wfn.org | Task Force to Study Place of Communication in LWF Structure

["Frank Imhoff" <FRANKI@elca.org>]

General Secretary Asked to Ensure Adequate Budget

GENEVA, 19 July 2001 (LWI) - During its June 2001 meeting the Lutheran
World Federation (LWF) Council asked the LWF general secretary to
appoint a task force to study the place of communication within the
federation's structure and report to the Council in 2002.

Acting on recommendations from the Program Committee for Communication
Services, the Council also asked the LWF Executive Committee and general
secretary to strive to ensure that a minimum of 50 percent of the Office
for Communication Services (OCS) Statement of Needs (approximately USD
250,000 of USD 493,200) be made available for the OCS budget for the
year 2002.

Presenting the committee's report to the Council, program committee
vice-chairperson, Ms. Aberash Dinsa of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church
Mekane Yesus, noted that the OCS Statement of Needs so far was covered
by 30 percent. The committee brought to the Council's attention concerns
already raised during the June 2000 Council meeting in Turku, Finland,
that the office's budget be adequately met, particularly in
consideration of the emphasis put by the Prioritization and Workload
Assessment Project report on communication as a priority for the LWF.

The Council approved the LWF contribution to Ecumenical News
International  (ENI) in the amount of CHF 100,000 for the year 2002.
Earlier in its meeting, the program committee received a report on the
May 2001 launching of ENI as an association registered as a non-profit
body in Geneva, Switzerland. The committee received information about
ENI stories published in Lutheran World Information in German, and on
ENI's five-year (2001-2005) development plan. The plan includes
expanding sources of funding, increasing subscription income and related
additional projects.

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran
tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now has 133 member
churches in 73 countries representing over 60.5 million of the 64.3
million Lutherans worldwide. The LWF acts on behalf of its member
churches in areas of common interest such as ecumenical relations,
theology, humanitarian assistance, human rights, communication, and the
various aspects of mission and development work. Its secretariat is
located in Geneva, Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the information service of the
Lutheran World Federation (LWF). Unless specifically noted, material
presented does not represent positions or opinions of the LWF or of its
various units. Where the dateline of an article contains the notation
(LWI), the material may be freely reproduced with acknowledgement.]

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