On the 10 -11^th of October 2019, the Africa ACT Alliance Gender Justice Community of Practice (CoP) held its first meeting. The meeting was convened and hosted by the Uganda ACT Forum, with the support of Dan Church Aid (DCA).

The main priority for this meeting was to facilitate and support Africa Gender Justice group’s contributions and influence at the regional level. Through the CoP, ACT members in Africa will have a chance to share experiences, learn from each other, contextualize and set priorities on issues of gender justice, and drive joint strategic advocacy campaigns at the national, regional and international levels.

Twenty-three participants from Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Kenya, Liberia, Mozambique, Somalia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe – shared their frustrations and hopes on gender justice providing an analysis of their contexts and the challenges they are facing. Some of the challenges included exclusion of women and girls, non-compliance to policy frameworks, power inequalities, impunity and the backlash that the broad civil society is experiencing on gender justice. The shared feeling within the group was that unequal gender power structures are normalized within societies, and sometimes even driven by or in the name of faith.

Nevertheless, it was also noted that despite the push backs, some faith actors are breaking the norms and are countering the regressive narrative by courageously addressing gender-based violence, taking actions to overcome silence and providing leadership and a voice to those who are experiencing gender injustice.

From the discussion, it was clear that there is an urgent need for different faith-based voices to come together and speak out against injustice. ACT Alliance provides an excellent platform for its members to define their work in the region, identify common challenges and opportunities and establish new pathways for working together more effectively to advance gender justice. 

The meeting also explored joint international and regional synergies within global frameworks like the 2030 Agenda. UNFPA Uganda country representatives provided participants with information on the upcoming gender-related processes on ICPD+25/Nairobi Summit and the Beijing platform for Action +25, and emphasized the opportunities for faith-based actors in participating in such spaces.

Gladys Nairuba, Programme Officer, Active Citizenship at Dan Church Aid Uganda was elected Chair of the regional CoP and Zanele Makombe, Programme Advisor, Gender and SRHR  at  ACT Ubumbano as co-chair.  

A new report on the role of faith-based organisations in achieving the Agenda 2030 was released this week by UNDP and ACT Member Creas with the support of the the Government of Argentina. According to “The contribution of faith-based organisations to the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development in Argentina”, it is clear that governments cannot achieve the SDGs unless they are able to establish active partnerships with civil society. 

Civilians at risk in North East Syria

ACT Alliance is concerned by the desperate situation of the thousands of civilians in northeast Syria whose safety has been put at risk by the launch of the Turkish military offensive.

Civilians have already been displaced and some vital services have been interrupted, including medical facilities and water supplies. ACT Members and their partners working in the area are concerned by the news that agencies report staff fleeing with their families, while others are on lockdown.

An estimated 450,000 people live within 5km of the Syria-Turkey border and are at risk if all sides do not exercise maximum restraint and prioritise the protection of civilians. According to the latest estimates[1] nearly 200,000 people have fled their homes since the beginning of the incursion.The population includes more than 90,000 internally displaced people (IDPs), who have already been forced to flee at least once in Syria’s unrelenting war. Before the incursion Turkey was pressing for a wider buffer zone of 30 km deep and close to 500 km across, which would put even more people at risk[2].

According to UN OCHA, there are at least 1,650,000 people in need of humanitarian assistance in north- east Syria. The life-saving humanitarian response is being threatened as instability forces aid agencies to suspend or relocate their programming and staff. With an ongoing major crisis in Idlib and huge needs across the country, the aid response in Syria is already stretched to the breaking point.

The ACT Alliance JSL Forum is urging parties to the conflict to fully respect International Humanitarian Law (IHL). They must ensure all measures are taken to protect civilians and facilitate safe, unhindered humanitarian access.

Likewise, there must be no forcible returns of any refugees living in Turkey to Syria. According to the Government of Turkey, an estimated 83 per cent of the three million Syrians in Turkey do not originate from the North East. Forced return and resettlement of Syrian refugees in the intended buffer zone would constitute a blatant violation of international law, the principle of non-refoulement, and is anticipated to impact composition of the population in the area, destabilising the current political and administrative landscape with potential for ethnic tensions [3]. The UN is calling for the protection of civilians and the principles of humanity to be respected[4]. It is currently unclear if and how humanitarian access to the area will be facilitated.

The situation in the country is already fragile, and extra care must be taken to ensure that all children are protected and provided humanitarian assistance. Children in North East Syria, who are already living in dire conditions, are extremely vulnerable to the rapid deterioration of the security and humanitarian situation[5].

ACT Alliance Members urge those with power to put additional pressure to ensure the safety of all civilians, knowing that many Christians in the area including Armenians, Syriacs, and Assyrians are particularly vulnerable to displacement due to past incursions from Turkish military in the region.

