July 2009

Climate Change will hit the world’s poorest people hardest.  In fact, poor people in the Global South, and poor farmers in particular, are already feeling its effects.  70% of the world’s poor depend on small-scale farming to feed their families and earn a living.[1]  The majority of these rely on rain-fed agriculture, meaning that changes in rainfall patterns can cause real problems.

In countries like Ecuador, the effects of extreme weather events such as drought or torrential downpours are being felt more and more acutely.  For poor farmers, climate change means the availability of water resources is unpredictable – they can no longer count on stable weather patterns to guide their planting regimes.

First Hand Experiences

Carlos Ruiz lives in El Cristal – a community within a protected nature reserve in Intag, Ecuador.  Like the coffee farmers in this month’s action card, Carlos depends on farming to make a living, and has been directly affected by changes in rainfall and the regularity of the seasons.

“Now, everything has changed completely.  We don’t really know when it’s going to rain, or even be cold or hot.  It’s hard because we aren’t used to it, we are used to seasons that tell us when to plant. 

Of course, we have to adapt to these changes in the climate.  The rivers have lower levels, but flood when there is torrential rain.  We have been planting trees to prevent erosion when this happens – but it’s still very unpredictable.  Right now we have too much water  - but that could change, because a few months ago we had a drought”.

Adapting to unpredictable water resources is key to adapting to climate change.  This year a new international agreement on climate change is being negotiated to replace the Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012.  We need to ensure that water is appropriately recognised in this agreement.  In order to tackle the effects of climate change along with its causes, water cannot be forgotten.  Understanding how to manage our water resources in a changing climate, in a sustainable and equitable way, needs to be at the top of the agenda. 

Just Add Water!

Progressio will soon be launching the Just Add Water! campaign to make sure this key ingredient is not forgotten in the new deal on climate change.  To sign up, please send your postcard, with your name and address to:

Progressio

Unit 3, Canonbury Yard

190a New North Road

London, N1 7BJ

June 2009

Water could end this planet’s existence long before climate change does!

Fact: The amount of water in the world is limited. The main conflicts in Africa during the next 25 years could be over water, as countries fight for access to scarce resources. Potential 'water wars' are likely in areas where rivers and lakes are shared by more than one country, according to a UN Development Programme (UNDP) report.

Water covers about two-thirds of the Earth's surface but most is too salty to use. Only 2.5% of the world's water is not salty, and two-thirds of that is locked up in the icecaps and glaciers. Of what is left, about 20% is in remote areas, and much of the rest arrives at the wrong time and place, as monsoons and floods. Humans have available less than 0.08% of all the Earth's water. Yet over the next two decades our use is estimated to increase by about 40%. The World Water Council believes that by 2020 we shall need 17% more water than is available if we are to feed the world.

Climate change will bring more rain to some regions but less to others. Many countries may need to import drinking water as seasons and weather conditions change.

What needs to be done:

Water Aid’s campaign, 'It should be child's play', illustrates the fact that water, sanitation and hygiene education are the building blocks for development.

The current international effort on water and sanitation is in disarray.

Please use your action card to ask the Prime Minster to be a sanitation champion, urging him to:

• Talk taps and toilets at the G8 in July and the Annual Meeting for Sanitation and Water in October, to ensure action from world leaders.

• Prioritise these fundamental human rights alongside health and education.

Please send the card to :

The Prime Minister
10 Downing Street,
London,
SW1A 2AA

May 2009

The economic crisis has refocused attention on the ethical considerations around international finance.  Banks enhance profitability through project financing for development projects all around the globe.  These projects vary from business start up to the construction of large hydroelectric dams.   The ore extraction in the Amazon on the front of this month’s card will have been funded in part through bank loans.

This month's action invites you to write to your bank to query their performance in relation to environment and human rights.  Major banks have established the Equator Principles; a set of voluntary guidelines to guide the assessment of all projects over $10 million. If a project fails to meet the criteria the expectation that project finance would be turned down.

To sign up to the principles is one thing – to follow them through is another.  Some independent reports allege inadequate application of the principles and lack of transparency in reporting[1].  The Co-operative Bank is known for its keenness to receive comments from customers on matters of ethics and doesn’t take part in international project financing.  Other major banks are less forthcoming.

The banking industry has contributed to the crisis that we are now experiencing but also has a role in finding solutions.  It is vital that the desire for short-term growth is not pursued to the detriment of our long-term future. 

