wfn.org | CHURCH WORLD SERVICE LAUNCHES MULTI-YEAR AFRICA INITIATIVE

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

CONTACTS:

Ann Walle, CWS/New York, (212) 870-2654; awalle@churchworldservice.org
Jan Dragin, New York/Boston, (781) 925-1526; jdragin@gis.net

MEDIA ADVISORY

CHURCH WORLD SERVICE LAUNCHES MULTI-YEAR AFRICA INITIATIVE

New Board of Directors Delivers Unanimous Endorsement

New York, NY Wed 3/24 - Church World Service (CWS) gained the unanimous
endorsement of its new Board of Directors today (3/24), as the global
humanitarian agency unveiled plans for rollout of its multi-year Africa
Initiative.

The initiative targets Africa9s most at-risk populations: children, people
living with HIV/AIDS, and uprooted people including refugees, migrants and
internally displaced persons. The agency will also give special attention to
women9s issues and women9s key roles in development of African society.

Built on its 50-year presence in Africa, Church World Service will continue
its ongoing programs across the continent. But the new initiative, says CWS
Executive Director and CEO the Rev. John L. McCullough, "will add
distinctive new programs," he notes, "that grow out of the critical role
that Africans will play in constructing their futures."

Those issues include Peacebuilding and Conflict Resolution, Durable
Solutions for the Displaced, Hunger and Poverty Alleviation, Water for Life,
and HIV/AIDS in Africa.

McCullough literally unfolded the agency9s Africa Initiative to its board
members, as he laid out an African cloth on a display table. As CWS
executives presented each aspect of the initiative, participants added more
symbolic pieces to the table.

Mano River Region First Focus of Initiative

The initiative will first concentrate on the West African countries of the
Mano River regionLiberia, Sierra Leone and Guineaand Angola, Sudan and
Tanzania. Those countries were identified following consultation with
leaders across Africa during several historic conferences and meetings held
in recent months.

New CWS Board of Directors Chairman Betty Voskuil is Coordinator for
Diaconal Ministries and Hunger Education, Reformed Church of America.
Voskuil describes the CWS initiative as " a cutting edge endeavor" and says,
"Broad commitment and collaboration are vital to its success."

Voskuil placed a basket on the presentation meeting9s table to receive gifts
from the Board for the Africa Initiative. "It9s not what you give, but that
you give," she said. "We are looking for 100% participation from all of
Church World Service9s member denominations, partners and constituents."

"CWS is joining with the All Africa Conference of Churches, African regional
councils of churches, American churches, the United Nations, humanitarian
agencies and civil society institutions that are committing funds and
resources in a reaffirmed determination that the time for Africa is now,"
says Voskuil.

For the most part, Africa9s stark statistics have not lessened in recent
years. According to UNHCR9S 2003 World Refugee Survey, there were 3.5
million displaced people living in refugee camps or other temporary shelters
last year, and 12.5 million people displaced within their own countries. *

28 million people live with HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. Africa has 7% of
the world9s HIV/AIDS orphans, many of whom are now heads of households, and
10 million children traumatized by war. Two thirds of peole living in
sub-Saharan Africa do not have access to clean water. 59 million children,
mostly girls, are denied basic education. *

In the face of those realities, however, CWS9 McCullough cited Church World
Service9s decades of "tremendous vision and capacity for response" and its
success in the collective efforts of those who have the courage of faith to
take on big challenges."

Sustainable Development, Skills and Education"

"The intent of Church World Service9s initiative is long term commitment,
support and programs that step beyond traditional relief aid. We9re going to
be creative and focus on sustainable development projects, skills, and
education," says McCullough.

"The Africa Initiative," he noted "is a statement of recognition of the
monumental human suffering, pain and brokenness that is an everyday
experience" on the world9s "largest and yet least developed of our
continents."

Reviewing the statistics, McCullough told the organization9s board that "we
must do all that we can to make sure that when the day arrives when these
kinds of statistics are finally obsolete we will be able to say, the
children of Africa are alive.9"

During the CWS board meeting, a sculpture made of firearms was presented to
symbolize the peacebuilding goals of the Africa Initiative.

