WCC partners announce plans for a new global alliance against poverty and injustice

by Juan Michel
WCC News and Information office

GENEVA — Ecumenical agencies and churches working in the field of relief and development have called for the creation of a new international alliance of church-related organizations to address issues of poverty and injustice. The alliance is provisionally named “ACT Global.”

      A consensus on the new international ecumenical initiative — which would eventually cover humanitarian relief, economic development cooperation and advocacy work — emerged during a consultation convened by the World Council of Churches (WCC) at the nearby Ecumenical Institute at Bossey Feb. 4-5.

      Concluding the meeting, WCC General Secretary the Rev. Sam Kobia underlined the historic nature of the agreement: “This meeting is a turning point in ushering in a new era of collaboration between churches, ecumenical agencies and the WCC.”

      Among those represented at the meeting were several major church agencies, members of the WCC’s governing bodies, representatives of WCC-related agencies and partners from several regions of the world that are working at the local level.

      The gathering proposed that the establishment of the new alliance in 2005 should be a first step towards bringing together international ecumenical work for justice under a common umbrella, probably using the name of ACT (Action by Churches Together), which is already used for global ecumenical disaster assistance.

      Editor’s note: Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, the relief and development arm of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) works very closely with ACT; Susan Ryan, PDA coordinator, serves on the ACT Board. — Jerry L. Van Marter

      According to Daleep Makarji, director of Christian Aid in the United Kingdom, the hope is for “a common instrument bringing together relief, advocacy and development which can act quickly and flexibly.”

      WCC member churches and agencies have struggled for years to find new ways of working together to face global problems of injustice and poverty, but have sometimes differed in their approaches. For those present, the Bossey meeting offered a breakthrough in defining a common vision.

      “This meeting affirmed the central role of the WCC in helping all partners find a more effective and common way of working,” said Baffour Amoa from the church fellowship FECCIWA in West Africa.

      Participants appointed a steering group charged with developing a provisional structure and negotiating with other ecumenical organizations already involved in these areas. The steering group may soon initiate ecumenical pilot projects among potential alliance members — in post-tsunami development work, for example.

      The full text of the statement issued at the conclusion of the meeting is available at
http://wcc-coe.org/wcc/statements/20050205consultation_diakonia.html.