WACC project partners underline leadership role in communication rights and ethics

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> News Release

**WACC project partners underline leadership role
in communication rights and ethics**

By Savu Tawake, ECREA and Maria Teresa Aveggio, WACC Programme Manager

Asia and Pacific project partners of the World Association for
Christian Communication (WACC) reaffirmed the importance of
communication rights in their struggle for human rights at a meeting
held in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, May 15.

The partners from Nepal, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Philippines,
India, Vietnam and Fiji discussed communication priorities, strategies
and future potential partnerships. They also assessed the impact of
their projects, explored possible areas of joint action and provided
feedback on WACCâ??s strategic planning process.

â??Consultation with project partners is essential. Our partners
indicated that WACCâ??s support had helped them to grow and enabled
them to engage with other groups and develop new partnershipsâ??, said
Maria Teresa Aveggio, WACC Programme Manager for Recognising and
Building Communication Rights programme. She further said â??The
consultation has shown that the impact of the projects goes beyond the
project itself. It has shown the commitment of our partners to
continue working for social justiceâ??

â??The opportunity to share our stories and to hear stories from other
partners is humbling indeed,â?? said Savu Tawake from the Ecumenical
Centre for Research, Education and Advocacy (ECREA), a Fiji based WACC
project partner and corporate member. â??To hear about the massacre
from Mindanao, Philippines where 32 members of the media were brutally
killed and how three journalists escaped the massacre thanks to a WACC
supported awareness workshop, was a really a truly moving
experienceâ??, said Tawake.

WACC General Secretary, Rev. Karin Achtelstetter, said â??The
consultation with project partners from Asia and the Pacific took
place at a crucial time in WACC Globalâ??s life as we are in
consultation with our stakeholders world-wide in our strategic
planning process.â?? She observed that the project partners affirmed
the importance of a global network advocating for communication rights
and underlined WACCâ??s leading role as an agent that brings ethics
and values to the global discourse on communication.

The project partners also joined WACC Asiaâ??s Triennial Assembly and
the pre-Assembly Seminar on â??Communicating Climate Justiceâ??  May 16
to 21.

Project partners represented in the consultation included:

? The Subaltern Forum (Nepal)

? Initiatives for Peace in Mindanao (Philippines)
? Centre for Communication and Development (Bangladesh)
? IBON Foundation (Philippines)
? Ecumenical Commission for Human Rights (Pakistan)
? Centre for Advocacy and Research (India)
? Pipal Tree (India)
? ISIS International (Philippines)
? Research Centre for Gender, Family and Environment in Development
(Vietnam)

? Asmita Womenâ??s Publishing House (Nepal) and
? Ecumenical Centre for Research, Education and Advocacy (Fiji).
Read a related article here:
http://www.waccglobal.org/component/content/article/2632:a-new-lens-on-comm 
unicating-climate-justice.html

For more information, contact TA@waccglobal.org