PRESS RELEASE

As two weeks of UN climate negotiations end in Bonn, international faith-based humanitarian and development network ACT Alliance sees signs of progress towards the implementation of the Paris agreement. However, progress is slow, and a number of difficult issues still remain to be resolved.

Despite threats of US withdrawal from the Paris agreement, the alliance is happy to see that many other governments engaged in the process to make climate transformation happen.

Speaking from Rajasthan, India, co-chair of the ACT alliance working group on climate change Dinesh Vyas said;

“The urgency to raise ambitions is acknowledged by all governments. In 2018 governments have agreed to take stock of progress under what is called a “facilitative dialogue”, It is crucial that this process becomes a participatory process rather than a one-time event”

Climate finance has been high on the agenda in Bonn as governments have gone deeper into detail in the negotiations over how to properly count and report on climate finance. Despite different, and in many cases opposing views, small steps were taken. Co-chair of the ACT Alliance working group on climate change, Martin Vogel, from Sweden, commented:

“We welcome progress towards establishing clear rules for what should count as climate finance and how to make sure that finance flows are reported in a transparent way ensuring that developed countries commitments to provide both development aid and climate finance are met. The lack of a clear definition for climate finance is a serious problem today and hurts countries that are most in need by leaving them without the necessary support.”

While agreeing on a clear set of rules for climate finance will be difficult to resolve, it is one of the most important matters in climate policy.

The Bonn session was also included discussions on the future of the Adaptation Fund and how it should serve the Paris agreement. ACT alliance co-chair, Martin Vogel, said:

“The issue of the Adaptation Fund should have been easy to solve by governments. Instead, discussions were lengthy and slow. This unfortunately took time away from many other important discussions that governments should have had, like how to increase and make sure that financial support for adaptation reach the communities that need it most”

Looking ahead, the next COP will be held in just 6 months, this time under Fijian presidency, but again taking place in Bonn. Dinesh Vyas said,

“We strongly believe the next COP should focus on addressing the impacts of climate change. We are convinced that urgent action to combat climate change needs to be urgently taken. As a development and humanitarian network we work closely with poor and vulnerable people who suffer the adverse effects of climate change. It is important to always keep the elements that are closest to these communities on the agenda.

ENDS

1. ACT Alliance is a coalition of 144 churches and faith-based organisations working together in over 100 countries to create positive and sustainable change in the lives of poor and marginalised people regardless of their religion, politics, gender, sexual orientation, race or nationality in keeping with the highest international codes and standards.
2. For more information or and interview about this press release contact Isaiah Kipyegon Toroitich. Tel: +41 79 825 7899; Email: Isaiah.Toroitich@actalliance.org

When ACT members around the world reach out to poor and vulnerable communities, there is no doubt about the need for support. There is urgent need to strengthen their resilience, and to adapt to the effects of climate change. To make that happen there is a need for funding.

In the UN, rich and poor countries have an ongoing argument about these funds. Rich countries claim they have provided their support, while developing countries ask where it is. A new report, commissioned by the ACT member DanChurchAid, as well as CARE Denmark and Oxfam IBIS, dig directly in to this conflict. The result is worth considering. Lack of transparency and weak accounting practices are found to be the core of the problem.

Lack of clear definitions, and agreement about how to account and report on climate finance leads to misunderstandings, and lack of action. To get the full picture we need to take a step back and look at developed countries’ commitments to support developing countries.

The promise about Official Development Aid…

There are many development needs. The global Sustainable Development Goals outline 17 areas where international development cooperation must be mobilized. Developed countries have an old commitment to allocate 0,7% of their GDP as aid to developing countries. It should be noted, that unfortunately very few countries have delivered on this commitment, but formally the agreement still persists.

…and a new commitment about climate finance

However, in the early 1990s scientists highlighted the need for climate action, and explained how climate change causes additional problems for development. Consequently, it was agreed that developed countries should mobilize additional support to help developing countries to tackle these additional challenges. Later a target, to annually mobilize $100 billion USD from 2020 and beyond, was adopted.

