Introduction
In my contribution I want to explore ways in which we can continually nourish our own spirituality for justice and peace and through our various roles encourage others to do so. One of the challenges in religious congregations is that the whole area of JPIC can come to be seen as a specialist area for activists or a module that you follow as part of a formation program or theological studies rather than an intrinsic part of the Christian vocation and of religious life. This is not an optional extra, remembering the words of the 1971 Synod of Bishops that "action for justice and participation in the transformation of the world is a constitutive dimension of the preaching of the Gospel" (# 6). I also call to mind the words of Paul VI "we have to be converted to become the church of the poor". Other challenging phrases from the church’s teaching call us:
– to have a passion for the earth and its peoples;
– to promote justice, peace and the integrity of creation;
– to enter into solidarity with the victims of injustice;
– to have a love of preference for the poor.
The approach that I take when working with religious is to say that developing and nourishing a spirituality for JPIC is like responding to a call within a call. Each person has a unique way of responding to the call and that there any ways of responding to the call. This is a framework for living life and not merely a preparation for working for justice and peace. It links the challenge of the gospel and the various ways in which the charism of our orders call us to engage in the transformation of human society.
Model and Method of Formation
The elements for formation for JPIC are contained in the model for pastoral praxis developed by Joe Holland and Peter Henriot, SJ. These help provide a framework for developing a spirituality for justice and peace.
1. Experience
2. Social Analysis
3. Theological Reflection –
4. Action
Scripture and & Charism
I see these four elements like four doors – some people are more at home in the beginning when they enter through one particular door but the challenge is to move on and build these four elements into a way of living. Put simply an experience of oppression should challenge us to question and do analysis, looking for the causes in the light of the vision contained in scripture and church social teaching (CST) moving us towards various types of action. Ultimately these elements can lead us at both personal and social levels to conversion of heart, change of attitudes and new ways of being and acting in solidarity with those on the margins.
Reflection is at the heart of the process
Reflection is a way of making our learning conscious; it gets to the heart of the matter, to the truth of things. It helps us to go beyond the surface meaning and get to the deeper meaning of what it means for me and for us. Reflection deepens experience, knowledge and action. It allows each of us to imagine new possibilities and to risk becoming creators of a new way of being and acting. It is important then to approach each of the elements of the model is a reflective way:
a) Experience and reflection;
b) Social analysis and reflection;
c) Theological reflection;
d) Action and reflection.
(a) Experience and reflection
When thinking about experience in life and reflection on experience I am often challenged by the words of the prophet Isaiah "there are none as blind as my servants, none so deaf, they see and they do not see, they hear and they do not hear". I feel that we take it for granted that to experience something is easy. We can block out experiences for all sorts of reasons and with our modern instant communications systems we can suffer from a kind of experience fatigue when we see images of injustice, suffering and oppression. I remember reading that when the American put a man on the moon for a second time, after 5 minutes about 20 million people turned off their TV sets. How to really develop our capacities to see, hear, touch, taste and smell poverty and oppression? How in the words of Harper Lee in the book To Kill A Mocking Bird can we " get inside the skin of another human being and walk around?" When this happens the experience becomes a kind of subversive memory that remains part of us and long afterwards haunts us to change and to act. I can still remember the loud wails of a woman in a market near Thika on Christmas Eve. She had saved for weeks to come to buy a chicken and now the price of the chicken has gone up. The woman wailing in the market place highlighted the oppression caused when the principles of supply and demand operate and that challenges me to speak out. Equally I recognized that the woman’s cries are in another sense my cries – for I too am needy. Reflection on experiences of poverty and oppression can be graced moments allowing me to tap into my own needful life and come before the Lord with hands outstretched. For many years I lived in a very deprived inner city area where in the words of the song " the words of the prophets were written on the subway walls and tenements halls". The smells of vomit and urine spoke of a lack of dignity and self belief of "feeling like dirt and being treated like dirt’ by society’s systems, structures and policies. This situation was like a mirror being held up for society to examine itself and for me also to acknowledge my own poverty and blindness.
(b) Social Analysis and reflection
In Octagesima Advenians Paul VI said: "It is up to the Christian community to analyse with objectivity the situation which is proper to their own country, to shed on it the light of the Gospels’ unalterable words and to draw principles or reflections, norms of judgment and directions of action" (#4).
Social analysis contains within itself implicitly or explicitly a theology of life. It is a way of getting a more complete picture of a social situation by exploring the historical and structural relationship inherent in it. Social analysis can focus on issues, policies, structures or systems. Social analysis can then happen at different levels within the system: primary groups, local communities, national level, trans-national and trans-regional groups.
