ACNS - Alliance consultation ends in Nairobi, next one to be held in South America

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

Posted On : April 16, 2011 10:35 AM | Posted By : Admin ACO
ACNS: http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/news.cfm/2011/4/16/ACNS4850
Related Categories: ACO - Anglican Alliance
Alliance consultation ends in Nairobi, next one to be held in South America
By ACNS staff
The Anglican Alliance?s inaugural assembly ended
in Nairobi with a consensus on the way forward in
development, advocacy and relief.
The key development priorities proposed by the
Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa (CAPA) and agreed by the assembly w ere:
·         Economic empowerment, with support for
micro-finance, including working on a roadmap
towards an Anglican bank. (The conference heard
powerful presentations on micro-finance from
Peterson Kamau of Five Talents, the church?s
micro-finance institution, and Moses Ochieng of
the CGAP consortium of donors and development agencies.)
·         Peace and reconciliation, learning from
the experience of the church in countries affected by conflict.
·         Governance
The conference included participants from African
provinces, South America, the Caribbean, South
and South East Asia, the Pacific, Canada and
Australia. Included among these were
representatives from the Primate?s World Relief
and Development Fund and AngliCORD. They provided
valuable guidance and insights on the role of
church-based development agencies.
In inspirational presentations on Friday morning,
participants from Haiti, Pakistan and Kenya
described how the church had responded to
disaster emergencies in the countries. Their
messages and experience guided discussions on a
strategy for a communion-wide response to
disasters. The strategy will be considered at a future regional consultatio n.
There was also consensus around the way forward
for advocacy: being a voice for the voiceless, or
the church?s prophetic mission. Economic
empowerment, food security and financing of basic
services were identified as the three most
important areas for advocacy during the coming
year, with climate change identified for 2012.
South America has volunteered to host the next
consultation, in October 2011, with the Pacific
and South and South East Asia discussing within
their regions options for consultations between
September and December 2011. The assembly
concluded with a moving open air act of worship,
with participants from Canada, South Africa, Hong
Kong and Uruguay leading prayers for people in
the north, south, east and west of the world.