Finance confusion

The report mentioned above highlights four key problems with the current practice used by developed countries to mobilize climate finance.

First, there is no agreement about where the money should come from, or how it should be spent. This explains a big part of the confusion, as rich and poor countries have different perspectives on climate finance.

Second, there is a lack of transparency, and developing countries may in fact receive climate finance which they are not aware of. The lack of transparency is also linked to the method of assessing whether projects should be classified as climate finance or not. With limited information, assessments become weak, and as a result, big programs with limited elements related to climate change may be misreported as climate finance.

Third, the current reporting approach is, to a large extent, based on a bottom up approach where projects on the ground are assessed and reported to the UN. While this is good, to promote greening of concrete activities, it will not help donors to deliver on their commitment to support both adaptation and mitigation, or to increase climate finance in general. To achieve these commitments, there is also a need for top-down, political guidance. The report points at the lack of balance and the risk for increased imbalance when more private finance, which is more likely to support mitigation, becomes part of the reporting.

Finally, and this is where the broader debate about development becomes relevant, the report highlights that most climate finance also is reported as development aid. This means that developed countries deliver on two of their international commitments at the same time, when they channel support to developing countries. Overall, negotiations about climate finance will thus not necessarily increase the support, but only promote greening and increased resilience of existing development aid.

UN Climate Negotiations in Bonn this week have a focus on how to count and report climate finance. As ACT delegation, we hope that negotiators will take this debate seriously. We need agreement about how to assist developing countries, and we must always remember that money and funding must be translated into actual support to people, families and communities. It is their future which is at stake!

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Mattias Söderberg, Senior advocacy advisor in DanChurchAid. Was elected co-chair for the ACT Alliance advisory group on climate change advocacy and was the acting head of the ACT delegations to UN climate talks from 2010 to 2015. Was co-chair of the ACT EU climate change working group from 2007 to 2009, and head of the ecumenical COP15 secretariat in 2009. Mattias is originally from Sweden, but live in Denmark.

Instead of country delegates, civil society observers fill the Chamber Hall in the UNFCCC World Conference Centre in Bonn. Two young men are standing behind one of the few country-signs: “When we get home, we will give lectures to 5000 young people about the Climate Negotiations,” they say.  They are youth delegates from the Netherlands. In the very formalised setting of a four-hour workshop about involving non-state actors, they convincingly address how youth delegates encourage young people back home to fight for climate justice. This powerful intervention was the first time we encountered the important role that young people have in the UNFCCC.

Walking around the conference area you see young people participating and engaging on all topics. The climate fight is especially important for youth, as we are the ones who will be inheriting the planet. Leaders are not doing enough so we have taken responsibility, leading the climate fight and pushing governments to increase ambitions.

As ACT youth we want to make sure that the decisions in the climate conference reflect human rights, environmental integrity and the common but differentiated responsibilities of the countries.

The involvement of youth is relevant, fair and rational. Youth can break patterns of the past and be innovative in creating a better and fairer world. Changing the structures should be for the better, and by involving youth we can create structures that are sustainable through generations. Not only is influence important, but spreading information and inspiring youth is essential in a fast changing climate. Mobilizing and activating the young offers an opportunity to act rapidly against climate change and work harder for climate justice! With this in mind the youth delegate initiative seems to be an obvious step.

As ACT youth we want to make sure that the decisions in the climate conference reflect human rights, environmental integrity and the common but differentiated responsibilities of the countries. Though the Paris Agreement is ground-breaking in many ways (we actually have an agreement now!) there is still a lot to be done. Promises of emission reductions will not limit global warming to 2 degrees, and definitely not 1.5 degrees. A temperature rise of 1.5 degrees will lead to catastrophic consequences, such as small islands flooding and disappearing. Our job is to make sure that temperature rise is as low as possible and that vulnerable people and ecosystems get the possibility to adapt to changes, and get compensation for loss and damage. To do this, action is needed and promises need to become more ambitious. We are in Bonn to push leaders to set high goals, and hold them accountable.

