In a letter of congratulations to the newly-appointed World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, Peter Prove, Executive Director of the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, expressed hope that under his leadership, which begins on 1 July, the World Bank would strengthen “its authentic engagement and dialogue with civil society – including faith-based organizations – learning from and basing decisions on the experience of those most affected by poverty, hunger, disease and injustice.”

The letter refers to the EAA’s support for Dr Kim’s “3×5” initiative while director of the World Health Organization’s HIV/AIDS Department, which focused attention on the treatment needs of millions of people living with HIV. Such initiative and leadership is required now as wavering financial commitments seem to jeopardize progress made so far in tackling the pandemic, the letter states.

The EAA letter also addresses World Bank leadership in food security, and the “critical importance of increased support for smallholder food producers and agro-ecological production methods”.

“We invite your partnership”, the letter continues, “in challenging the prevailing logic of ever-increasing external inputs and unaffordable technical solutions for depleted and climate-constrained eco-systems, and in highlighting their actual impacts on local communities and chronic hunger.”

Referring to Dr Kim’s previous experience in development, Prove notes that, “For those of us working through faith-based institutions and civil society organizations, your appointment conveys hope of more openness to effective approaches in tackling the root causes of poverty through international policy and practice built on the lived experience of the most vulnerable people and communities.”

The full text of the letter sent on 25 April follows:

Dear Dr Kim,

On behalf of the member organizations of the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance (EAA), I would like to convey our sincere congratulations on your appointment as President of the World Bank.

For those of us working through faith-based institutions and civil society organizations, your appointment conveys hope of more openness to effective approaches in tackling the root causes of poverty through international policy and practice built on the lived experience of the most vulnerable people and communities.

As a global network of over 80 Christian organizations, the EAA promotes and facilitates advocacy for justice on a defined set of focus issues – currently HIV and AIDS, and food security.

We enthusiastically championed your “3×5” initiative during your tenure as director of the World Health Organization’s HIV/AIDS Department as a clear articulation of the levels of investment and commitment needed in the global response to HIV to save lives particularly in developing countries.

At a time when financial commitment to the HIV response appears to be wavering at the very moment when further strategic investment capitalizing on the important progress achieved so far could actually realize the end of AIDS, the World Bank has a vital leadership role in both modeling support for effective responses – including those from community organizations – and advocating with national governments to fulfill their political commitments. The World Bank’s support for community engagement in the HIV response, demonstrated through its research with DFID on evaluating the community response to HIV and AIDS, is also important to continue so that resources can be invested in projects that empower local communities and make a significant long-term difference.

In the area of food security, we stress the critical importance of increased support for smallholder food producers and agro-ecological production methods, as well as for infrastructure to improve storage, preservation and distribution capacities in developing countries in order to reduce post-harvest losses. Especially in an era of climate change, when the most vulnerable people and communities are suffering the worst impacts of the carbon profligacy of others, sustainable rights-based solutions to global hunger are more urgent than ever. We look to the World Bank, under your leadership, to deepen its engagement with and support for those who are at the leading edge of this challenge – the smallholder food producers on whom food security in most parts of the South must be based, and the most food-insecure and poorest communities. We invite your partnership in challenging the prevailing logic of ever-increasing external inputs and unaffordable technical solutions for depleted and climate-constrained eco-systems, and in highlighting their actual impacts on local communities and chronic hunger.

As you officially take office in July, we look forward to the World Bank strengthening its authentic engagement and dialogue with civil society – including faith-based organizations – learning from and basing decisions on the experience of those most affected by poverty, hunger, disease and injustice.

Yours sincerely,

Peter Prove, Executive Director

Dr. Rowan Williams will join leaders from the United Nations, multilateral organizations, private sector companies, the ecumenical movement and civil society in a discussion forum on 29 February 2012 in Geneva, Switzerland.

The forum is being organized by the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance together with its members Brot für Alle, Caritas Internationalis, Lutheran World Federation, World Alliance of YMCAs, World Student Christian Federation, World Vision International and World YWCA, and in collaboration with the World Council of Churches and the Permanent Mission of the United Kingdom.

The discussion forum will provide an opportunity for Dr Williams to engage with a group of experts on food security and on the HIV response in order to explore current challenges and opportunities, the relevance of human rights principles, and the specific role of faith and faith communities in these operational contexts.

The forum follows his public lecture on “Faith, Human Rights and Human Dignity” hosted by the World Council of Churches on the evening of 28 February (18.30 in the Main Hall of the Ecumenical Centre, 150 route de Ferney, Geneva).