Urgent action is needed to ensure that the humanitarian situation in northeast Syria does not worsen further, with potentially dire consequences for families and children who find themselves once again caught up in a deadly spiral of violence.

ACT Alliance calls on the international community to ensure the protection of civilians and the end of violence in North East Syria.

[1] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-security-turkey-displaced/syrian-kurdish-led-authority-nearly-200000-people-displaced-by-attack-idUSKBN1WR07K

[2] https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=768544535

[3] https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/10/11/international-community-must-stop-turkeys-ethnic-cleansing-plans-northern-syria/

[4] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-security-turkey-un/u-n-calls-for-protecting-civilians-in-northeast-syria-idUSKBN1WM0TH

[5] https://childrenandarmedconflict.un.org/children-in-immediate-danger-as-fighting-escalates-in-North East-syria/

One year has passed since several regions in Central Sulawesi were affected by an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.4 on the Richter Scale that triggered tsunamis and liquefaction, especially in Palu City, Sigi Regency and Donggala Regency. The emergency disaster relief phase was immediately issued with priority to provide basic living assistance for survivors, such as interventions for managing emergency shelters, fulfilling clean water needs, cleaning and sanitation equipment, improving infrastructure and public services.

In a joint media conference on 9 October 2019, the three ACT Alliance members CWS (Church World Service), Pelkesi (Indonesia Christian Association for Health Services: ICAHS) and YEU (Yakkum Emergency Unit) presented an update on the results achieved and the challenges that the affected communities still face one year after the earthquake.

An impressive video gives an impression about the situation in the area and about the work of the three organisations. For more details, please find here the media releases from CWS, Pelkesi and YEU.

Through a declaration of commitments, ACT Alliance Gender Justice Community of Practice in Latin America and the Caribbean joined the call to “Accelerate the promise for the defense of the rights and freedom to decide of all people”, made by the Nairobi Summit +25, that in November 2019, review the goals of the International Conference on Population and Development – ICPD- of Cairo (1994).

Three goals have been set by UNFPA by 2030 within the framework of the ICPD: 1) zero preventable maternal deaths, 2) zero unmet need for contraception, and 3) zero women and girls victims of violence and harmful practices.

 “As churches and Faith Based Organizations (FBOs), we recognize in this framework, a key platform to promote a dignified life for all people in accordance with our Christian perspective based on the promotion of rights,” the statement reads.  It was shared at the regional preparatory meeting of Nairobi + 25, held in Puebla, Mexico, on September 24-26.

“This statement was supported by a total of fifty-five churches and FBOs– ACT members and their partners– in 9 Latin American countries, which demonstrates the great will and concrete commitment of Christians in the promotion of the rights of women, girls and the LGBTIQ + population. This is a sign of hope in a regional context marked by economic, political and religious fundamentalisms that promote exclusion and inequality,” said Laura Chacón, the chair of the ACT CoP Gender Justice in LAC.

This statement is an input for the drafting of the global declaration, which ACT Alliance will take to the Nairobi Summit +25 in November, and to which other regional expressions will be added to reach these commitments that ACT Alliance endorsed through its Gender Justice Policy, which it adopted in 2017.

In the statement, Latin American and Caribbean ACT Alliance members commit themselves to develop actions to promote and strengthen strategies for pastoral action based on the dignity and rights, which prioritize prevention, detection and care of rights in cases of feminicidal violence, sexual violence, adolescent pregnancy, maternal and child mortality, as well as the promotion and defense of sexual and reproductive rights.

These commitments that aim to accelerate the fulfillment of the pending goals of the Nairobi Summit + 25, are also part of the work plan of the ACT JG CoP in LAC. Download the statement in Spanish and English.

The monsoon rains in South Asia this year were overwhelming. Funded by the ACT Alliance’s Rapid Response Fund, ACT Alliance member organization CASA assists vulnerable people in India to get through this extraordinary situation.

Emergency preparedness and response planning is a key element for the ACT Alliance, a coalition of 155 churches and faith-based organisations working together in over 120 countries. But during the heavy rainfalls this year in many parts of South Asia, the ACT members in India and Bangladesh decided to submit a proposal to access ACT’s Rapid Response Fund. While CASA responded to the needs of the communities in India that were affected, the other members of the ACT India Forum engaged in emergency advocacy.

Searching for a way back to normal life

ACT Alliance’s members support the most vulnerable people in any crisis-affected community. People like Yamuna Kumari[1] for instance, a young woman from Bihar in eastern India. She was expected to give birth in just 15 days, and had lost all hope. Her house in a small village in Bihar where she lived with her children was flooded. All the major rivers had broken their embankments. Dozens of villages were inundated which forced people to flee their homes and seek shelter at safer places. Yamuna was also worried about her other children’s health. Luckily, she and her children were rescued in time and brought to a temporary shelter in a relief camp where CASA provides food.

