ACT Assembly - Page 6 of 11

Enabling youth participation across the Alliance

The ACT Alliance assembly is getting closer and we in Youth Participation Community of Practice have been working hard for the assembly to be as great as possible. We have managed to get 30 youth delegates from all over the world to participate and we are very excited for the pre-meeting and the assembly. As there are only weeks before the assembly starts, lots of preparations have already been made. Nevertheless, we still have some things to work on.

One of the things we are still working on is our member conversation, which will take place on Tuesday, the 30th of October. The title of member conversation will be ”Youth Participation – How can ACT make a step change in enabling youth participation across the work of the alliance?” We hope that the conversation will bring up thoughts about the strengths and challenges of youth work in ACT and how could we develop youth participation in ACT in the future. We are still perfecting the planning of the member conversation by coming up with some more specific questions for the panelists, so the outcome of the conversation will be as fruitful as possible.

Another big thing we have been working on is the youth pre-meeting, which takes place on the 26th and 27th of October, before the start of the assembly. We have been preparing activities for the pre-meeting together with Church of Sweden and are still finalising the program. As the pre-meeting is a place for the youth delegates to work together, the program will include discussing the Youth CoP and the role of youth in ACT Alliance, but it will also include getting to know each other and sharing experiences.

Youth CoP’s goal is to make sure that young people have their voices heard in ACT Alliance. This is naturally also our aspiration for the assembly. We hope to make youth participation an imporant and visible part of ACT Alliance’s work and to include youth in everything that ACT works with.

Since people under 30 make up almost half of the world’s population today, we find it natural that youth should also be a visible and a powerful actor in global decision-making. Young people have huge potential and it is important to give them a platform to use that potential, and to enable and encourage them to participate in ACT’s work in all of its different ways.

The ACT Assembly is one of the places where youth can discuss together what are the strengths of our current work, and what should we focus on in the future. We believe that the assembly will be very productive and fruitful, and produce great ideas for our upcoming work!

A journey to the SDGs: an adventure with children

Students participating in the SDG related work of Amity Foundation — Credit: Xie Ying and Li Xue /Amity Foundation

Children enjoy fairy tales that allow them to use their imagination to make sense of the world. ACT member Amity Foundation is working with children in Nanjing, China on a journey towards understanding and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The storybook “Fairy Tales for a Fairer World” is a collection of fairy tales popular to various regions of the world. It is a tool that was developed by the United Nations for children and adults to learn about the SDGs. The stories have been adapted from their original fairy tale to highlight some of the most significant global challenges to sustainable development that are faced by humanity today including hunger, human rights, discrimination, education, women’s empowerment, migration, species extinction and climate change. Stories of Rapunzel, Snow White, Little Red Riding hood, Aladdin and other heroes and heroines are depicted as elderly citizens living in a home together, struggling to make a positive change in the world. The stories provide an opportunity for children and adults to learn about the SDGs and some of the initiatives that are taking place around the world to achieve them.

Using this tool, Amity Foundation has worked with over three hundred young students from five local schools to read, discuss, and to translate the fairy tale within their cultural contexts. Through this experience, children have been able to use their imagination to capture a glimpse of what the world could look like in the future.

As children have a key role to play in the future of the world, the international community has put their hope in them to achieve the SDGs. Explaining the significance of the SDGs to children and preparing them for the future world is a demanding task, however, the journey to achieving the SDGs will require for them to be exposed to real problems so that they can be involved in solving them. Amity Foundation is proud to play a role in this journey and to be able to touch the vivid minds of children while accompanying them through the difficulties that they may face.

Children learning about the SDGs. Credit: Amity Foundation — Children learning about the SDGs. Credit: Xie Ying and Li Xue/ Amity Foundation

Below are some of the questions that were asked to the children during their discussions with Amity Foundation, and their responses. While some of the responses reflect a sense of hope for the future and are indicative of the interest of children to be active participants for a more sustainable world, other responses reflect fear and discouragement. Amity Foundation will continue to work with children to better prepare them to deal with some of the difficulties and realities of achieving the SDGs, and to equip them to be active and hopeful participants in this journey.