• Issue (Person
• Policy as it affects (Unit - family
• Structure (Local community
• System (Sub-group
• (Region ( Nation ( World
Social thinking and social practice inspired by the Gospel must show a special sensitivity ....towards those who are most in distress, those who are extremely poor, those suffering from all the physical, mental and moral ills that afflict humanity, including hunger, neglect, unemployment and despair… you will also want to seek out the structural reasons which foster or cause the different forms of poverty and injustice in the world so that you can apply the proper remedies (John Paul II – Yankee Stadium).
There are simple ways of undertaking social analysis and it is helpful to have some practice in undertaking analysis so that we can focus on our experiences of oppression, seek the underlying causes, expose structures systems and policies that require change otherwise the situations of injustice will remain. We need to constantly ask ourselves – from whose perspective am I getting this information? What perspectives are missing? It is particular important that we undertake this kind of searching discernment from a pastoral and apostolic perspective in our local ministry situations. This reflective analysis will help us to make Gospel based decisions. One religious congregation that I know ask when making a decision they ask themselves: "will the poor rise up and thank us for making this decision?"
(c) Theological Reflection – Scripture; Catholic Social Teaching and Charism
It is helpful to look at the biblical themes of justice/righteousness, the just person and the related themes of oppression, salvation, mercy, compassion, steadfast love and faithfulness. These help us to clarify our own particular call within JPIC. I just want to mention some key ideas that may help give pointers to the kind of reflection that the scripture invites:
A: Old Testament
i) In the OT where a central theme is the revelation of God’s justice and righteousness, to act justly is „to help sustain the life of the community".
ii) One of the marks of the exodus community is „a sharing of beliefs which issues in the sharing of goods, which is expressed in the sharing of a meal" (Van Rad).
iii) Oppression (9 different words) in the OT for the experience of feeling hemmed in, suffocated, cornered, having to endure outrage and exploitation
iv) Salvation in the OT means giving each person and each group breathing space, room to choose, grow and develop
v) The God of Israel is a God of justice and compassion who strengthens, sustains and assists the oppressed, the marginalized, the weak, the strangers and the debtors in their unequal struggle against their oppressors. (Ex. 3: 7-12)
vi) A person cannot be just before the covenant God unless we take on the cause of the poor and oppressed. This is said gently in Hosea 2:19: “I will betroth you to myself for ever, betroth you with integrity and justice, with tenderness and love.” and in a more demanding way in Isaiah 58:6-8: “Is this not the sort of fast that pleases me- it is the Lord Yahweh who speaks, to break unjust fetters and undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free and break every yoke, to share your bread with the hungry and shelter the homeless poor, to clothe the man you see to be naked and not turn from your own kin.”
vii) If we are to act justly we must
– see that there are no poor among us (Deut 15:4);
– love our neighbor as ourselves (Lev 19:18);
– work for the liberation of captives (Lev 25: 54-55);
– care for the poor, orphan and widow (Pr 29:7);
– be good stewards of the land- rest for the land, animals and humans (Ex. 23: 10-12);
– delight in the whole of creation (Genesis);
– allow the poor to liberate us ( Zeph 3: 11).
This last reference from Zephaniah is particularly significant because it sees a role for the poor and oppressed themselves as the chosen instruments in God’s struggle for justice. It reveals the role that God allots to "a people humble and lowly" (Zeph 3:11) because as Jeremiah reiterated again and again God can work through broken, poor, oppressed, miserable, violent and angry people. Hans Reudi Weber (WCC) expresses that reality as follows: …only when human pride is broken, when our resources are spent, when we stand with empty hands…are we fit to participate in God’s work.
In the OT the core of Israel’s faith is equated with the doing of justice. To know Yahweh is to take to heart the cause of the poor and needy.
B: New Testament
In the NT, while there is no explicit reference to justice, the whole notion of the Reign of God spells out how the process of transformation enables fullness of life for each person and group. There are some significant moments and themes which call us to reflection:
– Jesus is the parable of God’s justice; he comes as one who serves;
– The reign of God is the power of God active in the world, transforming it and confronting the powers of darkness;
– Riches often distance the wealthy from the poor who occupy a privileged position in the Kingdom (Lazarus);
– Salvation depends on a person’s attitude towards the poor and afflicted (Sermon on the Mount);
– Christians are called to enter into solidarity with the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the sick, the naked and the prisoner. This solidarity means that it is Jesus whom we encounter in the person of the oppressed (Last Judgment);
– The sharing of wealth seems humanly impossible but becomes a reality when salvation comes ( Zaccheus);
– Worship of God without justice to the neighbor is condemned as empty and worthless;
– Followers of Jesus are asked to give away two coats instead of one and to go two miles instead of one.
C: Charism
In each of our congregations the focus on JPIC has a particular meaning and significance in the context of the charism. The IBVM founded by Mary Ward has the Constitutions of St. Ignatius, the spiritual exercises and Ignatian spirituality as a guide for life. I spell out the links with key aspects of the charism — the Just Soul, finding God in all things, the values of freedom-justice-sincerity. There are also links which need to spelled out with the Constitutions and Chapter mandates.