This is not an easy task, especially when the UN has created its own language about climate issues. Being used to youth slang such as; LOL/LMAO, BTW and BFF, understanding UN slang such as; LMDCs, MPGs, SBSTA and UNFCCC, is SRSLY confusing. Also, when sitting through hours and hours of discussions where nobody ever gets to the point and they yell at each other while still keeping a formal and respectful tone, your brain kind of turns into cake. Still we try to keep our tongues straight in our mouths (as we say in the Nordic countries), when we speak to delegates and important people in suits, and we think we can say with confidence that we have contributed to this conference being fruitful!

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The blog was written by Sofie Sødal Eiksund, Mari Einang, Iris Secher Kristensen, Emilie Riis Larsen and Anna Wulff Zinck

We are four days into the negotiations in Bonn and the spirit is high. Not only are the chestnuts in the city in full bloom, but constructive discussions on many of the topics under the Paris agreement are underway, including the crucial topic of how to enhance the implementation of gender related mandates and decisions under the Paris agreement and the climate convention. A UNFCC workshop on how to develop a Gender Action Plan has taken place over the past two days here in Bonn, and several ACT Alliance members have taken part. Together with country delegations, UN agencies officials and other CSOs we havecollectively been working on priority areas and key activities that the gender action plan should include.

As ACT Alliance, we believe that any strategy or plan devised to address climate change must be gender-responsive and include the guiding principles of justice, equality, solidarity, sufficiency and sustainability. It must have the rights, needs and interests of people – particularly those who live under the most vulnerable conditions – as a point of departure.

In our vision of a climate resilient society, women and men have equal access to power and resources and equal opportunity to participate in decision making linked to development and climate adaptation, from the local level to UN climate negotiations. The competence and experience of both women and men contribute equally to shaping climate and development interventions, to ensure that these meet everyone’s basic needs and strategic interests. In a climate resilient society, vulnerability is not a matter of sex or linked to gender roles.

In order to find the best solutions to the climate challenges at hand, the perspectives and experiences of all people and groups are crucial. But as women have relatively less influence over planning and decision making in most societies, their views and ideas are not put to the use that they could be.

One of the main challenges we are already facing is how to make sure the gender responsiveness approach is embedded in the policies at the national and local levels. In order to really start thinking about transformational change we need to bring new perspectives into all the different arenas where solutions for the future are crafted. We must not forget how important is to also include indigenous women and those living in the most vulnerable areas.

At the current session in Bonn, the UNFCCC has organised the workshop to convene parties and observers to share ideas on how to address this issue practically within the framework of the international negotiations. We have discussed how to improve capacity of all responsible actors, how to increase women’s representation and active participation in the negotiations, how to coordinate activities under the many different topics of the negotiations as well as with other UN processes, how to make sure that finance and technology work for both women and men and how all of this should be followed up.

The Gender Action Plan will be drafted by the UNFCCC secretariat in the coming months and then negotiated by Parties at COP23. Our hope is that it will contain concrete and achievable targets and that it will be accepted and adopted by all Parties so that we will see strong action to improve gender equality over the coming years.

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The blog was written by Anna Axelsson from  Diakonia Sweden and Sagrario Monedero Lopez, Inspiracción

This week, ACT’s General Secretary John Nduna is attending the Twelfth Lutheran World Federation Assembly in Windhoek, Namibia.  “The Lutheran World Federation, together with the World Council of Churches, were the founding members of ACT,” said Nduna in his address to the Assembly.  “Membership in the alliance is mainly drawn from LWF and WCC member churches and their related agencies.”

The Assembly, which brings together representatives from 145 Lutheran churches around the world, is focused on the theme “Liberated by God’s Grace”, and is a key moment for Lutherans to come together to work, worship, and learn together.

That togetherness is key to the work of agencies like ACT.  “Together we have a voice at the table, we respond to disasters, and we learn and share in development practice,” Nduna told the almost 800 people gathered at the Assembly.  “Together we work with the most vulnerable, marginalized and excluded communities and people. Together we live out diakonia.”

