Improving ecumenical cooperation to empower local communities

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World Council of Churches - News

IMPROVING ECUMENICAL COOPERATION TO EMPOWER LOCAL COMMUNITIES

For immediate release: 16 September 2010

By Jane Stranz (*)

Sometimes, to get clean water supplies to a village in Tanzania, 
direct
action is needed. So says Moses Kuluba, a programme officer on 
accountable
governance with Norwegian Church Aid (NCA), based in the south of the 
East
African country.

He recalls how in Ilula in south-eastern Tanzania a corrupt retired 
army
colonel was the local water official, controlling access and resale of
water to the local population. Villagers then organized themselves to
discover what was happening to their water supplies and to call the
corrupt army officer to account.

"Water is increasingly a target for petty corruption", says Kuluba, a
member of the Anglican Church of Tanzania. He was speaking in Geneva,
where NCA was one of four faith-based groups at a 13-14 September
consultation for civil society organizations that was held by 
Catarina de
Albuquerque, the United Nations independent expert on human rights
obligations relating to safe drinking water and sanitation.

Kuluba reported that NCA has set up a public expenditure tracking 
system,
called PETS, as a community empowerment tool that encourages local 
people
to work together to demand accountability from public officials. "In
Tanzania we’ve discovered that many of the problems have to do with
corruption – classrooms but no desks, teachers but no salaries", says
Kuluba.

In Ilula, residents set up their own PETS committee to try and find 
out
what was happening to the water in their village. It was a difficult
struggle, says Kuluba, requiring research into where the money was 
going
and action to enable villagers to voice their concerns and demands.
Risking arrest, the villagers even went as far as trying to close 
down the
local government water office in their successful campaign to get 
better
access to water.

Like the other three faith-based organizations at the UN 
consultation, NCA
belongs to the Ecumenical Water Network, an initiative of Christian
churches, organizations and movements which have joined hands to 
protect
and promote people's access to water around the world.

"I do have a passion for my social justice work", says Kuluba. "It 
impacts
directly on peoples lives … giving hope and empowering communities."

Kuluba sees his work as helping people "feel they can question 
officials",
and "giving people a voice."
Faith leaders must use their moral authority

In the struggle to educate and empower people to work for social 
justice
and overcome corruption, Kuluba highlights the importance of working
together with different Christian denominations as well as 
collaborating
more broadly in interfaith circles. Imams, bishops, pastors and other
faith leaders have a key role in advocacy, he says.

"Faith-based organizations are listened to by a wide segment of the
population and they go deeper into local communities", he says. "This 
is
an advantage over other organizations."

In Tanzania, NCA has been working with the National Muslim Council
(BAKWATA) as well as with various churches.

"It is so important to work together across the denominations and 
build
relationships. Many political leaders are members of faith-based
communities which gives us a unique opportunity and access"," he 
notes.

"No other institutions in this world meet each week and have such
structures in place. The churches are already there from the national
level to the smallest village"," says Moses. "Compared with 
politicians
there is a real element of trust in the church as an institution. 
Churches
still have some moral authority."

Still, he noted challenges that remain for churches in advocacy work 
around
issues of corruption and justice.

"Churches should understand that advocacy is not just a task for 
someone
else to do", says Kuluba, who has seven years of advocacy experience 
and
has been working with NCA for the past two years. "Churches need to 
move
from their comfort zone and take up these difficult issues which 
affect
some of the weakest members of their congregations."

For such advocacy to be credible it must be based on facts and 
knowledge.
"Churches need to invest in quality, evidence-based research to 
understand
the details and realities of complex situations" according to the
Tanzanian.

For Kuluba the challenge that remains is working ecumenically and 
across
faiths, encouraging churches and religious leaders to find their 
voice.

"In formal and informal governance structures we need second and third
eyes. Those second and third eyes are churches and faith-based
organizations, and the people", adds Kuluba.

Moreover, he says, addressing issues of good governance across the 
faiths
helps promote "harmonious coexistence and confront issues that affect
all."


* The Rev. Jane Stranz coordinates the WCC language service. She is a
pastor of the Reformed Church of France and of the United Reformed 
Church
in Britain.

Video about the people’s struggle for clean water in Ilula
(Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=37890685899cf9439e2d )

More information on PETS and water advocacy in Tanzania (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=cae3868cacb348c7deaf )

EWN collection of good practices in water and sanitation (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=0eeed8f86936e335922c )

Opinions expressed in WCC Features do not necessarily reflect WCC 
policy.
This material may be reprinted freely, providing credit is given to 
the
author.


The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, 
witness 
and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship 
of 
churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 
Protestant, 
Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 
million 
Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the 
Roman 
Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Olav Fykse 
Tveit, 
from the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, 
Switzerland.



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