In Solidarity: Faith-Based Organisations Express Deep Concern Over U.S. Aid Freeze

At the spring General Assembly, the See You Foundation led members in a thought-provoking conversation on the necessary steps to foster inclusive workplaces and projects. Let’s delve into the key takeaways.

The discussion began with a resounding affirmation that everyone is inherently valuable regardless of their abilities. Rooted in deeply held Christian values, the participants emphasised the need to include the most vulnerable groups. They stressed that a vision for change is imperative, as people with disabilities can go unnoticed and unheard. Our collective responsibility is to ensure they are seen and their voices are heard.

Recognising that achieving inclusion is a journey, the participants advocated embracing even the smallest positive changes. Pragmatism played a crucial role, acknowledging that any progress is better than no progress. The question then arose: how can we take these small steps towards greater inclusivity?

The need for minimum standards in disability inclusion became a focal point of the discussion.

Establishing clear guidelines and expectations ensures that efforts towards inclusion are not arbitrary but backed by concrete frameworks. This would require organisations to develop disability-inclusive policies and human resources practices beyond superficial gestures.

Religion and faith-based approaches were also considered. While they can be powerful drivers of inclusion, the conversation acknowledged that they may inadvertently perpetuate stigma. Thus, it is imperative to uphold our Christian values by embracing inclusive practices, ensuring that no one is left behind.

CEOs identified several steps in advancing disability inclusion in their organisation:

1. To use EU-CORD as a learning space, fostering peer reviews and sharing policies and best practices.
2. To ensure that disability is not an isolated concern but rather intersects with other challenges, such as climate change. By breaking down silos, organisations can integrate disability inclusion into their overall strategies, contributing to a more holistic and sustainable approach.
3. The need to move beyond mere passivity and become more proactive in driving change. Instead of simply reacting to existing barriers, CEOs recognised that they needed to take the initiative in dismantling them and creating a more inclusive environment.
4. Focusing on making incremental improvements, even in the short term, is essential.

The conversation concluded by underscoring the significance of partnerships and collaboration. See You plays a vital role in mapping ongoing initiatives, conducting peer reviews, and sharing expertise. EU-CORD members were encouraged to draw on this resource.

In conclusion, the discussion on disability inclusion sparked thoughtful insights and a call for action. We can take small but meaningful steps towards creating a more inclusive society by embracing a vision for change, breaking down silos, and proactively addressing barriers.

It is a journey that requires the collective efforts of all organisations, not just specific ones.

We like getting together so much that our CEOs and Senior Leaders commit to meeting in person twice a year. In 2022, we decided to align the General Assembly meeting with the physical meeting of our programme portfolio groups.

As a result, in November 2022, EU-CORD official representatives and members of the Faith in Action programme met at Canterbury Cathedral hosted by MAF International.

Over the course of 2-days, we had opportunities for input, reflection, and application.

The first day of the gathering focussed on input. We met with representatives from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) to discuss the UK’s international development strategy and implications for our members (most of whom are not UK-based).

In the afternoon, we gave free rein to humanitarian thinker Hugo Slim to present three big ideas that are going to impact the humanitarian and development landscape – and what faith-based organisations can do about it. It was a great session and many dinner conversations continued the reflection.

In the governance session, we welcomed Markus Ask (LM International) and Gladstone Worthington (Leprosy Mission International) onto EU-CORD’s executive board known as the ‘Administrative Council,’ replacing Irén Frändåf and David Verboom who were thanked for their service.

2022 is also the first year of implementation of our 2022+ strategy. The year is not over yet, so a little early for a full report, but thanks to member and secretariat enthusiasm and drive, we are on track to achieve all our big 2022 priorities and many of the smaller ones! We re-iterated our intention to retain the In-Country Forums as a priority area for 2022 and to start work on our climate cross-cutting objective.

We also took time in the governance session to recommit and increase engagement in the PaRD Network: International Partnership on Religion and Sustainable Development. PaRD brings together governmental and intergovernmental entities with diverse civil society organisations (CSOs) and faith-based organisations (FBOs), to engage the social capital and capacities vested in diverse faith communities for sustainable development and humanitarian assistance in the spirit of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

After the meeting, and before dinner, we were also able to fit in a tour of the Cathedral and participate in Evensong (which was a first for many participants).