Nduna highlighted the LWF’s role as one of the global leaders in working with refugees and displaced people, and also in standing with affected people and communities in the fight for climate justice.

ACT members and secretariat staff will be active at the Assembly, leading workshops, present in plenary sessions, hosting booths in the display area and more.

The full text of Nduna’s greeting to the LWF Assembly can be read here.

Deeply concerned by the current evidence of growing inequalities and their impacts on the lives of people everywhere, ACT members Bread for the World, Church of Sweden and Norwegian Church Aid gathered representatives of 25 churches and ecumenical organisations from 20 countries in Sigtuna, Sweden in January 2017. We met as people of faith to explore the role of the Church and the resources of diakonia in promoting just societies. We concluded that wealth must be shared fairly for the good of all and that social protection must be guaranteed as the right of all – so that no one shall be left behind.

The deliberations in Sigtuna resulted in a Statement on Theology, Tax and Social Protection, which provides a theological justification for taxation and social protection, and a call to action for the Church’s response in this time of inequality.

Human Beings Not for Sale

ACT members will be involved in leading a workshop called DIAKONIA IN THE TIME OF INEQUALITY at the Twelfth Assembly of the Lutheran World Federation this month in Windhoek, Namibia. The Assembly gathers representatives from 145 member churches around the world to deliberate on the role of the Lutheran Church in the years to come.

We hope this workshop will be an important contribution to one of the main themes for deliberation at the Assembly: Human Beings Not for Sale. This theme reminds us that throughout human history, those with power have degraded the living conditions and dignity of those without. Societies that do not respect and uphold the dignity of all human beings are in danger of reducing human beings to objects, whose value is defined in financial and commercial terms.

Churches and faith-based organisations have historically been, and remain today, at the forefront of providing social services and support to those living on the socio-economic margins. We have a critical role to play in working for just societies and securing social protection for all.

The Sigtuna Statement affirms that publically funded social protection is a moral imperative and a human right for all, and particularly for those that have been rendered invisible by current economic and development realities.  The statement also affirms that social protection is an essential requirement for a just society, regardless of a country’s level of economic development.  Taxation is a fundamental instrument for redistributing wealth and for financing the common good so that all can have life in dignity.

A Call to Action for Churches

The workshop DIAKONIA IN THE TIME OF INEQUALITY, which will be held on 13 May, will be an important opportunity to discuss and gather support for this call to action:

We call on churches and faith based organizations everywhere to stand up and demand for fair redistribution of wealth and social protection, as a matter of justice and human rights for all in the following ways:

• Continue pioneering social services and support for those who are left behind, and challenge governments to learn from these innovations to improve public social protection.
• Raise awareness and build local community support to influence policies and actions in favor of social protection, just tax systems and equality at all levels.
• Use the voice of the Church to educate, inspire and transform peoples’ attitudes and behaviors about tax and social protection in all sectors of society.
• Commit to working with others in the public space and engage in relevant policy frameworks and debates to call upon:
  • National governments to guarantee social protection for all and to mobilize the necessary resources through fair taxation.
  • The private sector to recognize that major corporations and the super-rich minority are benefitting at the cost of the majority and that they need to honor tax and labor legislation and be transparent and accountable in their business practices.
  • The leaders in all sectors of society to support policy initiatives for a reformed financial architecture which promotes a more just and equitable redistribution of resources in line with the Common Good and to act upon the international responsibility to leave no one behind.

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Gwenneth Berge is ACT’s Senior Advisor on Religion and Development

PRESS RELEASE

Reports about dramatic effects of climate change keep coming, while governments meet for another round of UN climate talks in Bonn, Germany. ACT alliance will follow the meeting closely, and with great concern. Poor and vulnerable people around the world are already suffering from floods, droughts, heatwaves and dramatic storms. The head of the ACT delegation in Bonn, Martin Vogel, said “The coming two weeks are important. Climate change should never be limited to paragraphs in an agreement. It is about people, communities and livelihoods. There is need for climate action, and we hope all governments in Bonn will do what they can to achieve progress. “

The global climate agreement was adopted in Paris one and a half years ago. The agreement is full of commitments and pledges, but the details and rules of how the agreement will be implemented still need to be decided. “The Paris agreement is good, and I am confident that it will deliver results,” Vogel commented. “However, we will not see any results until rules and details are in place. All the loop holes must be closed. There should be no option for countries to back slide on their commitments, or to neglect to take action.”