Use the following information to write to your bank to let them know that you are concerned with the way in which your funds are invested.  For further information see www.jointpublicissues.org.uk

T

April 2009

The arrest warrant served on President Omar al-Bashir this month by the International Criminal Court has refocused international attention of the conflict in Darfur. Since the escalation of conflict in Darfur in 2002, 2.7 million people (roughly equivalent to the population of Greater Manchester) have been displaced.  Over a quarter of a million people have fled over the border to neighbouring Chad.  

Behind these statistics lie many personal accounts of suffering at the hands of violence. One young woman recounted her experience to an Amnesty International worker in the region.  Mastoura took refuge at El Genenia, West Darfur, in a camp for Internationally Displaced Persons.   She worked as part of a team of women who would leave the camp to forage for firewood in the nearby wilderness.  On one occasion she was approached by two men who proceeded to ‘beat her’.  The worker recording her account eventually discovered that she had been raped.  She kept this aspect of her story a secret.  Later however a local health clinic confirmed for her that she was pregnant as a result of the encounter.

This story could be told many times over.  The international community, through the United Nations and African Union, have agreed financial and personnel support for a joint peacekeeping force aimed at protecting civilians in the region.  However troop commitments and funding remain well short of the promises made.  Mastoura’s experience illustrates the ineffectiveness of this understaffed and underfunded force.

International aid agencies working in the region are under increased pressure. They struggle to provide essential relief in an environment where aid workers have been killed, aid agencies expelled and aid supplies hi-jacked.  Funding from international bodies (UNHCR) and governmental agencies (DfID) fell at the end of last year as institutional priorities and budgets come under increased strain. The refugees sheltering in Chad are already feeling the impact of this. Some vital education and rehabilitation work aimed at addressing the psychological impact of war and helping people to look to the future has ceased.

Please use this month’s card to advocate for the people of Darfur.  Write to David Miliband (Foreign Secretary) asking him to ensure the United Kingdom meets its full obligations towards resourcing the largely African-led peacekeeping force.  Or, write to Douglas Alexander (Secretary for International Development) urging him to provide generous funding for refugees and displaced persons in the region.

Right Hon David Miliband MP                

Foreign Secretary                                        

Foreign and Commonwealth Office      

King Charles Street                                    

London SW1A 2AH

or

Right Hon Douglas Alexander MP  

Secretary of State for International Development   

Department for International Development

1 Palace Street

London SW1E 5HE                                 

March 2009

The card shows children crushing stones at Ngwenya Village in Livingstone in Zambia.  It is sad that Livingstone is also the place where tourists go to see the Victoria Falls.  Christians Aware groups arrange regular visits and work camps.  One action for us all, visitors and others, is to help people to look in the right places.

The UN has calculated that more than 49 million sub-Saharan children aged 14 and younger worked in 2004; this is 1.3 million more than at the end of the Millennium only 4 years earlier. Child labour worldwide is in decline but in many places more than 1 in 4 children under 14 works either full time or for a few hours a week.

The crushing of stones is one of the bottom rungs of work and is a job carried out for survival. Many of the children involved have been orphaned with either the loss of one or both parents due to HIV/AIDS. Children as young as 4 are often involved, working for 6 days a week starting at 6.30 am. There may be some time during the day to attend school but it is reported that they are often extremely tired and find concentration difficult.

 In the searing heat they sit under makeshift shelters that provide some relief during the heat of the day. In a good week a child can make enough powder or chippings to fill half a cement bag, with a full bag earning less than $3 dollars. Many suffer from health problems with cuts and broken fingers, impaired vision and breathing problems with the development of silicosis.

Send a card in support of the work the church in Eastern Zambia does to combat child labour and for children's health and education, to

Rt Rev William Mchombo       with Air Mail sticker and 56p stamp

PO Box 510154

Chipata

Zambia

February 2009

Afghanistan – Looking to the future

Fatima (not her real name) is a young woman from a rural district not too far from Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul. 

Concerned to hide her identity she spoke to the staff of a British development agency from underneath a blanket.  She talked nervously but with passion and urgency explaining the needs in her community.  She asks for funding to be provided directly to the community so that the money is not wasted by foreign governments or consumed by corruption. 

Fatima’s own story is instructive.  Like most young girls her age she had to quit school very early and grew up unable to read or write (see below 1) When an agency started to train young women in community health she signed up because she wanted to be able to help her family and friends.  The training provided her with an opportunity to learn to read and she worked hard.  Now she is widely respected for her knowledge and advice. 