Engaging Eminent Persons for Peacebuilding

CWS Board member Bruce Menning, Director of Mission Services, Reformed
Church in America, and Chair of the Church World Service Mission
Relationships and Witness Committee, talked about how one distinctive
peacemaking program, CWS9 Eminent Persons Ecumenical Program for Africa,
echoes the tradition of drawing on the wisdom of tribal elders to mitigate
conflict.

The Eminent Persons program, says Menning, "will assist African church
leaders in being proactive in peacebuilding and conflict resolution in their
countries and will ensure that the voice of the African ecumenical family is
heard."

Menning told the gathering that Church World Service and Africa are "at this
moment a kairos match." Menning praised CWS9 "generosity of spirit at the
ecumenical table.

"Peacebuilding is the lynchpin of any of this work," Menning noted, whether
the other issues may be hunger or water, because, he said, "when conflict
disrupts civil society, it9s impossible to get anything accomplished."

 From Africa, Rev. Dr. Haruun L. Ruun, Executive Secretary of the New Sudan
Council of Churches, sent a message of appreciation for "the partnership of
CWS in prayer, encouragement and support for the peoples" of Southern Sudan
and other marginalized African peoples "who have suffered too long and who
now put their hopes in peace that will prevail at community, regional and
national levels."

Trauma Recovery Seminars, School Safe Zones

One Africa Initiative program, CWS9 Seminars on Trauma Awareness and
Recovery (STAR), a partnership with Eastern Mennonite University9s Conflict
Transformation Program, is designed to train African interfaith, civil
society and public servants in trauma counseling and utilizing trauma
healing as a strategy for preventing future conflicts.

A Liberia STAR seminar is in progress this week, Monday, March22-March 30 in
Monrovia and follows the first West African STAR, held in January in Sierra
Leone.

Another signature CWS Africa Initiative program will help institute School
Safe Zones across sub-Saharan Africa. An initial model is being explored now
in Nairobi by the government, school system, educators and church leaders of
Kenya.

School Safe Zones, comments CWS Deputy Director for Programs Kirsten
Laursen, is built on the idea that "schools must be free of conflict and
violence, including military conscription, if Africa9s youngest generation
is to learn and develop." CWS9 McCullough introduced the School Safe Zones
vision during a presentation last year to UN-HABITAT.

As a complement to the School Safe Zones effort, CWS plans to support
provision of secondary education to children in refugee camps and host
communities through its Durable Solutions for the Displaced Program.

Currently, international agreements allow only for primary education in
refugee camps.	CWS hopes to enlist the support of U.S. foundations,
churches, businesses, service groups, and schools in support of schools in
Africa.

CWS board member Agnes Abuom is African President of the World Council of
Churches and Chair of the Kenya National Task Force for CWS9 School Safe
Zones. Abuom brought greetings from "the wonderful continent" and told CWS
board members and executives that she realizes "how high the walls are. What
happened in Africa," she exclaimed. "The walls are so much higher now, not
any lower."

Abuom applauded the recent appointment of Church World Service9s new
Education and Advocacy Director Rajyashri Waghray, affirming the key role of
advocacy in building peace with justice, saying "without justice in our
diaconal work, the walls will remain high."

Durable Solutions for the Uprooted, Food Security, and the AIDS Pandemic

CWS board member Mary Kuenning Gross, Executive for Refugee Ministries,
Wider Church Ministries, United Church of Christ (UCC), and chair of the
Board9s Immigration and Refugee Program Committee, spoke on confronting the
staggering problem of Africa9s millions of uprooted people.

"It used to be we worked just in resettlement. Now, solutions for refugees
have to be tied in to their well being in their own countries," says Gross.

"Just last week," Gross noted,	"UNHCR projected a plan to repatriate two
million people in nine countries.

"In recent years there have been several major repatriations made," she
describes. "Angola is one example.  In these areas, support is needed for
the councils of churches, who promote reconciliation in these communities.

"One CWS Africa Initiative development program in Angola is now helping
women displaced by that country9s civil war and who are returning home now,"
Gross reports. "The program is helping these young women learn to sew and
embroider, to earn money that will help support their families. Women in one
class are working together to earn enough money to buy and share a sewing
machine and to start a business together.

"This is what empowerment and sustainability are really about," says Gross.

And for those who may never be repatriated, Gross says organizations like
Church World Service and the UCC "are putting more intensive work into
improving the lives of people who are displaced."