What will our world be like in 2030?

“The earth will be destroyed”; “I’m going to be happy”; “We will have blue sky”; “I will be jobless”; “We are going to have war”; “I want to go to the US, oh I want to go to the moon!”

Do you agree that the SDGs could be actualised? Could we make it so that all children no longer suffer from hunger and war?

“No. It’s not possible. There is too much inequality. It can never change”; “Yes! My father works at the Environmental Protection Agency”; “We can! I won’t litter.”

The actions of adults may impact what your future would will look like. Could you request your parents to take responsibility for their actions?

“Yes, we can”; “If you say this to your father, he will probably get angry”; “My mom works for the bank. Her work is not related to us.”

Reconstruction in Myanmar brings hope after the floods

ACT member Church World Service (CWS) Myanmar has brought hope to communities in Myanmar that were severely affected by floods in 2017. CWS Myanmar in partnership with Felissimo, a Japanese company, have reconstructed 10 and renovated 75 of the houses that were severely affected by the floods.

With the aim of constructing safer houses, tin roofs and hygienic elevated latrines were installed. The tin roofing provides families with greater protection during the rainy season. The elevated latrines allow families to access the facilities at all times of day and have hindered the spread of diseases related to poor hygiene.

“With these new latrines, we do not feel afraid of snakes or insect bites because we do not have to go to the forest in the night-time or during the rainy season,” said a community member.

Forty-year-old U Tun Naing lives with his wife and their seven children. They are one of the families prioritised by the village leaders to benefit from the assistance of CWS Myanmar. U Tun Naing has suffered two strokes and is unable to work. While his wife and four of their children work as labourers, the family is poor and have a difficult time covering U Tun Naing’s medical bills.

U Tun Naing’s daughter expressed her gratitude for the elevated latrines, “I am so happy to have a clean latrine. We had an unsafe latrine with deteriorating walls and I did not feel good going to the toilet because I was afraid someone would see me.”

“I especially did not want to use the toilet when I had my menstrual period, so I always waited until it was dark to use the latrine and this was really dangerous. This safe and secure latrine is a precious gift to me. I really want all my girlfriends to have hygienic latrines too. My whole family is proud to have a good latrine,” she continued.

The CWS Myanmar team is supporting communities to maintain their dignity. More hygienic living conditions allow families to get on with priorities including work and education without worrying about sickness due to conditions of poor hygiene. The response of CWS Myanmar has also facilitated awareness-raising on personal hygiene and disease prevention.

A Modern Alliance in a Changing World

I feel honoured and privileged to write a few lines as the current Moderator of the ACT Alliance on the forthcoming Assembly in Uppsala, Sweden during October-November 2018.

ACT Alliance, born in 2010, has gained in maturity and recognition. Members of the Alliance globally have engaged actively in humanitarian work, transformational development and advocacy and contributed significantly spreading joy, peace and justice in the life of disadvantaged communities and people in distress.

In the last four years, the Board, Executive Committee, Advisory Groups, Communities of Practice and Regional/National Forums have engaged even more than during the first four years in the life and work of the Alliance. As a result, several new initiatives were introduced. To name a few, now we have more defined and easy humanitarian appeal mechanism, active role played in CoPs to influence issues linked to climate change and other areas of work, setting up an Advocacy Academy, a new policy for National/Regional Forums, stronger networking with UN and World Bank, active engagement in the SDGs, joint initiatives with WCC and other ecumenical and international bodies, etc.

People in the circle have always emphasised the need and importance of ACT and WCC memberships to work closely. I am excited that a day has been designated during the Assembly where the delegation and members of Executive Committee of WCC will have a joint session of fellowship on Ecumenical Diakonia.