While world leaders have continued to pledge support for the Paris agreement, the political signals from the new American president, Donald Trump, differ. The new administration has already reduced the climate ambition within the US, and rumors circle about possible changes in the US positions related to the international climate debate.

Vogel commented on the US situation: “Developments in the US are of course important to follow, and I hope president Trump acknowledges that climate change is real, and has an impact. However, the world is bigger than the US, and positive news about countries taking action keeps ticking in from around the world. No matter what happens in the US, we have faith. We can halt global warming, and we can learn how to live with the existing effects of climate change. It is time to act!”

ENDS

1. ACT Alliance is a coalition of 140 churches and faith-based organisations working together in over 100 countries to create positive and sustainable change in the lives of poor and marginalised people regardless of their religion, politics, gender, sexual orientation, race or nationality in keeping with the highest international codes and standards.
2. For more information or and interview about this press release contact Martin Vogel. Tel: +46 76 803 41 14; Email: martin.vogel@svenskakyrkan.se 

In a beautiful dawn of April 25, 2017, Durgalal BK and his wife excitedly visited their newly constructed house in the Dalit settlement in Baramchi Village in Sindhupalchok, Nepal. The BK family had a plan to paint their new dream house on the day when Nepal was commemorating the second anniversary of Gorkha quake.  The BKs were one of 142 families in Sindhupalchok who were beneficiaries of the housing project of LWF (the Lutheran World Federation) Nepal, a member of ACT Alliance. A total of 29 houses were constructed in the BK’s Village Development Committee (VDC) with the support of LWF Nepal and Gramin Mahila Srijanashil Pariwas.

After INGOs were given the approval to begin permanent shelter construction in April of 2016, LWF Nepal along with other members of ACT Alliance supported earthquake affected populations to rebuild their houses.  Presently, LWF has completed a total of 356 houses.  LWF plans to construct a total of 1041 houses in Dolakha, Sindhupalchok, Kavre, Lalitpur, Kathmandu and Rasuwa.

The Nightmare

Durgalal, his wife, and their two sons were out of their house when the 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck on April 25, 2015. The quake collapsed his newly built house, killing five goats and some pigs.  Fortunately, his family was unharmed, but the quake left him bankrupt.

The earthquake shattered the lives of most of the people in 14 hard hit districts in Nepal. It killed 8,891 people and injured more than 22,000, flattening over 600,000 residential buildings and partially damaging nearly 300,000 houses.

Immediate Response

Durgalal had heard the name of ACT Alliance and LWF Nepal for the first time when he was roaming here and there in open space right after the earthquake. “A truck with relief materials was stopped near our village. I was given rice, biscuits, beaten rice and a sheet of tarpaulin,” Durgalal said.  The materials brought great respite to Durgalal and his neighbors.  The tarpaulin was particularly important as it provided them shelter and saved them from the rain.

After two months, LWF returned to Baramchi with food packets, livelihood support of NRS 5,000 (about $50 US) and zinc- roofing sheet for each household.  “The support enabled them to establish a temporary shelter in their own place and keep goats and pigs to restart their normal life”, Gopal Dahal, Emergency Reponses and Disaster Risk Reduction Coordinator at LWF Nepal says.  Despite an unfavorable environment during the relief phase, ACT Nepal Forum members including LWF Nepal reached 500,000 hard-to-reach earthquake-affected people with lifesaving relief materials. Under the ACT Appeal, ACT members covered 122 VDCs and 6 municipalities in 10 districts with recovery, resilience and reconstruction programs.

