LWF World Service Program in India to Become Local NGO by 2008 A Challenging but Necessary Step
KOLKATA, India/GENEVA, 11 July 2006 (LWI) - After more than 30 years as a country program of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Department for World Service (DWS), the LWF/DWS India program has started a process that will transform it into an autonomous local organization by 1 January 2008.
The decision to commence the process was reached during a roundtable, which brought major stakeholders of DWS India together in Kolkata, northeast India, where the program's offices are based. Participants in the 7 to 9 June meeting were drawn from the program's partner agencies, which include Canadian Lutheran World Relief, the Church of Sweden and DanChurchAid, as well as the LWF/DWS. Local partners represented include the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in India, National Council of Churches in India, Church of North India, and the Church's Auxiliary for Social Action -- the relief and development organization of Protestant and Orthodox churches in India. The LWF/DWS associate program in Bangladesh, the Rangpur Dinajpur Rural Service was also represented.
The roundtable helped to establish a clearer understanding among the stakeholders of the implications of localization, and to forge a consensus on how the new organization should be structured and managed. As an autonomous faith-based non-governmental organization (NGO), LWF/DWS India will retain its current name, affirming its Lutheran and ecumenical identity. Its relief and development work will build on its existing experience and strengths. The localization should help confer greater legitimacy and freedom to pursue a progressive development agenda and widen opportunities to enhance its resource base.
The June roundtable participants acknowledged that the localization process involved a challenging, complex but necessary step that would strengthen DWS India's Lutheran and ecumenical cooperation locally, as well as its ability to address systemic poverty and vulnerability to disasters. Since its establishment in 1974, the program has worked among the rural and urban poor, with the aim to empower disadvantaged communities so improving their quality of life.
The idea of transforming DWS India into a local NGO was defined in a DWS Country Strategy Outline in 2003, and has been moot for the past decade. Prior to the recent decision, since 2004 a series of consultations and assessments has included the program's staff and local and international partners.
Meanwhile, Mr Neville Pradhan, who until recently served at the LWF Geneva headquarters as DWS Program Officer for Emergencies, Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons, from February 2001 until June 2006, will become the new interim director of DWS India and the LWF/DWS country representative until 31 December 2007. He will assume office next September, taking over from Mr Edwin Ramathal, who has been interim director since April 2005.
Since 1993, seven former LWF/DWS country programs in Africa, Asia and Central America have gained the status of LWF associate program. They operate as national NGOs and are managed by governing boards comprising their local partners. (488 words)
More information on LWF/DWS India is available at www.lutheranworld.org/What_We_Do/DWS/Country_Programs/DWS-India.html
(Mr Edwin Ramathal, LWF/DWS India, contributed to this article.)
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(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund, Sweden, the LWF currently has 140 member churches in 78 countries all over the world, with a total membership of 66.2 million. The LWF acts on behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such as ecumenical and inter-faith relations, theology, humanitarian assistance, human rights, communication, and the various aspects of mission and development work. Its secretariat is located in Geneva, Switzerland.)
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