ACT Assembly is also a place of excitement. For me, it provides an opportunity for fellowship, reflections, discussions, getting engaged in innovations, decision making and celebration. I am excited about the future strategy which is going to be for eight years instead of four years. I look forward to discussions around the next Engagement Membership Model. This has widely been shared with the membership of the Alliance.

I am already exuberant to attend this year’s ACT Alliance General Assembly in Uppsala, Sweden. All the more excited to see how the millennials (our future leaders) will chip-in fresher ideas at the event with an enthusiasm that will charge our chariot towards a changing world as we are encouraging more and more youth to attend the Assembly. Being one of the most important faith-based alliances in the world, ACT believes in giving multi-dimensional opportunities to the young who are committed in the development, humanitarian and advocacy sectors. We have created a special space for the youth to engage in our programmes because they must be groomed as leaders for tomorrow as well as leaders for today.

Having served as the Moderator for ACT Alliance for four years, I recognized the power of communication that lies with the youth. Dissemination of information is required for people in need in order to keep them aware – it does not matter the corner of the world you are located in at the moment.

I would request and appeal to the delegates to come prepared to contribute your ideas and experiences to make the Alliance stronger and ensure its relevance in the coming challenging context. May God guide us and lead us to a very meaningful Assembly in Uppsala.

Dr. Sushant Agrawal New Delhi
Moderator, ACT Alliance September 24, 2018

Step by step towards a self-determined life

More than half of the population of Lesotho live on less than two dollars (USD) a day. Despite the already challenging conditions, people with disabilities face discrimination in accessing education, health, social support and the labour market.

ACT Member Diakonie Austria is supporting a program through Lesotho’s National Federation of Organisations of the Disabled (LNFOD) to empower people with disabilities to advocate for their human rights.

LNFOD works with ministries, communities, government officials, and people with disabilities to bring about a shift in attitude towards people with disabilities. Through capacity building workshops, LNFOD aims to empower people with disabilities with the information, skills and strategies to advocate for their rights at the local level.

The program has trained over one hundred people. Participants were informed of their rights as per the United Nations Convention on Human Rights. They explored tools to deal with some of the common issues of concern around accessing education, health services and government work programs. Participants also learned about how and where to communicate their advocacy concerns.

Fumane is a blind woman who participated in the capacity building workshops and has developed the skills to advocate for the rights of people with disabilities. Fumane lives in a rural community, where the only source of fresh water is from a tap outside of the village. The road there was rocky and had potholes, hindering Fumane from collecting water on her own.

“After attending the training with LNFOD, I knew that I wanted to change this and knew how I could do it. Everyone should have access to the tap,” said Fumane.

Fumane leveraged her knowledge of human rights and advocacy and put forth her request. “I contacted the responsible officials and explained that as a person with a disability, I should have access to water like anyone else as this is my right. They have now repaired the road, and it is easier for everyone to fetch water,” she said.

Fumane’s experience is an indicator that improving access to information and services benefits everyone. Those who participated in the capacity building workshops now serve as role models for other people with disabilities in their communities.

The advocacy work of Diakonie Austria through LNFOD is sensitising local government officials, teachers and health workers against discrimination towards people with disabilities. It is also providing organisations that are working with people with disabilities the data that is needed to conduct national level advocacy for the human rights of people with disabilities.

Assembly Programme Highlights

The General Assembly is the highest governance body of the ACT Alliance. It meets in person every four years, bringing together representatives of all 145+ members of the Alliance to elect its governing board and officers, and its Membership and Nominations Committee, to revise statutes and affirm new strategic direction, and make other major governance decisions.

The assembly also provides an opportunity for members to discuss and learn together around issues related to our common work, to worship together, and to share in our successes and best practices.

The Third ACT Assembly in Uppsala will include a variety of programme elements. The full schedule can be found here.

