Impacting lives on a global scale
- simoneworthing
- 8 hours ago
- 3 min read
Australia’s Daryl Crowden was one of 80 delegates from around the world at The Salvation Army’s International Development and Relief Conference held at Sunbury Court in outer London.
Daryl, the Australia Territory’s General Manager for Emergency, Aid and Development, was also a key speaker at the conference, held on 1-4 December 2025.
His presentation – a “notable highlight” of the event – focused on applying a collaborative and complementary approach to development, relief and peace in fragile and conflict-affected situations.
Daryl talked about the Triple Nexus – humanitarian action, development and peacebuilding – an approach he said, “can be aligned with William Booth’s call to ‘rescue, rehabilitate and reintegrate’.”
The ‘Rooted Together’ conference theme was inspired by the Japanese value of danketsu – unity through connectedness – and the conference was underpinned by the biblical encouragement to be ‘rooted and established in love’ (Ephesians 3:17).
The conference provided a rare opportunity for the movement’s specialists and frontline practitioners in development, health, education, residential and aged care, and relief to explore their interconnectedness.
They considered their core mission – what it means to be The Salvation Army – and discussed how they can move forward with purpose and relevant mission methodology in an ever-changing world.
The idea of being ‘rooted together’ neatly encapsulated how, despite having different roles and working in a plethora of locations across the globe, delegates served humankind with a shared purpose and mutual understanding.
The conference was opened by a rousing devotional call to action from Commissioner Yusak Tampai, International Secretary for The Salvation Army’s South Pacific and East Asia Zone [of which Australia is a part], who challenged delegates: “We must stay rooted together in our faith in God, committed to impactful growth and development.”
In addition to Daryl, a variety of speakers gave presentations on a range of topics, including Dag-Håkon Eriksen from VID Specialised University in Norway (a specialist scientific college), who spoke on the subject of changing Christian approaches to international development and disaster relief.
Workshops and discussions
Delegates took part in a number of workshops and panel discussions in which they were encouraged to share their views on their contextual strengths and challenges, and to engage in discussions with representatives from thematic Communities of Practice.
A dynamic session captured feedback on how Salvation Army institutions connect and engage with communities. In particular, participants were invited to give their opinions on The Salvation Army’s role in creating change and the language required for articulating this to others.
Prior to the conference, many of those in attendance had participated in work with a broader group which fed into these discussions.
SMILES project This work essentially forms the basis of the SMILES project, which is an ongoing initiative to develop a way to measure what success looks like for international development and relief programs within The Salvation Army.
SMILES is an acronym for Serve, Measure, Improve, Learn, Equip and Share.
“The thoughts articulated at the workshops throughout the Rooted Together Conference will be used to help design a measurement framework for The Salvation Army to help quantify the impact it has on people’s lives on a global scale,” said Joanne Beale, The Salvation Army’s International Community Development Lead.
The Salvation Army will use the learnings from Rooted Together towards gaining a better understanding of how to move forward in developing a methodology in such uncertain times to secure a brighter future for people who are vulnerable and marginalised, whatever the cause.
This story first appeared on the International Salvation Army website.