Reconstruction Era

Durgalal felt the real spirit of the reconstruction after a group of masons in his village received training on earthquake resistant masonry and he was provided the Rs 50,000 ($500 US) as a first installment of a shelter grant by LWF Nepal. Although the National Reconstruction Authority (the authority who has the mandate of rebuilding following the quake) began in Nepal nine months after the quake, INGOs were only given permission to begin building a year after the earthquake.  It was obvious that earthquake affected people like Durgalal couldn’t feel the reconstruction spirit unless organizations/government reached out to the target population with its permanent shelter construction cash support.

As the Nepal government’s policy provisions to provide shelter grant of Rs 300,000 to each earthquake affected households, ACT members in Nepal has been providing the grant in coordination with National Reconstruction Authority.

Since December, Durgalal has been busy all day rebuilding his community. “I, together with my team of masons, have been involved in community- rebuilding. My team has already completed 5 houses and 4 more are under construction”, Durgalal said.  Skilled and semi-skilled masons have adopted a labor exchange system locally known as Prama Pratha. This practice has saved money for reconstruction and encouraged ‘collective reconstruction’.

Way Forward

ACT members began providing humanitarian support on the first day of the calamity and these organizations continue providing support to earthquake survivors through shelter, livelihood, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), psychosocial and education support.  The Forum is making the link from relief to long-term development in Nepal.   “ACT Alliance Nepal Forum is working on the ‘Build Back Better’ approach. We will collaborate with the government in speeding up the reconstruction and link the recovery and reconstruction initiatives to the long term development,” Dr Prabin Manandhar, Convener of ACT Alliance Nepal forum said.

Umesh Pokharel is Documentation Manager in Lutheran World Federation Nepal.  LWF is a member of ACT Alliance

Washington, D.C. – Despite catastrophic storms, rising temperatures, severe droughts and other devastating environmental events, the United States has ignored its duty to act on the destructive effects of climate change domestically and around the world. In reaction to recent cuts to domestic environmental protection efforts and the denial of the effects that climate change has on the world’s most vulnerable and poorest communities, ACT members joined with a coalition of community and faith leaders from across the religious spectrum joined together on April 29, 2017 at an interfaith vigil to call on the United States to take immediate action on climate change.

Ahead of the People’s Climate March, the group called on lawmakers and leaders to take immediate action to protect our planet and address the impact climate change has on global issues such as natural disasters, hunger, poverty and immigration.

“Climate change impacts each and every one of us. Around the world, its effects are felt through rising temperatures, devastating storms, severe droughts and other environmental events. As people of faith and good conscience, we are called to protect our common home and stand with those who are most impacted by the effects of climate change,” said the Rev. John L. McCullough, President and CEO of Church World Service. “Serving as an international development and refugee resettlement organization, Church World Service remains committed to standing with the most vulnerable and holding our leaders accountable to addressing climate change. There is no denying the impact climate change has on communities around the world – the time to act is now.”

“The ACT Alliance brings together some 144 faith-based organisations working in 100 countries, and we all stand together to express deep concern for the consequences of climate change on the earth and its people. It is our moral responsibility to act first to support the most vulnerable people struggling to survive and adapt in climate affected regions, but we know that that alone is not enough,” said Alison Kelly, Sustainable Development and UN Representative with the ACT Alliance. “ACT is translating our ecological stewardship into concrete climate action through advocacy, speaking out for climate justice and holding our leaders to account for it. And from all across the world, we stand in solidarity with people of faith in the U.S. as they take action on climate change today.”

“Just as the climate is changing so too must the church change. We cannot – like those in the Capitol and down at the White House – stay walled up in our places of comfort and privilege. We must understand our complicity,” said the Rev. Dr. Susan Henry-Crowe, General Secretary of the United Methodist Church. “We must listen to the groaning of creation and to the stories and leadership of frontline communities. And we must step out boldly in solidarity with those who are interrupting systems of oppression and living out God’s radical expression of love for all of creation.”