CWS management announced in the board meeting that strategies for addressing
food security in Africa will place emphasis on programs that protect land
rights, support nutrition education and food diversification, provide
inputs, and integrate new and usable technology.

Johnny Wray, Disciples of Christ and Board Chair of Church World Service9s
Emergency Response Program Committee, acknowledges that "The sweeping
problem of hunger in many African countries must also be addressed with
durable solutionsnot just more flow of food aid.

"CWS programs will increase opportunities for livelihood growth through
improvements in agro-pastoral production, establish rural cooperatives, and
create employment through skill-building programs," notes Wray.

"Our focus also includes advocacy," adds Laursen,  "to support just economic
trade policies that allow Africa9s agriculture industry to exist, to grow,
to compete on the world market."

McCullough told board members,	"Studies demonstrate that even a one percent
increase in world exports from Africa would result in gains in income and
livelihoods that could lift 40 million Africans out of poverty."

The CWS approach is to improve natural resource management through programs
that target declining soil fertility, groundwater contamination, persistent
drought, and an ecosystem approach to agriculture.

Jaime Quinones, CWS board member and Social Education and Development
Committee Chair, cited combating the AIDS pandemic in Africa as "a key and
burning objective."

Quinones, Presbyterian Church USA, says the CWS initiative will
"particularly focus on raising awareness, education, working to end the
stigma of AIDS so people will feel free to seek health care, and on
providing community supports.

The Africa Initiative9s integral approach to battling HIV/AIDS will include
programs targeted to least-served populations, with emphasis on women,
children orphaned by AIDS, and displaced people.

In one project, partnership with Film Aid International will bring outdoor
screenings of films about HIV/AIDS prevention and other critical topics to
residents of refugee camps. Laursen comments, "CWS says the film program
shows viewers how to take action, offers entertainment to help alleviate
trauma, and features models for rebuilding community life."

Laursen reports that the Film Aid program is receiving positive reports from
a test model in Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya

Church World Service also announced its expanded commitment to ensuring
"water for all, for health, for food, for the future," reports the Rev.
Nicholas Genevieve Tweed, pastor of Queens, New York9s Macedonia African
Methodist Episcopal Church, and a member of the CWS Education and Advocacy
for International Justice and Human Rights Committee.

Tweed says "The goals here are essential: programs that improve sanitation
conditions, enable efficient irrigation, and allow access to under-utilized
natural water resources." Tweed says CWS water programs will also "protect
watersheds, build ecosystem-based management and good land and water use
management."

Program concentration will be, says CWS, on helping people obtain and manage
their own potable water supplies and watershed sources.

"Water is not a resource to be privatized and restricted," said McCullough.
The Africa Initiative calls for durable on the ground projects and advocacy
that prevents policies that inhibit local communities from accessing water
or from developing their own water solutions.

African Helping Africans

In nearly every effort, Church World Service works with indigenous partners,
Africans helping Africans.   Reformed Church9s Voskuil says she was
initially impressed with the agency9s work with groups indigenous to each of
the over sixty countries in which it operates.	"I love the word
accompaniment,9" she says, elaborating on the relationship between CWS and
its partners.

In fact, says CWS Board Member and chair of the Planning Committee Jennifer
Riggs, Disciples of Christ, " To work in Africa, relationships with
[African] church constituents may ease the way more than ties to other
institutions."

McCullough referred to humanitarian John D. Rockefeller, Jr.9s statement
that "Every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an
obligation; every possession, a duty,"** and reminded his fellow ecumenical
partners and board members of a passage from the the Bible9s book of
Habbakuk, saying "the vision awaits its time,9 and the time is now for
action."

CWS executives and board of directors underscored their commitment to
Africa, closing the initiative9s presentation with prayerful thanks "for
those appointed to serve Africa at its hour of need," saying, "We stand at
the crossroads, but the Lord is not shaking.9"

Church World Service is a humanitarian agency and cooperative ministry of 36
Protestant, Orthodox and Anglican denominations, providing sustainable
self-help and development, disaster relief and refugee assistance in
partnership worldwide.

Editors note: For more information about the Church World Service Africa
Initiative, specific country projects, and ways to support the initiative,
visit: www.churchworldservice.org.

*Source: UNHCR 2003 World Refugee Survey
** Brown University: A Short History: John D. Rockefeller Jr.

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