D: Action and Reflection
There are many types of actions which flow from experience, analysis of situations of injustice and oppression, and theological reflection. Action calls for further reflection:
1. Indirect Support: This means providing material and/or financial helps or support by letters, appeals and by affirmation of those in direct support by encouragement and trust. It can also mean telling stories of transformation and liberation.
2. Direct Support: We take part in direct programs to help the victims of social injustice.
3. Compassionate Prayer: We meditate and pray/fast over the experiences and issues.
4. Advocacy: We make a cause our own cause. We speak out and demonstrate and lobby. We make clear to all that we are willing to suffer to whatever degree necessary to achieve justice.
5. Conscientization: Being informed and informing others.
6. Solidarity: We are one with the wounded, the forgotten, the ugly, the naked, the dying poor. We live with them, work along with them, speak out with them.
7. Knowledge: We are well informed on the issues and know what is going on.
Conclusion
I believe that formation for JPIC means answering a call within a call. It invites us to continual personal conversion and to act in solidarity with those who suffer injustice and oppression for the transformation of society.
The existence of the poor and oppressed raise questions about what it means to be a Christian and a religious. In a sense they are the subjects and agents of the judgment of God because by their very existence
– they condemn our hardness of heart and our superficial living;
– they are a corrective force in the life of a Christian;
– they invite us to a new way of living;
– they are mirrors of the human condition for they remind us that we are all poor and need to stand with open hands before our God;
– they are prophetic because they disturb the powerful, denounce the fearful and unsettle the comfortable.
They remind us that ultimately God saves us through the chinks and holes in our armor, through our poverty, our weakness, our suffering and our many deaths in life. When we can acknowledge this then we can stand in solidarity with those on the margins, leave our world and our security and take the risks necessary to live and work together for the transformation of the whole human community.
March 2002
By Pat Murray, IBVM
quarta-feira, 10 de novembro de 2010
JPIC (Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation)
Monday, October 18:
Faith and Migrants: Living with the reality of change
I’d like to begin with some brief biographical details. I am currently working in local government in the United Kingdom, in the London Borough of Southwark, as a social cohesion specialist. My job title is Community Cohesion Co-ordinator and the fact that most local authorities in the UK now have at least one full time cohesion practitioner is an indication of how this area of work has grown in importance. Indeed community cohesion is very much a growth agenda across the globe, with one of its principle driving forces being the reality of migration, the fact that perhaps like never before the world is on the move and we are living in an age of mobility.
The London Borough of Southwark is one of 33 local authorities in London. It has a population fast approaching 300,000, out of a total London population of approximately 8 million people. Tomorrow I will speak in more detail about the demographics of Southwark, its vital statistics, and its challenges of social inclusion and cohesion. I’ll also share a little on the responses Southwark and other parts of London are making to the realities of what is now frequently referred to as a situation of super diversity.
Prior to joining local government I worked with the BBC as a presenter and producer of programmes about religion, ethics, and communities. Before that again I worked in my home country of Ireland - the Republic of Ireland - as a programme maker for RTE (Ireland’s national television and radio network) for 6 years.
I served as a Catholic priest for 10 years, most of which was spent in parish ministry, including my final appointment in the city of Belfast at the height of its sectarian war. In 1994 I took leave of absence from active ministry to undertake a postgraduate programme in communications and development studies at the Kairos Communications Institute, under the direction of the Divine Word Missionaries. I also used this time to discern my future direction in life and ultimately decided to leave the priesthood. But then again, you never really leave the priesthood, do you? Or at least it never seems to leave you, and I believe that I am priest still in the ordinary details of my baptized life as well as in terms of the contribution I quietly make in the context of my current role and responsibilities. I say “quietly” on the basis that Her Majesty’s government doesn’t pay its civil servants to be priests as well.
After post-graduating in Christian Communications and Development Studies, I continued to work with Kairos and SVD as a radio and television producer until 2002, the year I moved to the UK. I also served for one year as Editor of The Word magazine. Of all the material we produced at Kairos in those days (under the guidance of the late and truly great Michael Melvin SVD, who opened so many new vistas for people like me), I would single out three pieces of work:
An 8-part TV documentary series on the enduring relevance of the New Testament for contemporary society (Ever Ancient, Ever New), a radio reflection for Good Friday called The Clown Crucified, and a TV documentary about the Marian Shrine of Lourdes, called Faith, Hope, and Plastic.
For some that was a provocative title, for the national network it was a perfect fit, and for us as programme makers and Christian communicators it summed up neatly what Lourdes is all about, and how you find there a co-existence of commercialism and faith alongside human stories of hope.
This is how that programme ended.....
Roll DVD
So, that’s a little bit about me, and I wanted to begin on a personal note because I think our point of departure this morning needs to be inward looking. I’m aware that introspection has had a bad press, particularly in the world of psychoanalysis. But I think that any opposition to introspection is best dealt with by thinking of it in terms of wondering what to say, or rehearsing a narrative that could be made public: ‘How do I know what I think until I hear what I say?’
