Urban development

as the promotion of total wellbeing

The Christian Urban Development Association is a non-governmental, non-profit, faith-based organization that empowers vulnerable communities in urban Peru to overcome cycles of poverty. Our vision of justice, wellbeing, and joy in the city leads us to promote physical, psychological, social, and spiritual wellbeing through projects in the areas of education, health, finance, and the environment.

Our mission

CUDA’s mission is to promote holistic wellbeing among vulnerable urban populations. CUDA networks resources and carries out programs that empower sustainable improvement in individual, family, and community quality of life.

Our goal is holistic wellbeing

Our measure for urban development is holistic wellbeing. That’s what we aim for. We implement processes that focus on empowering people in sustainable ways. Long-term development must be focused on processes that lead to long-term results, not short-term products. For example, with our Living Libraries program, we do not just put a library in a school. We give the school a process to follow (over the course of three years) that empowers the school to do literacy education better in the long-term. 

We empower vulnerable communities in Arequipa, Peru through processes in the areas of education, health, finance, theology, and the environment. 

People and processes, not projects and products.
— When Helping Hurts