Among others joining Dr Williams in this discussion are Dr Debrework Zewdie, Deputy Director of the Global Fund to Fight HIV, Tuberculosis and Malaria and Dr David Nabarro, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General on Food Security and Nutrition, as well as executives from a number of companies active in the fields of health, agriculture and food.

The discussion forum, which will be held at the World Health Organization, is by invitation only, but can be followed on Twitter (@e_alliance #archbishopEAA). A video of the event will be posted online.

For more information contact:
Sara Speicher
sspeicher@e-alliance.ch
+44 7821 860 723

Thursday, February 09, 2012 • by Melany Markham in Juba, South Sudan

Achol Agol lost her father and brother during a cattle raid on her town in Duk Padiet in Jonglei state, South Sudan. Photo: The Lutheran World Federation/Melany Markham

January the 16^th was like most other days in the town of Duk Padiet in Jonglei state, South Sudan. Achol Agol had walked through the heat and dust to the borehole to collect water for her three children, her brother and her father. The family lived together in a small compound close to the center of the town.

She looked up and, some distance away in the southeast, she saw hundreds of men running towards the town – Duk Padiet was under attack by a group of cattle raiders. The raid lasted no more than 20 minutes, but it left her father dead and her three-year-old brother in the hands of the armed raiders.

Agol fled with her other children into the surrounding bush. She stayed there for three days until she had the courage to return to the town. When she did, she discovered her father’s body and her brother gone.

“I was very sorrowful and I thought my life had come to an end,” she said.

She misses her brother terribly. “I have so much to tell you. I have lost my father and my brother. Life is going to be terrible,” says Agol.

Agol’s brother is unlikely ever to return. Although child abduction is a common practice during inter-ethnic cattle raids in South Sudan, few children ever make it back home.

Agol’s grief is compounded by the death of her father, who was the family breadwinner. She says that life and death have become the same and she also fears that she will become a target when the next cattle raid occurs.

When talking to Agol, it is easy to see that she is overwhelmed by fear and grief, but she must overcome her feelings so that she can find a way to make a living and support the rest of the family.

With little if any organized social safety net available in South Sudan, humanitarian aid providers like The Lutheran World Federation (LWF), a founding member of the ACT Alliance, are the only places that people like Agol can turn to for help.

State of fear

After such traumatic events, aid agencies provide food, water and health care to meet people’s basic needs almost immediately. Treating the trauma – that can be just as debilitating – is a particular challenge.

Justin Mokili Elias works for the LWF as a peace-building officer. He says that the most recent wave of violence is not normal cattle raiding but rather tribal hatred. Other staff from the LWF also say that the attacks around Pibor have been of a scale that is much larger than previous years.

Elias is originally from Central Equatoria state, which has been relatively peaceful since the referendum last year, but he saw the effects of the violence in Jonglei recently when he took part in an assessment in a town called Waat.

Elias said that people have fled to Waat because there is a contingent of 500 soldiers in the town. “They feel safe there,” he notes.

Like others throughout the state, most of the people who sought refuge in Waat had fled in fear of further attacks. It is a common reaction, as towns and villages that have not been attacked may well be the next target. This is evident driving south from Agol’s town.

Most of the villages between Duk Padiet and Bor, a distance of some 200 kilometres, are almost completely deserted. In some, goats are still tethered, waiting for the occupants of the village to return and feed them.

Regardless of whether they have fled because of fear of violence or the recent attacks, often one thing they take with them is their trauma.

“There was an urgent need. The people are really traumatised. They live in a state of fear and that requires emotional support,” says Elias. He says that psychosocial support will help them stand on their own, deal with their fear and cope with the challenges they face.

Psychosocial support

Psychosocial is defined as the close relationship between the psychological and social effects of a disaster or conflict. Emergencies erode the normal community support structures at every level and increase the risks of other problems as well as social injustice and inequality.

According to Else Berglund, psychosocial specialist at ACT Alliance member Church of Sweden, traumatic experiences can cause painful reactions. People are hyper-vigilant, anticipating the next wave or tremor or explosion, like the people who have fled to Waat. People can also feel helpless or hopeless, or even disoriented, like Agol.

Only during the last decade has mental health been considered part of emergency response. Recognising this need, the LWF has trained staff like Elias to provide psychosocial support to traumatised communities in South Sudan.

To help those who are suffering emotionally in the wake of the recent cattle raids, two psychosocial specialists from the Church of Sweden will travel to South Sudan this month to work with LWF staff to offer more in the way of psychosocial support and to help people like Agol get back on their feet.

To find out more about the coordinated ACT response in Jonglei, you may read the alliance’s full appeal here. To view the original link to this article on the LWF website, please click here.