At its simplest then, it’s just a case of doing a little self-examination. And those of us who have been brought up on a diet of conscientious examens shouldn’t find this to be alien territory. Except it’s not about recognizing our sin and calling it by name. It’s simply a case of telling our own migrant story.
A little poetry often sheds some light, and adds a fresh perspective. It also captures truth and that’s why I often use it, and stories, in my work in London.
It’s amazing how poetry speaks to ordinary people, like you and me, and we in turn can learn to speak our own poetry too.
I’ll give you an example of the latter in just a moment. But first, these verses about being a pilgrim, by one of Ireland’s greatest poets, WB Yeats, from his poem “When You Are Old”:
When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep.
How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face.
He wrote it for a woman he was in love with, but the love was unrequited and the poem is one of subtle seduction. For our purposes, however, the object of the exercise, you’ll be glad to hear, is not to seduce or be seduced. Our focus instead is, as I mentioned, inward, introspective, personal. What Yeats calls, “the pilgrim soul in you.”
I also mentioned how we can speak poetry too, and I promised an example. It’s from a project I’ll introduce you to more fully tomorrow: Peace by Piece - profiles of Muslims living in Southwark. For the project we took their photographs and we interviewed them. Then we brought it all together in a touring exhibition and we published it later as a book.
The idea was simple: to provide a platform for the moderate voice of Islam, to help Muslims counter stereotype and prejudice where they existed, and to demonstrate the ordinariness of Muslim lives, a great many of whom were migrants. One of those lives was Erbil Celebi, a London taxi driver. This is the poetry he spoke on the subject of jihad:
“People misunderstand jihad. The prophet Mohammed - peace be upon him – said that the biggest battle of all is the one with your ego. Battling with your ego is like riding a wild horse. It tries to throw you off a few times. It’s a rough ride but if you hold on long enough you can rein it in and teach it to dance”.
So, for Yeats it’s “the pilgrim soul”. For Celebi it’s the alter ego or second self. For people of faith, it’s the slow work of God. For all of us it’s the journey we’re on.
SPACE for questions, comments.
Our focus over these days is the reality of migration and the migrant experience. And I think to enter in we need to have an understanding of what it’s like to be on the move, displaced, dispossessed, detached, at sea.
I suggest that one of the ways in which we might do this is to explore the transitions and transformations that have happened in our own lives. There will be time this afternoon to do this in a more expansive way, but I’d like you for now to begin thinking of one such experience you’ve had, of a time when life’s circumstances and God’s grace have conspired to take you to the edge of opportunity.
Of course, human beings are not good with edges. We find them frightening, or restricting. I recall one day on the London underground, The Tube, seeing a young man in front of me with this legend on the back of his t-shirt:
If you’re not living on the edge you’re taking up too much space.
And it captured for me how in cities like London, Sao Paolo, Shanghai, Mumbai, and so on, space is indeed at a premium and people consequently live on the edge, both physically and metaphorically.
Margaret Mead, the great American anthropologist who died in 1978 said this about cities:
“A city is a place where there’s no need to wait for next week to get the answer to a question, to taste the food of any country, to find new voices to listen to and familiar ones to listen to again.”
Margaret Mead said something else that was powerful. It’s perhaps her most famous saying:
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has”.
Life to the power of one. Life to the power of you and me. Life to the power of faith-filled people.
Closer to home, we all live on the edge when we experience the fear of letting go. There’s a short poem by an English poet, Christopher Logue, a veteran of the Second World War, about this. It was apparently written in 1968 for a festival being held to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the death of the French poet, Guillaume Apollinaire (the man credited with coining the phrase “surrealism”).
It was quoted by the current President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, at her inauguration. She used it to challenge people from different traditions and mindsets - chiefly Protestant and Catholic in the case of the Ireland she addressed in the late 20th century - to let go of distrust and ancient hatreds. Since then new challenges have presented themselves, including economic recession and the impact of migration on a small island nation. There are several variants of the poem floating around, but this is the one which seems most common:
Come to the edge.
We might fall.
Come to the edge.
It's too high!
Come to the edge.
And they came,
And he pushed,
And they flew.
So, where have your edges been? When have you been challenged to take flight? When has life made of you a migrant? It could be:
A reinvention you’ve undergone (perhaps partly or fully imposed, or freely chosen). A complete change of direction. A time when you felt like a stranger in a strange land, either physically or metaphorically. A loss that you’ve lived with, of a job, a person, a role, a relationship, a home.
2002 was one such year for me - a time when all kinds of things seemed to be conspiring together to take me to the limit.