Plenary sessions

The final session of the ACT Assembly included thanks to all involved in the event, closing prayers, and a video by ACT member SSID that people couldn't help but dance to. Photo: Simon Chambers/ACT/PWRDF Plenary sessions are the heart of the business work of the Assembly. With all participants gathered together, the plenary will enable delegates to discuss and vote on governance issues including:

The global strategy for ACT Alliance from 2019-2026
A new membership model for the alliance
Changes to the Statutes
Electing a new governing board, officers, and the Membership and Nominations Committee

A number of reports covering the past 4 years will be received in plenary and public statements from ACT members, forums, and other bodies will also be voted on in the plenary sessions.

Plenary sessions will also include presentations and speeches by a variety of speakers including:

Ms. Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations
Ms. Carin Jämtin, Director General of the Swedish International Development Agency
Rev. Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit, General Secretary of the World Council of Churches
Mr. Rudelmar Bueno de Faria, General Secretary of the ACT Alliance

Regional Meetings

Regional meetings provide a smaller venue to discuss issues, to network, and to learn together.

ACT member participants will gather in regional groupings three times during the assembly to:

Discuss the successes and challenges of the current strategic period in their region
Introduce candidates for governance positions from the region
Discuss the major governance issues coming to the assembly from their regional context
Discuss public statements
Discuss joint work and priorities moving forward as a region

Worship

Delegates to the ACT Assembly in Punta Cana gather together for worship at the beginning of the first full day of the meeting. Photo: Simon Chambers/ACT/PWRDF All of the work of ACT Alliance is undertaken in the context of our role as churches and agencies working in humanitarian relief, development and advocacy. Worship is at the heart of who we are as an assembly. Our worship life will focus around the theme of Hope in Action- Putting People First and will include an opening service at the Uppsala Cathedral, as well as morning and evening worship in the plenary hall each day.

Member Conversations

The assembly provides an excellent opportunity for our members to come together from all over the world and discuss critical issues facing the alliance relating to some topical, and sometimes controversial, issues and how we can move forward in a constructive way together. Recommendations from these conversations will be shared with all participants in a plenary session on the following day. Participants can choose from one of seven topics according to their interest:

New ways of working – strengthening the intentional nexus between ACT’s humanitarian, development and advocacy mandates
Shrinking Space for Civil Society – Our role as churches and ACT members to promote a public space that is safe and just for all
Youth Participation – How can ACT make a step change in enabling youth participation across the work of the alliance?
Principles of Partnership – Are steady, faithful and loving partnerships possible between members of ACT Alliance?
Private sector accountability – towards a shared understanding of its role in development and humanitarian response
Duty of Care – Putting people first in our work: how do we keep our staff safe, our programming effective and our alliance engaged where we are needed most?
A Forum Driven Alliance – How does it look and what does it feel like?

Joint Day on Ecumenical Diakonia and Sustainable Development with the World Council of Churches’ Executive Committee

The ACT General Assembly is taking place within the context of the 70^th anniversary of the World Council of Churches, the 50^th anniversary of the Uppsala Assembly of the WCC, and the Swedish Ecumenical Weekend.

Our assembly will overlap for a day with the Executive Committee meeting of the WCC, and that time will be used to hold a special day discussing how we work together in service to the world (ecumenical diakonia) and how that work contributes to the broader agenda for sustainable development.

The day will include case studies, speakers, and small group discussions about how we can and do work together in ecumenical diakonia and the contribution that makes to sustainable development.

Created Equal- Gender Event

The ACT Alliance has a commitment to gender justice throughout the work and life of the alliance. A special event to highlight the importance of gender justice work and the role of faith-based organisations including ACT and its members will be held on the first day of the Assembly. Speakers will include Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of UN Women and Archbishop Antje Jackelén, Primate of the Church of Sweden.

Regional Celebrations

Meal times at the Assembly will include plenty of opportunities for conversation, networking, and fellowship. Dinners will also include regional celebrations, where each region of the alliance will highlight the work and culture of their home with the rest of the participants to the assembly. Regional celebrations will inject creativity and fun, as well as learning and celebration, into our days together.