”My house is in complete ruins; my children had no water or food and I am still not physically strong after the birth of my child. On top of that the heavy rains and flooding added to my misery“, the young woman says about the past weeks. Yamuna realized only after her evacuation that she hadn’t taken any personal belongings with her. “During such a period, there is always a sanitation, food and water crisis. Now at least I’m assured that my children are regularly being given nutritious meals. The relief material provided by CASA will sustain my family’s needs”, she states.

Daily wage earners are among the worst hit

Daily wage earners like Yamuna who already work on a meagre daily income and do not have any savings cannot earn anything at all due to the floods. What they earn is barely enough in best of circumstances to cover the basic needs, and they do not have the capacity to absorb adverse situations where their income is disrupted by natural calamities.

Being an agrarian economy, the majority of the inhabitants in the affected areas depend on farming for their livelihood. The agricultural lands have been completely inundated by the floods. In this situation, the additional support of lentils, rice, oil, tarpaulin sheets and cooking utensils distributed by CASA strengthens the ability of the people affected to overcome the situation. Moreover, ACT Alliance members consider generating awareness on health and sanitation issues which arrive after such disasters as just as important.

Thinking on a long term

Support from the ACT Alliance through its membership does not stop at providing immediate humanitarian aid. ACT is committed to building the resilience of communities, including Yamuna’s, through strengthening local capacity on Disaster Risk Reduction and the engagement of communities in Disaster Risk Mitigation.

More and more humanitarian catastrophes like the floods in India are related to climate change. Besides humanitarian action and enhancing the resilience of communities, ACT Alliance’s programme also includes advocacy and mobilisation for climate justice with a specific focus on the implementation of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. “All countries must contribute to the global transition towards a low-carbon economy, reducing dependence on fossil fuels while delivering poverty reduction, and working with forest communities to conserve forests”, says Isaiah Toroitich, ACT Alliance’s Head of Advocacy and Development Policy.

Ensuring basic needs

By the end August 2019, a total of 1.88 million people had been displaced in India because of monsoon rains causing landslides and flooding in 11 states. The government reported 1,149 fatalities.

In 25 villages of Barpeta District in Assam, CASA’s two-month programme through the ACT Alliance Rapid Response Fund has targeted 3500 flood affected persons. Dry rations help meet families’ basic nourishment needs. People received rice, lentils, oil, turmeric powder, chilli powder and salt as well as tarpaulins and ground sheets.

Further to this, CASA extended support to around 1750 families in the flood affected districts of Madhubani in Bihar, Sanghli and Kolhapur in Maharashtra as well as Malapuram and Pathanamthitta in Kerala through its partners.

[1] Name changed for her safety

The UN Summit must amount to more than just another stop in the climate negotiations circuit. It must help to close the ambition gap in reducing emissions, scaling-up climate finance, and addressing climate impacts. 

This year, another record was broken. Sadly, it was a temperature record. July 2019 was the hottest month in recorded history. Across Europe, temperatures were recorded at an all-time high, which reportedly was made up to “100 times more likely” by climate change. The scale of the impact of Hurricane Dorian is unprecedented, costing countless lives, lost livelihoods and could cost $7 Billion in damages. It is highlighting that resilience to climate change is nowhere where it needs to be.

The globalised nature of climate change makes tackling this challenge a global necessity. Many developing countries in the Global South are now experiencing severe loss and damage (climate impacts that cannot be adapted to), despite having contributed the least to climate change. Their capacity to mitigate and adapt to climate change is slowly waning, and the evolving nature of their situation is becoming dire as they experience more and more extreme hurricanes, cyclones and droughts. 

What’s clear is that if developing countries are to be able to address, minimise and avert climate change impacts, they will need support from their developed country allies. That support must come in the form of finance and capacity building and must empower communities to become more resilient.

Resources for developing countries to adapt are at an all-time low, as evidenced in the findings of the Global Commission on Adaptation that concludes that there is a severe lack of funding for adaptation. 

Developing countries need their developed country allies to stand in solidarity with them. All developed countries need to scale-up and commit to predictable, grants-based climate finance for developing countries, thereby improving developing countries’ ability to engage in long-term recovery and development after climate impacts. 

Developed countries, including the EU and the Member States, must act urgently to scale-up climate finance for adaptation and loss & damage. Financing for mitigation cannot be the only priority anymore. The evidence is clear- adapting to climate change is just as important as mitigating it. Pursuing this will give developing countries an opportunity to create long-term frameworks and to plan for and address climate risks in the context of sustainable development.  

The world needs all countries to take bold action to address, avert and minimise climate impacts to put an end to the widespread suffering and loss that communities are facing.