The following day, Cord CEO Andy Pask and EU-CORD vice-Chair led us in the ‘application day.’ The programme looks largely unstructured, but we’ve learned that we need time to reconnect with each other on a personal level and to have time to reflect on input received the previous day – without the constraints of a detailed agenda. Discussion focussed on both the In-Country Forums and how we anticipate developing our climate-related work in 2023.

Spring 2023 General Assembly

Our next gathering will take place in Brussels in April 2023 where the General Assembly will be held alongside the physical gathering of our Funding and Partnerships group. This will be an important step to share plans for the continued development of EU-CORD In-Country forums as well as an opportunity for the funding and partnerships group to convey to the CEO’s challenges faced in the changing funding and partnership landscape.

 

Introduction to EU-CORD’s new strategy given by CEO Ruth Faber at the November 2021 General Assembly.

In June of 2020, a certain type of email started to arrive in my inbox. They came from different sources, but they all contained the same two pieces of information. The first was an apology, and the second, a desire to listen.

Perhaps, in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, your organisation sent out similar messages. From the EU-CORD secretariat, there was a silence. There were two reasons.

The first, as a person of colour, I was personally annoyed by the white privilege – that these organisations were now willing to hear the stories of black people (thank you for giving me permission), and the second, a suspicion that once the tweets and press releases had been circulated, that nothing much would change and indeed, my experience has been that while there is some evidence of change, in recruitment practices, difficult discussions on colonialism and the development sector can be deemed too sensitive and shut down.

I start with this because strategy is written in context; we look at the world around us, take stock of where we are and consider how we want to be.

For example,

On the one hand, there should be the existential discussions around the role, value, and privilege of northern NGOs, and on the other, we see that the inequality gap is widening, and the impact of unjust systems and institutions that brought our organisations into being are still evident in all parts of the world. If we are to stay relevant, we cannot ignore one discussion at the expense of the other.

A strategy is often associated with newness, but it is hard to say that we are not traditional. As a Christian network, we frequently reference a book that is between 3,400 and 1,900 years old. We have a foundation for our motivation, but we need to look at an ancient text with new eyes.

We can also see how interlinked many of the issues that we work on are.

Tabeth has been leading our work on covid vaccine inequality. While most EU-CORD members would not describe themselves as working in healthcare, this issue is important to all as without access to the vaccine whole communities remain at risk irrespective of the type of programme that you run.

We have seen that a lack of access to the covid vaccine has prevented many voices, representing countries most currently impacted by the climate crisis, from being present in Glasgow for COP26. In Glasgow, we also saw the hypocrisy of the UK government, co-host of the first World Disability Summit, unable to facilitate the participation in the first day of negotiations of the Israeli Energy Minister Karin Elharar who happens to require the use of a wheelchair.

As our most recent General Assembly, we approved new Articles of Association for the network. A somewhat dry experience, but apart from clarifying some legal updates, there are some fundamental changes. The new articles extend our activities as a network not just to its members but to their national implementation partners. For me, this is a first step to sharing our power, privilege and re-thinking our northern European network role.

You can find more on our 2022+ strategy and the drivers behind it here.

With the strategic direction agreed it is time to move from the what to the how. At the heart of the how is the essential intent of the network ‘to build connections and mobilise the network on issues that matter to members.’ It requires us to be more focused and targeted in what we do and, amongst the many activities, to identify the most important – the flagship activities.

It also requires us to step up. It’s not for nothing that our strategy strapline is ‘rising to the challenge.’ We must make more use of our voice, take more risks and be more engaged.

I want to come back to where I started with this strategy introduction. If there was silence a year ago to Black Lives Matter, then my response, our response, to the need for a changing narrative, is embedded in the strategic direction.

I can now reveal that it’s not without purpose that our strategy has the title ‘Rising to the Challenge.’ It is a deliberate reference to the classic poem ‘I Rise’ by African American poet Maya Angelou.

The poem speaks of the African, black, and female experience from struggle to the ownership of our own rising. It speaks of resistance, strength, reclamation, and hope. I share here the first and final stanzas:

I Rise, Maya Angelou

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.

…..

Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.