A great deal of international government funding has gone into building infrastructure but comparatively little has been used to build capacity and provide services at the local level.  

The humanitarian situation in Afghanistan is precarious and aid is very much needed.  More development aid must be directed towards building people’s livelihoods.  This means moving away from the short-term development projects of the military-led Provincial Reconstruction Teams to a longer-term approach that strengthens the role of Community Development Councils at village level.  The UK Department for International Development (DFID) has a better record than some for building government and local capacity in Afghanistan but its funding of NGO work has substantially reduced in recent years. 

Write to the Secretary of State for International Development welcoming the Government’s support for development assistance in Afghanistan and:-

Ask for more funding to be directed towards agricultural development and education.  Ask DFID to press for the recruit an additional 50,000 primary school teachers with a particular emphasis on recruitment of female teachers to tackle the lack of opportunities for girls.

Ask DFID to recognize the value of the work of international and local NGOs in promoting rights, in particular the rights of women, and also the vital work of training and building local systems for the planning and delivery of services.  Request that DFID to provide specific funding to support such programmes.

For further information see Oxfam America – Memo to President Obama, January 2009

Write to:-

Douglas Alexander MP

Secretary of State for International Development

1 Palace Street

London

SW1E 5HE

January 2009

At 34, Zimbabwe’s women have the lowest life expectancy in the world, and there are more orphans than anywhere else on earth. A country that was once relatively prosperous is now imploding in on itself.

Food is the most serious problem. There is not enough to meet immediate needs and an acute shortage of seed and fertiliser means that April’s harvest will produce a fraction of what is required. The number of people reliant on food aid from United Nations and other agencies increased from 2.6 million in October to 4.9 million in November 2008. Half the population, 5.1 million people, will need food aid by the end of January.

Christian Aid has released £50,000 of emergency funds to provide seeds for farmers in one of the worst regions affected by the food crisis.

The World Food Programme has already cut back on rations to make stocks last longer leaving people with a daily allowance that provides just under 1500 calories, well below the bare minimum for survival.

Without immediate increases in food availability, malnutrition rates will inevitably increase sharply.

Using the information above and from www.christianaid.org.uk/issues/powercorruption/zimbabwe/index.aspx , compose a personal response  to the High Commissioner. Please include that as a Christian you are very concerned about the humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe and stand beside your brothers and sisters in Christ.

The Zimbabwean High Commissioner, Zimbabwe House
429 Strand,  London WC2R OJR

December 2008

World AIDS Day is observed worldwide on 1 December.  For information and action go to www.e-alliance.ch/hivaids.jsp   The Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance has a worship service for use on or near World AIDS Day or at other times when your church wants to focus on HIV and AIDS. It can be adapted to your own context. The service has a list of additional suggested hymns at the end of the liturgy and can be downloaded as a pdf file at  www.e-alliance.ch/media/media-7361.pdf

Leadership is the theme of this worship service.  In the response to HIV and AIDS it is crucial that people in the churches choose to accept leadership where there is none and to strengthen people already leading in the HIV response whether nationally, in their cities and villages, and in the churches themselves. One of the responses of The Church of Scotland HIV/AIDS Project is to work together with partner churches and agencies in Scotland and throughout the world to build capacity and develop strong leadership. The work of one of the smaller projects supported in India is highlighted below.

TEMT

The Tabernacle Education Ministry Trust (TEMT) works among cement factory workers, lorry drivers and local residents in Trichy, Tamilnadu The Trust started the HIV and Aids Awareness, Prevention and Control Project in April 2007. They seek to offer practical support and advice to those who are living with Aids, in an area where there is a mobile population. This has led to rapid spread of HIV. One strand of their programme is education through street drama and information seminars; a culturally acceptable way in which to pass on vital lifesaving or life changing messages.

Rev. Dr. Masilamani  is the Executive Director of the TEMT trust  One of the problems he highlights as facing is the difficulty within a migrant population of identifying those who are HIV+  before they develop Aids related illnesses.  General medical camps are very useful as they provide opportunities for voluntary counselling and testing for HIV. Helping people to know their status whether positive or negative allows lifestyle choices to be made to by all and also allows provision of appropriate treatment and support mechanisms to be put in place.

 Please send your card with a message of encouragement (Air Mail sticker and 56p stamp) to  Rev Dr Masilamani

Tabernacle Education Ministry Trust

17 Victoria Road, Woraiyur

Trichy-620003, Tamilnadu, India

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