Blog by Leia Achampong, Climate Justice Policy Officer at ACT Alliance EU

As states gather at the United Nations for the Climate Action Summit, taking place on 23 September, the ACT Alliance, Lutheran World Federation and World Council of Churches, which together represent 580 million Christians globally, are strengthening their collective call for climate justice and immediate action.

As we focus on the interconnectedness of God’s creation, our churches are urging governments worldwide to take stronger measures and present concrete plans to address climate change – now.

The world is facing the impacts of climate change at an increasing pace, escalating humanitarian needs, and leading to economic free-fall and trauma borne of violent natural disasters: Hurricane Dorian, Cyclone Idai, the Amazon fires, flooding in India, Bangladesh and Myanmar, drought in the Horn of Africa. There will be “a next disaster,” and the most vulnerable people—those who have done the least to contribute to climate change—are likely to face the brunt of its impact.

As people of faith, we call on the nations gathered at this summit to act ambitiously to address the impact of climate change, and to work with renewed vigor to keep global temperature rise below 1.5C.  The time to act is now.  Our care for God’s creation cannot afford more delay.

We shall do our part.

We call on our member churches, organizations, and communities to rise to this most important challenge of our time. We stand united against divisive forces that seek to negate scientific facts and silence the voices of women, of youth, of indigenous people and others who stand to lose everything as climate change ravages their lives and livelihoods.

We stand with the most vulnerable. 

We call especially for action by developed nations to increase their ambition in meeting emissions targets, in providing financing, and in focusing on adaptation and mitigation for those most affected by climate change.

Climate change has become a climate emergency.

Deep-seated transformation must happen now.

The Season of Creation is an annual celebration of prayer and action to care and protect Creation. The theme this year, “Web of Life: biodiversity as God’s blessings,” allows us to meditate on two essential components of creation: it comes from God and we play a part in it. 

“God said, this is a sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations; I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of a covenant between Me and the Earth” (Genesis 9:12-13).

The book of Genesis begins with God’s affirmation that all of creation is “very good’’ (Genesis 1:30). We are part of a complex, delicate and interdependent web of life which is valuable because it is created, sustained and redeemed by God.

Humanity is called to reflect on God’s image within the community of fellow creatures. In the New Testament, we learn that all things were created by Christ, giving particular value to each creature (Colossians 1:15-20). God’s ultimate purpose from creation to re-creation encompasses all that we call biodiversity.

The biblical witness is that the web of life – biodiversity, matters because human well-being depends on stable and thriving ecosystems and services: from clean water and food to oxygen, clothing and climate regulatory services, amongst other resources we use from nature. Biodiversity matters because God gives value to every creature that is created, yet today, human behaviour is destroying the fabric of God’s creation at an unprecedented rate.

Biodiversity matters because all of God’s creatures have value. The loss of biodiversity is an issue of justice because it is the poor and marginalized who directly depend on the health of ecosystems and are most severely affected by the collapse of the natural systems that sustain all life. Billions of people today face the loss of productive soils, clean water, forests, fish and coral reefs, and biodiversity loss is a major driver of human migration.

More information on Season of Creation 2019 is available here.

Blog by Arnold Ambundo, ACT Alliance, Climate Justice Project Coordinator.

ACT Alliance has signed onto a landmark declaration alongside over 200 representatives from grassroots networks, environmental, and human rights groups, calling on governments and corporations to tackle the climate crisis.

The declaration was adopted at the first-ever Peoples’ Summit on Climate, Rights and Human Survival (18- 19 September). The Declaration highlights the threat that climate change poses on human survival, the environment, and on the enjoyment of human rights for current and future generations.

A part of the declaration reads:

We envisage a world where people thrive as part of nature and where human rights –including the rights of Indigenous Peoples – and the environment come before corporate profit, in an era in which people are more connected with each other and with the planet. 

We want to live in safe, equal, peaceful and just societies. In societies where every individual and all communities enjoy fair, secure and sustainable livelihoods; participate in decision-making on matters that affect their lives, and have access to information and justice.

“Tackling climate change requires the full involvement of climate-vulnerable people and communities – not only because they are the most affected, but because they are knowledge keepers of the sustainable solutions needed to tackle the crisis,” says Isaiah Toroitich, ACT’s Head of Advocacy and Development Policy.

As a signatory of the declaration, ACT Alliance pledges to strengthen its efforts to ensure that human rights remain at the core of climate activism. 

ACT Alliance participated in the Peoples’ Summit which took place ahead of the United Nations Secretary General’s Climate Action Summit. The Summit was organized by the United Nations Human Rights Office, Greenpeace International, Amnesty International, Center for International Environmental Law, Wallace Global Fund, and the New York University School of Law Center for Human Rights and Global Justice. 

The full Declaration is available here