I emigrated to the United Kingdom. I left loads of work behind in Dublin to take on a part time job with the BBC. I knew it was a risk but it was the best I could get at the time. My mother seemed lost completely to Alzheimer’s disease. My brother took his own life. Another died of cancer six weeks later. I entered into a relationship, which didn’t work out. I sold my home in Ireland. I bought another in England. Our small family business and homestead disintegrated under the weight of mismanagement and alcoholism, and the whole lot had to be sold off.
I remember thinking at the time that 2002 was my annus horibilis, the phrase brought into popular use after Queen Elizabeth II used it to describe ten years earlier, 1992 - the year that the marriages of her two sons Charles and Andrew broke down and Windsor Castle caught fire.
A sister wondered if we were cursed. I told her I didn’t believe in such things. And then at night I wondered too.
But of course it had nothing to do with being assailed by forces of darkness. It was simply life and how it can take a turn for the worst, and sometimes several bad turns in quick succession. On reflection, I decided, particularly after the tragic deaths of my two brothers, on three things, and I wove them into an editorial for The Word magazine:
Life is short, life is precious, and life is partly in our own hands.
I had of course professed these beliefs before, but now there was the added value of bitter experience, and the realization that suffering can indeed do one of two things to us: it can make us better people, or bitter people.
I realized too that some of the changes and challenges were of my own doing - emigrating, leaving a good job behind, selling my house when I didn’t really have to. The others were from without and I had little or no control over them - the deaths of my brothers, my mother’s descent into Alzheimer’s sickness, the loss of our family home.
The physical distance between England and Ireland is small, but it was nonetheless an experience of migration. My whole life seemed on the move. Everything was shifting and changing, and I did feel like a stranger in a strange land. I also had to improve my working situation from part time to full time, if I was to survive financially.
I recall driving the long commute from the English west midlands to the south west (a 180-mile round trip each day) and thinking to myself, “There’s something missing. There’s something not right”. I felt detached, dispossessed of something, and I felt it day in, day out.
In time my annus horribilis became an annus mirabilis (year of wonders or miracles), but only when I realized how I had grown through the experience. How I had survived, as people do.
The difference of course was that I hadn’t been forced to leave my own country. I left a job behind and I had at least half a job to go to. I also enjoyed all the benefits of being an Irish and EU citizen, and how as an Irish person we have an automatic right on the double to remain indefinitely in the UK. We have it for being Irish, and we have it again for being citizens of the European Union. It’s a uniquely happy situation that Irish people find themselves in.
But it did give some insight into the migrant story and the pilgrim soul. I learned to embrace change and decay, if not willingly then certainly eventually. I gained an understanding of why some people migrate, and the challenges they face. Especially the challenge of making a fresh start, of putting down roots, of leaving behind the safe and familiar and launching into the deep unknown. I didn’t face the struggle that many migrants do of seeking justice in the form of access to accommodation, education, healthcare, work, and of course the right to fully belong, in terms of “indefinite leave to remain” or permanent residency.
But I’m mindful of these realities and I try in my work now to help meet these needs for migrants by influencing policy and practice at local government level, feeding that into central government, ensuring that the services we deliver locally meet the real needs of migrants, by empowering migrant communities and individuals to fight for their rights, by working to promote cohesion and integration for migrants (Welcome Packs and induction programmes being small tangible examples), by challenging assumptions among settled communities that migrants are “here to take our jobs and our houses”, or that they have no interest in working for a living.
The story of Sylvia Wachuku-King from Sierra Leone, chair of Southwark Refugee Communities Forum.
I believe that the human story can be a powerful way of reaching and connecting communities. It can dismantle barriers, counter prejudice and stereotype, point up similarities, dispel misconceptions, and promote meaningful interaction. In our experience in Southwark the use of arts and media formats have proved particularly effective at exploring the commonalities of the human condition, and we’ll take a closer look at some of these tomorrow. We’ll also look at the difference a faith perspective can bring to the realities of migration and inequality.
As I mentioned earlier, Her Majesty’s government doesn’t pay me to be both a civil and sacred servant, but I do find that faith and cohesion are frequently cross-cutting.
There’s also a wider recognition of this fact across the United Kingdom and it’s evidenced by the proliferation of interfaith initiatives that are government-funded and are all about harnessing the passion and enthusiasm of faith communities for building a more cohesive, inclusive society. And that very much incorporates outreach to migrants.
So, that’s largely by way of overview and introduction to my contribution to this gathering. I also wanted to personalize what we’re doing from the outset. And to that end we’re setting aside some time this afternoon for participants to reflect on some of the questions raised.
