek to bring a word and deed ministry to the most vulnerable communities in Cambodia, leading to individual and community flourishing, resilient households and healthy churches.”

In addition to the country context evolving from fragility to greater stability, another essential ingredient for localization is healthy and independent local leaders. Reach and Renew Mission’s leadership team is talented, deeply rooted and maintains trusted partnerships with the local church, local government and broader community.

“The ideal culmination of an international NGO’s work is the healthy handoff of organizational and missional stewardship to local teams invested in continuing the work as the community sees fit,” commented Myal Greene, president and CEO of World Relief. “One of my greatest joys in my role is getting to know our local staff around the world. Over the years, I have gotten to know our local leadership in Cambodia that will lead Reach and Renew Ministries, and I believe they will lead faithfully and with great purpose. In Cambodia, decades of partnership with the local church, community stakeholders and in-country leadership have blossomed into a locally-driven, Gospel-centered vision that World Relief is proud to support in a new season of friendship and resourcing – now as a separate entity.”

Reach and Renew Mission will carry on the existing programming provided by World Relief Cambodia, maintaining the level of excellence the communities and partners have come to expect. World Relief will continue to support the new local entity in the startup phase, through 2028, with in-country support from World Relief Cambodia through September 2026.

“We believe that this move is a faithful next step in the stories God is writing for World Relief and Cambodia,” commented Lanre Williams-Ayedun, senior vice president of international programs at World Relief. “We at World Relief are eager to cheer on the work in Cambodia, initially in a support role, and increasingly as Reach and Renew Mission’s greatest cheerleader and ultimately as a peer.”

World Relief Cambodia is the first of four country offices to embark on a wave of localization. Beginning in 2026, this multi-year initiative is designed to come alongside countries that have achieved development and organizational milestones that support them as they establish with local structures and systems for success into the future, in partnership with their local and national governments and the local church.

Williams-Ayedun added, “As we are assured of the successful launch of each local NGO, World Relief is entering a season of discernment, evaluating where to embark on new missions, seeking out needs in the most fragile and hardest-to-reach countries in the world where international NGOs are best positioned to bring ideas, energy and resources until conditions allow local leaders to take on the work.”

Reach and Renew Mission launches Spring 2026. To learn more, visit facebook.com/reachandrenew/

To learn more about World Relief, visit worldrelief.org.