WCC INTERVIEW: Christian Aid CEO: “Only the broadest collaboration will achieve the change”

Patrick Watt is chief executive officer of Christian Aid. He reflected on Christian Aid’s strategy for 2026, as well as a recent visit to the World Council of Churches (WCC).  Visit of Patrick Watt, CEO for Christian Aid, to the WCC, on 09 December 2025. Photo: Grégoire de Fombelle/WCC 16 December 2025 In a world rife with both natural disasters and human-caused conflict, how do you see your leadership role changing as the response to growing needs changes?  Watt: Part of my leadership role involves helping the organisation to make principled but practical decisions about where and how we respond, since we cannot do everything everywhere with our finite resources. So we need to ask, is this a crisis where the need is urgent, do we have capacity alongside our partners, and are we able to mobilise funding - either from supporters or from institutional donors? And increasingly, we're asking, how do we get ahead of crises by strengthening our work on disaster prevention and preparedness, on peacebuilding, and on structural drivers such as inequality and the climate crisis. What do you take away from your recent visit with the WCC? Watt: The WCC is central to Christian Aid's story, as the ecumenical agency of the British and Irish churches. It represents, together with the ACT Alliance, the wider global family of which we are a part, which gives us enormous reach and legitimacy. Why is it important to work ecumenically as we walk with the suffering people of the world? Watt: Working ecumenically - both amongst the churches in the WCC and more widely - is both a practical necessity and an expression of the unity to which Jesus calls us. If we cannot overcome differences within the Christian traditions to work together, then how authentic is our vision of a more just world, and how seriously will that vision be taken by others? We need at the same time to be building bridges with people of other faiths, and people of goodwill: when confronted by issues as deep and wide as the destruction of our common home, only the broadest collaboration will achieve the change that is needed. What are some of Christian Aid’s strategic foci for 2026? Watt: Our focus will remain the struggle to end the injustice of poverty. To contribute to that vision, we will be delivering programmes with our partners on gender justice, peacebuilding, governance and rights, and climate adaptation. We will be campaigning on climate finance, debt cancellation, and reformed global economic governance. As we finalise some significant organisational changes in Christian Aid, we'll be looking to bed in our new model, and to work more effectively with our partners around the world, including many member churches and specialised ministries of the WCC. See more

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 356 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 580 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay from the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa.  Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press Our visiting address is: World Council of Churches Chemin du Pommier 42 Kyoto Building Le Grand-Saconnex CH-1218 Switzerland