1. In the light of this morning’s presentation, what has been your personal experience of migration?
2. What are the greatest needs of migrants and how might they be met? Try to reach a consensus on a top three.
3. How might the relationship between migrants and the wider community be improved?
4. How can we empower migrant communities to seek justice?
5. What do we need to do to bring about institutional changes that will benefit migrants?
By Michael Cleere
Faith and Migrants: Living with the reality of change
I’d like to begin with some brief biographical details. I am currently working in local government in the United Kingdom, in the London Borough of Southwark, as a social cohesion specialist. My job title is Community Cohesion Co-ordinator and the fact that most local authorities in the UK now have at least one full time cohesion practitioner is an indication of how this area of work has grown in importance. Indeed community cohesion is very much a growth agenda across the globe, with one of its principle driving forces being the reality of migration, the fact that perhaps like never before the world is on the move and we are living in an age of mobility.
The London Borough of Southwark is one of 33 local authorities in London. It has a population fast approaching 300,000, out of a total London population of approximately 8 million people. Tomorrow I will speak in more detail about the demographics of Southwark, its vital statistics, and its challenges of social inclusion and cohesion. I’ll also share a little on the responses Southwark and other parts of London are making to the realities of what is now frequently referred to as a situation of super diversity.
Prior to joining local government I worked with the BBC as a presenter and producer of programmes about religion, ethics, and communities. Before that again I worked in my home country of Ireland - the Republic of Ireland - as a programme maker for RTE (Ireland’s national television and radio network) for 6 years.
I served as a Catholic priest for 10 years, most of which was spent in parish ministry, including my final appointment in the city of Belfast at the height of its sectarian war. In 1994 I took leave of absence from active ministry to undertake a postgraduate programme in communications and development studies at the Kairos Communications Institute, under the direction of the Divine Word Missionaries. I also used this time to discern my future direction in life and ultimately decided to leave the priesthood. But then again, you never really leave the priesthood, do you? Or at least it never seems to leave you, and I believe that I am priest still in the ordinary details of my baptized life as well as in terms of the contribution I quietly make in the context of my current role and responsibilities. I say “quietly” on the basis that Her Majesty’s government doesn’t pay its civil servants to be priests as well.
After post-graduating in Christian Communications and Development Studies, I continued to work with Kairos and SVD as a radio and television producer until 2002, the year I moved to the UK. I also served for one year as Editor of The Word magazine. Of all the material we produced at Kairos in those days (under the guidance of the late and truly great Michael Melvin SVD, who opened so many new vistas for people like me), I would single out three pieces of work:
An 8-part TV documentary series on the enduring relevance of the New Testament for contemporary society (Ever Ancient, Ever New), a radio reflection for Good Friday called The Clown Crucified, and a TV documentary about the Marian Shrine of Lourdes, called Faith, Hope, and Plastic.
For some that was a provocative title, for the national network it was a perfect fit, and for us as programme makers and Christian communicators it summed up neatly what Lourdes is all about, and how you find there a co-existence of commercialism and faith alongside human stories of hope.
This is how that programme ended.....
Roll DVD
So, that’s a little bit about me, and I wanted to begin on a personal note because I think our point of departure this morning needs to be inward looking. I’m aware that introspection has had a bad press, particularly in the world of psychoanalysis. But I think that any opposition to introspection is best dealt with by thinking of it in terms of wondering what to say, or rehearsing a narrative that could be made public: ‘How do I know what I think until I hear what I say?’
At its simplest then, it’s just a case of doing a little self-examination. And those of us who have been brought up on a diet of conscientious examens shouldn’t find this to be alien territory. Except it’s not about recognizing our sin and calling it by name. It’s simply a case of telling our own migrant story.
A little poetry often sheds some light, and adds a fresh perspective. It also captures truth and that’s why I often use it, and stories, in my work in London.
It’s amazing how poetry speaks to ordinary people, like you and me, and we in turn can learn to speak our own poetry too.
I’ll give you an example of the latter in just a moment. But first, these verses about being a pilgrim, by one of Ireland’s greatest poets, WB Yeats, from his poem “When You Are Old”:
When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep.
How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face.
He wrote it for a woman he was in love with, but the love was unrequited and the poem is one of subtle seduction. For our purposes, however, the object of the exercise, you’ll be glad to hear, is not to seduce or be seduced. Our focus instead is, as I mentioned, inward, introspective, personal. What Yeats calls, “the pilgrim soul in you.”
I also mentioned how we can speak poetry too, and I promised an example. It’s from a project I’ll introduce you to more fully tomorrow: Peace by Piece - profiles of Muslims living in Southwark. For the project we took their photographs and we interviewed them. Then we brought it all together in a touring exhibition and we published it later as a book.
The idea was simple: to provide a platform for the moderate voice of Islam, to help Muslims counter stereotype and prejudice where they existed, and to demonstrate the ordinariness of Muslim lives, a great many of whom were migrants. One of those lives was Erbil Celebi, a London taxi driver. This is the poetry he spoke on the subject of jihad:
“People misunderstand jihad. The prophet Mohammed - peace be upon him – said that the biggest battle of all is the one with your ego. Battling with your ego is like riding a wild horse. It tries to throw you off a few times. It’s a rough ride but if you hold on long enough you can rein it in and teach it to dance”.