“The Episcopal Church is committed to working in partnership with the many communities experiencing eco-injustice. Climate change menaces the lifeblood of our economy, our national security, and the very future of humanity and that of many other species. We’re in, as the thousands chanted in Marrakech last November, on fulfilling the U.S. commitment to the Paris Agreement. As people of faith, we must rise to the occasion to honor not only the Paris Agreement, but confront this enormous threat and live out our call to be stewards of God’s creation,” said the Rt. Rev. Marc Handley Andrus, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of California.

“Greed is dominating need. The earth, our first Mother, is a gift that not only have we come out of and remains a part of us, but also what we have inherited. We have a shared responsibility for not only what we leave but also how we treat what we inherit,” said Imam Talib Shareef of the Nation’s Mosque, Masjid Muhammad.  “Because the earth is a part of us, when we harm it we harm ourselves. Nearsightedness in our leaders’ attitudes towards climate changes have resulted in abuse of these gifts and has led to excessive pollution from fossil fuels, which are now threatening to destroy the very life, home, gifted to us by the Almighty.”

“We know beyond any doubt that both of these things are true: that people are hurting as a result of increasingly destructive weather patterns, and that we can do something about it,” said the Rev. Rob Keithan of All Souls Church Unitarian, representing the Unitarian Universalist Association. “To ignore or distract from this reality is to evade our most basic obligation as people of faith, which is to have compassion for those who are suffering.”

“Climate change is real and it is being felt by the most vulnerable around the world,” said Armele Vilceus, executive director of the Community Empowerment Network. “I strongly believe that standing together, we can break the vicious cycle of poverty caused by climate change!”

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On April 18, 2017, John Nduna, General Secretary of the ACT Alliance, took part in a round table convened by the World Bank in Washington, DC, along with senior staff from sixteen other faith based organizations to discuss with the president of the bank the progress that is being made on poverty eradication, and the link between that work and the Sustainable Development Goals.  ACT, along with organizations including the World Council of Churches, the Holy See, Bread for the World, American Jewish World Service, the Aga Khan Foundation USA, Islamic Relief USA, World Vision, spoke about the refugee and migrant crisis and about work to support children in international development and humanitarian work.

Nduna highlighted a new programme ACT has begun in this year, accompanying and raising up the voices of migrant and displaced people, and focusing on a rights-based approach in programme and advocacy work to ensure displaced people have enhanced access to rights and protection.

Dr Jim Yong Kim, president of the World Bank, spoke of importance of faith based organizations as key players in in ending extreme poverty in the world, working in partnerships with other multilateral and bilateral institutions like the World Bank, and also with the private sector, which has trillions of dollars that could be mobilized to meet the aspirations of people around the world.

Speaking as part of a panel on the role of faith inspired actors in ending extreme poverty and advancing the SDGs the next day, Nduna drew links between climate change and humanitarian situations and displacements.  “ACT Alliance believes that true resilience requires a comprehensive, integrated approach that combines Disaster Risk Reduction, climate change adaptation and sustainable development within a framework that addresses social, economic and other forms of inequalities between individuals, communities and states,” Nduna said.

He drew examples from ACT members’ ongoing work in the Horn of Africa, responding to the continuing drought there.  “In the face of drought in Somalia, ACT is working practically to save lives with water and food, school nutrition programmes and hygiene facilities.  But this work is set within a much longer term development programme, and is also engaging in rehabilitation of boreholes, livestock and livelihood interventions and cash transfers where people have depleted all their assets – activities aimed at promoting early recovery and equipping people better to withstand new shocks and setbacks.”

Faith-based organizations like ACT have a particular role to play in addressing climate change, the eradication of poverty and the other SDGs.  “Our religious convictions, social codes and customs tell us about concern for the vulnerable: climate change is leading to unprecedented ecological degradation, affecting in particular the lives and livelihoods of the most vulnerable populations. It is an irrefutable moral duty for all governments to agree on concrete and measurable steps towards

global climate justice and partnerships for climate resilience, as a critical component to achieving the the SDGs and bringing in a transformed world – the world we want,” Nduna concluded.