ACT Alliance second general assembly being held in the Dominican Republic. ACT has 140 member organisations working on humanitarian assistance, development and advocacy. Exhibitions on ACT's work are already open in the conference centre. Photo: Simon Chambers/ACT/PWRDF

Hope in Action Exhibition

The Hope in Action Exhibition will provide an opportunity throughout the week for participants to come and visit displays hosted by ACT members, forums, advisory groups, communities of practice, as well as by external partners like the CHS Alliance, Sphere and the Partnership for Religion and Development. The Exhibition will be open Monday-Thursday, and will have a coffee station and photo corner as well as over 20 displays.

Pre-Assembly Opportunities

Before the Assembly begins, there will be two options available for participants to engage in:

Youth Pre-Assembly Days

LWF youth delegation members discussing climate change issues at COP23 in Bonn, Germany. Photo: Simon Chambers/ACT Young people are not just the future, they are a key part of who we are as an alliance today. The pre-assembly meeting of the Community of Practice on Youth Participation will bring together 30 – 40 youth representatives (aged 18-30) of youth organisations that are associated with the ACT Alliance around the world.

The meeting will offer those present, and the larger Community of Practice on Youth Participation, an opportunity to define who they are in the life of the alliance, organise their strategic work as youth within ACT to help build a stronger Alliance for the future, and share experiences from the work of the different organisations. The outcomes from these days will be shared with assembly participants throughout the assembly.

Pre-Assembly Day on Migration

The ACT Assembly is being hosted by ACT’s Swedish members – the Church of Sweden and Diakonia Sweden. On October 27, our hosts will offer an opportunity for participants at the assembly to learn about the Swedish experience in migration and integration, as well as some broader discussion of the European context around migration.

We look forward to seeing you in Uppsala to participate in this dynamic, exciting Assembly!

Mushroom cultivation: A climate-smart livelihood model

Sea level rise threatens many coastal villages in India. Resinga Village, of Nimapara block, Puri (Odisha) has been particularly affected by the impacts of climate change. Resinga lies on the Dhanua Riverbank, and each year when the river is inundated approximately 225 acres of arable land is submerged in saline water, impacting the community’s ability to grow food. Livestock and the overall food security of the village becomes threatened, hindering families from consuming a balanced diet, negatively impacting the health of many families.

Resinga has felt the worsening impacts of climate change over the years. When the arable land is inundated, men tend to migrate to nearby towns in search of more secure livelihoods. Women, however, as primary caregivers, remain behind often struggling to make ends meet.

ACT Member Lutheran World Service India Trust (LWSIT) is working to address the issues of food security and the separation of families in the village. LWSIT encouraged women to engage in alternative livelihood options such as mushroom cultivation with the aim of empowering women while tackling the issue of food security. Initially, 20 women and 13 men from the Resinga village were trained in this alternative livelihood technique. Over time, more and more women and men have begun to cultivate mushrooms.

Mushroom cultivation has developed into a family- and community-based venture. One hundred and twelve of the two hundred families in the village are now engaged in mushroom cultivation. Men tend to be responsible for procuring raw materials from the local market, and together the women and men prepare for the germination process.

It is no surprise that Resinga is now commonly referred to as the ‘mushroom cultivation village’.

Because of the support of LWSIT, each mushroom farmer grows 325 kg of mushrooms from 500 germinating beds. The produce is marketed in the cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack at Rupees (Rs) 110 (USD $1.75) per kg, yielding a net profit of approximately Rs 36,000 (USD $600) per month.

Despite the continuing impacts of climate change in the village, the alternative livelihood model has provided families with greater food security and a more reliable source of income. Women from the Resinga village are now able to ensure that their families have access to a balanced meal, that their children are able to continue with their education, and that the health needs of their families are addressed.

Public Statements Committee Call for Statements

The Public Statements Committee (PSC) of the ACT Alliance 2018 Assembly is pleased to announce that the call for public statements from forums and members is now open.