So, for Yeats it’s “the pilgrim soul”. For Celebi it’s the alter ego or second self. For people of faith, it’s the slow work of God. For all of us it’s the journey we’re on.
SPACE for questions, comments.
Our focus over these days is the reality of migration and the migrant experience. And I think to enter in we need to have an understanding of what it’s like to be on the move, displaced, dispossessed, detached, at sea.
I suggest that one of the ways in which we might do this is to explore the transitions and transformations that have happened in our own lives. There will be time this afternoon to do this in a more expansive way, but I’d like you for now to begin thinking of one such experience you’ve had, of a time when life’s circumstances and God’s grace have conspired to take you to the edge of opportunity.
Of course, human beings are not good with edges. We find them frightening, or restricting. I recall one day on the London underground, The Tube, seeing a young man in front of me with this legend on the back of his t-shirt:
If you’re not living on the edge you’re taking up too much space.
And it captured for me how in cities like London, Sao Paolo, Shanghai, Mumbai, and so on, space is indeed at a premium and people consequently live on the edge, both physically and metaphorically.
Margaret Mead, the great American anthropologist who died in 1978 said this about cities:
“A city is a place where there’s no need to wait for next week to get the answer to a question, to taste the food of any country, to find new voices to listen to and familiar ones to listen to again.”
Margaret Mead said something else that was powerful. It’s perhaps her most famous saying:
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has”.
Life to the power of one. Life to the power of you and me. Life to the power of faith-filled people.
Closer to home, we all live on the edge when we experience the fear of letting go. There’s a short poem by an English poet, Christopher Logue, a veteran of the Second World War, about this. It was apparently written in 1968 for a festival being held to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the death of the French poet, Guillaume Apollinaire (the man credited with coining the phrase “surrealism”).
It was quoted by the current President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, at her inauguration. She used it to challenge people from different traditions and mindsets - chiefly Protestant and Catholic in the case of the Ireland she addressed in the late 20th century - to let go of distrust and ancient hatreds. Since then new challenges have presented themselves, including economic recession and the impact of migration on a small island nation. There are several variants of the poem floating around, but this is the one which seems most common:
Come to the edge.
We might fall.
Come to the edge.
It's too high!
Come to the edge.
And they came,
And he pushed,
And they flew.
So, where have your edges been? When have you been challenged to take flight? When has life made of you a migrant? It could be:
A reinvention you’ve undergone (perhaps partly or fully imposed, or freely chosen). A complete change of direction. A time when you felt like a stranger in a strange land, either physically or metaphorically. A loss that you’ve lived with, of a job, a person, a role, a relationship, a home.
2002 was one such year for me - a time when all kinds of things seemed to be conspiring together to take me to the limit.
I emigrated to the United Kingdom. I left loads of work behind in Dublin to take on a part time job with the BBC. I knew it was a risk but it was the best I could get at the time. My mother seemed lost completely to Alzheimer’s disease. My brother took his own life. Another died of cancer six weeks later. I entered into a relationship, which didn’t work out. I sold my home in Ireland. I bought another in England. Our small family business and homestead disintegrated under the weight of mismanagement and alcoholism, and the whole lot had to be sold off.
I remember thinking at the time that 2002 was my annus horibilis, the phrase brought into popular use after Queen Elizabeth II used it to describe ten years earlier, 1992 - the year that the marriages of her two sons Charles and Andrew broke down and Windsor Castle caught fire.
A sister wondered if we were cursed. I told her I didn’t believe in such things. And then at night I wondered too.
But of course it had nothing to do with being assailed by forces of darkness. It was simply life and how it can take a turn for the worst, and sometimes several bad turns in quick succession. On reflection, I decided, particularly after the tragic deaths of my two brothers, on three things, and I wove them into an editorial for The Word magazine:
Life is short, life is precious, and life is partly in our own hands.
I had of course professed these beliefs before, but now there was the added value of bitter experience, and the realization that suffering can indeed do one of two things to us: it can make us better people, or bitter people.
I realized too that some of the changes and challenges were of my own doing - emigrating, leaving a good job behind, selling my house when I didn’t really have to. The others were from without and I had little or no control over them - the deaths of my brothers, my mother’s descent into Alzheimer’s sickness, the loss of our family home.
The physical distance between England and Ireland is small, but it was nonetheless an experience of migration. My whole life seemed on the move. Everything was shifting and changing, and I did feel like a stranger in a strange land. I also had to improve my working situation from part time to full time, if I was to survive financially.
I recall driving the long commute from the English west midlands to the south west (a 180-mile round trip each day) and thinking to myself, “There’s something missing. There’s something not right”. I felt detached, dispossessed of something, and I felt it day in, day out.
In time my annus horribilis became an annus mirabilis (year of wonders or miracles), but only when I realized how I had grown through the experience. How I had survived, as people do.
