2002, at the Nyarugusu refugee camp in Tanzania.
As horrific stories of rape, dismemberment and slaughter shook the founder of TWNAF to his core, one thing became inescapably clear.
There had to be a deeper catalyst for the brokenness than what initially met the eye.
15 years of conversations with leaders around the world,
hundreds of hours of research and thousands of meetings later,
WE ARE CONVINCED
fatherlessness wasn’t just one of the issues facing those refugees.
FATHERLESSNESS IS THE ISSUE
We believe there is a solution
Founded on common sense and principles for healthy family, The World Needs A Father is about training communities of men to understand the value of their roles as fathers, and giving them the tools to train other men around them, so that as heaven splashes down in their home, the ripples flow through their community.
Our vision
We want to heal the world through transformed communities, built on strong, healthy families that experience heaven at home.
Our mission
We empower fathers and mothers around the world to bring heaven home through trainings, mentoring, and a global network of people who are passionate about eradicating the scourge of fatherlessness.
Our model
TWNAF is a decentralised movement, which means that every country and individual shares ownership and leadership for the movement. We have international mentorship and accountability structures, but no global leadership hierarchy or central headquarters — each country develops their own coordination team and is responsible for building the movement in their country.
Our value proposition
The current research indicates that homes with positively involved fathers have a wide-ranging positive effect, from mental and emotion health to social engagement, productivity and even physical health. Our global model of training, mentorship and community, in collaboration with entities from all sectors, has an established record of positive transformation in countries around the world.
“Virtually every major social pathology has been linked to fatherlessness.”
Stephen Baskerville
Global Influence, part 5 (100!)
Despite the global COVID-19 lockdown, The World Needs A Father’s footprint reaches 100 countries!
2020
Waymakers
A process developed to help young men (from 18 to before marriage) understand what God had in mind when He created man.
2019
Translation, TWNAF part 3
TWNAF book and workbook have been translated into 23 languages.
2019
Translation, TMD part 1
The Mother Design workbook and training manual have been translated into 10 languages.
2019
Global Influence, part 4
The World Needs A Father is now active in 95 countries, and growing in influence.
2019
Africa, part 6
The World Needs A Father movement starts in Ivory Coast and Sierra Leone.
2019
FACE Conference
The inaugural FACE conference was a massive catalyst for connection and learning, attended by delegates from 17 countries (reaching 75 countries in total) with sessions by experts a variety of fields including leadership, neuroscience, early childhood development and more.
Watch the FACE Conference session videos here 2018
Africa, part 8
The World Needs A Father movement starts in Tanzania.
2018
Global Influence, part 3
The World Needs A Father is now active in over 50 countries.
2016
Translation, TWNAF part 2
The book The World Needs A Father: A Trainer’s Guide is translated into 8 languages, with a further 11 in process.
2016
The Mother Design
Formerly “The Brilliant Mother”, the complementary motherhood training “The Mother Design” is launched, and by the end of the year is in over 20 countries.
Find out more about TMD here 2016
The Journey
The Journey (the TWNAF youth ministry initiative) is launched.
Find out more about The Journey here 2016
Flying Solo
The workshop in Lesotho was the first time a Master Mentor training was facilitated by trainers other than Cassie.
2016
Makeover
The World Needs A Father’s visual identity gets a facelift, including a new logo.
2016
Africa, part 4
The World Needs A Father movement starts in Angola, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, and Uganda.
2016
The Lazarus Quest
The Lazarus Quest, a prison ministry built on TWNAF principles, is started.
2015
Translation, TWNAF part 1
The World Needs A Father: A Trainer’s Guide is translated into 4 languages, with a further 16 in process.
2015
Africa, part 3
The World Needs A Father movement starts in Botswana.
2014
The Book
The first edition of The World Needs A Father: A Trainer’s Guide is published.
Buy the latest version of the book on Amazon here August 2014
Africa, part 2
The World Needs A Father movement starts in Nigeria, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
2013
Africa, part 1
TWNAF expands into Benin, the first African country outside of South Africa.
2012
Liftoff!
The first TWNAF training is held at Vredelust Gemeente, Cape Town, South Africa.
2012
Creating the Curriculum
The TWNAF training curriculum is developed.
Download the TWNAF training content here 2011 — 2012
The World Needs A Father is Born
After a meeting at a coffee shop in Cape Town, what began as a general urgency to solve the issue of fatherlessness takes on a name, and a movement is born: The World Needs A Father.
2011
Burning Vision
A burning vision for a fatherhood movement is stirred in the hearts of Cassie Carstens and Gerhard van Eck. After many years of individual personal preparation, they begin planning how to tackle the issue of fatherlessness.
2009 — 2011
She Called Him Daddy
Cassie’s newly adopted daughter called him daddy, which inspired research on the Fatherhood of God.
2005
The Nyarugusu Experience
Cassie has his Nyarugusu experience, and starts investigating the solution to the problems in Africa.
2002
English (South Africa) 