A public statement is a focused document intended for widespread public release. It shall describe a particular issue or concern and the position of the ACT Assembly on that issue. It must be in line with the ACT Alliance assembly theme (Hope in action – putting people first), and therefore must contain both a message of hope and a call to action.

ACT Alliance members, groups of members, or forums can submit public statements to the committee until October 28th 2018. No public statements will be received or considered by the committee after this date.

Make your voice heard

The countdown ticker on the Assembly website has rolled down to under 100 days until we will be gathered in Uppsala, Sweden for the third ACT Assembly. It feels like the numbers are ticking down far too fast, but also like they’ll never reach 0.

I’ve been working, as part of the communications team, on the Assembly since I started working with the ACT Secretariat in January 2017.

There’s a lot that goes into preparing for an event like this, from developing the theme and logo to the website with that countdown ticker that keeps bringing us closer to the Assembly, to looking at how we will tell the world about the amazing work done by ACT over the last four years, and in the years to come.

I hope you’ve been reading and watching the Stories of Hope that have been coming in from ACT members around the world. It’s been a joy to see these amazing stories coming in from members, ACT groups, forums, and others. The programme has been so successful that we’d like to continue to share your Stories of Hope in the years to come- they are concrete examples of Hope in Action.

Stories of Hope are only one of the ways that you can get involved in communicating about the Assembly. Especially if you’ll be with us in Uppsala, but even if you won’t, we’d like your help in communicating about the Assembly.

Here’s how you can help:

“Like, Comment, Subscribe:” Not to sound like a YouTube vlogger, but social media thrives on interaction. Whether you’re in Uppsala or Nairobi, Bangkok or Boston, you can follow the Assembly online through Twitter, Facebook, the Assembly website, our YouTube channel, etc. If you’re following, please interact with our material! Liking, sharing, discussing will all help us to spread the word.
Share within your organisation: If you are currently on the ACT mailing list, you will receive regular newsletters from the Assembly. Please share those with others within your organisation who you think would be interested in what is happening at the Assembly. If you work for an ACT member, but are not receiving our emails and want to, please email me and I’ll be happy to add you to our list!

If you’ll be attending the Assembly in Uppsala, here are some more things that I’d love for you to do to help communicate our event:

Write a blog: The Assembly website has a blog section (that you’re reading from right now) where we are happy to publish blogs by participants in the Assembly. Or, if you prefer, why not write your own blog on your organisation’s website, sharing your experience and thoughts about the ACT Assembly?
Write to your national press: ACT will be disseminating press releases throughout the Assembly, to both secular and ecumenical journalists. We will be hosting two or three press conferences. But there’s still a role for you to play in helping us with the media. If you take a story to your national press (either church press or secular press) with a local angle to it, it is much more likely to be picked up. Writing a press release and sharing it with journalists back home is a great way to help us to spread the word! We’re happy to help you with formatting your press release.
Share your photo: We’ll be setting up a photo corner in the Exhibition Hall where you can get your picture taken by one of our communications team. Bring friends from your organisation, or your Forum, Community of Practice, Advisory Group, or other grouping. Share them on social media, tagging ACT in the post and using our hashtags (#HopeinAction #ACTGA2018).
Share your story: There will be a number of ways that you can share your own story. We will have video teams doing interviews after regional meetings and member conversations. The photo corner will also be equipped to video small groups talking about the Assembly. The Migration and Displacement display in the Exhibition will be waiting to hear and record your story about work with displaced people and migrants. Our writers will be interviewing people for stories to go out through the ACT website.

When the countdown timer finally reaches 0, we will be at the beginning of an inspiring, amazing, prayerful, collaborative week.

I hope you will join us and add your voice to hundreds of others from ACT members around the world as we share the work that we all engage in together, living out our theme of Hope in Action- Putting People First.

The eruption of Mt. Agung

During and after the eruption of Mt. Agung in Bali, ACT Member YAKKUM responded to the emergency needs of the affected population.