The difference of course was that I hadn’t been forced to leave my own country. I left a job behind and I had at least half a job to go to. I also enjoyed all the benefits of being an Irish and EU citizen, and how as an Irish person we have an automatic right on the double to remain indefinitely in the UK. We have it for being Irish, and we have it again for being citizens of the European Union. It’s a uniquely happy situation that Irish people find themselves in.
But it did give some insight into the migrant story and the pilgrim soul. I learned to embrace change and decay, if not willingly then certainly eventually. I gained an understanding of why some people migrate, and the challenges they face. Especially the challenge of making a fresh start, of putting down roots, of leaving behind the safe and familiar and launching into the deep unknown. I didn’t face the struggle that many migrants do of seeking justice in the form of access to accommodation, education, healthcare, work, and of course the right to fully belong, in terms of “indefinite leave to remain” or permanent residency.
But I’m mindful of these realities and I try in my work now to help meet these needs for migrants by influencing policy and practice at local government level, feeding that into central government, ensuring that the services we deliver locally meet the real needs of migrants, by empowering migrant communities and individuals to fight for their rights, by working to promote cohesion and integration for migrants (Welcome Packs and induction programmes being small tangible examples), by challenging assumptions among settled communities that migrants are “here to take our jobs and our houses”, or that they have no interest in working for a living.
The story of Sylvia Wachuku-King from Sierra Leone, chair of Southwark Refugee Communities Forum.
I believe that the human story can be a powerful way of reaching and connecting communities. It can dismantle barriers, counter prejudice and stereotype, point up similarities, dispel misconceptions, and promote meaningful interaction. In our experience in Southwark the use of arts and media formats have proved particularly effective at exploring the commonalities of the human condition, and we’ll take a closer look at some of these tomorrow. We’ll also look at the difference a faith perspective can bring to the realities of migration and inequality.
As I mentioned earlier, Her Majesty’s government doesn’t pay me to be both a civil and sacred servant, but I do find that faith and cohesion are frequently cross-cutting.
There’s also a wider recognition of this fact across the United Kingdom and it’s evidenced by the proliferation of interfaith initiatives that are government-funded and are all about harnessing the passion and enthusiasm of faith communities for building a more cohesive, inclusive society. And that very much incorporates outreach to migrants.
So, that’s largely by way of overview and introduction to my contribution to this gathering. I also wanted to personalize what we’re doing from the outset. And to that end we’re setting aside some time this afternoon for participants to reflect on some of the questions raised.
1. In the light of this morning’s presentation, what has been your personal experience of migration?
2. What are the greatest needs of migrants and how might they be met? Try to reach a consensus on a top three.
3. How might the relationship between migrants and the wider community be improved?
4. How can we empower migrant communities to seek justice?
5. What do we need to do to bring about institutional changes that will benefit migrants?
By Michael Cleere
sábado, 6 de novembro de 2010
ENJOY THE FATHER´S GIFTS
Just as WATER cuts through rocksand finds its way to the sea,
so let Your Grace, O Father,
cut through our stony hearts and
death-giving structures, so that
Your Gifths of Life and freedom
and Peace may flow to all people,
and specting the dignity of each one...
sexta-feira, 5 de novembro de 2010
Justiça e Paz
MANUAL FOR FACILITATORS OF ADVOCACY TRAINING SESSIONS
Washington Office Center for Development
on Latin America and Population Activities MANUAL FOR FACILITATORS OF ADVOCACY TRAINING SESSIONS ► CONTENTS
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Section One: Overview
1 Introduction to the Manual
2 Basic Principles of Facilitating Advocacy Events
Section Two: Training Guides for General Workshops
1 Introduction to Advocacy
2 A Step-by-Step Approach to Participatory Planning of Advocacy Initiatives
Section Three: Step-by-Step Training Guides
Step 1: Identify and Analyze the Problem
Step 2: Formulate the Proposal
Step 3: Analyze the Decision-Making Space
Step 4: Analyze Channels of Influence
Step 5: Do a SWOT Analysis
Step 6: Design Advocacy Strategies
Step 7: Develop an Activity Plan
Step 8: Carry Out Continuous Evaluation
Section Four: Appendixes
1 Practical Tips on How to Facilitate Training Sessions
2 Preparation of Minutes
3 Group Exercises
WOLA, BROT FÜR DIE WELT, CEDPA PAGE 1 MANUAL FOR FACILITATORS OF ADVOCACY TRAINING SESSIONS ► ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) is a nonprofit policy, research, and advocacy organization, founded in 1974 by religious and other civil society leaders. WOLA promotes human rights, democracy, and social and economic justice in Latin America and the Caribbean and encourages a United States foreign policy that contributes to the achievement of those goals.
WOLA’s Advocacy Training Program in Central America was established in 1996 to train civil society organizations in the region in the use of advocacy methodologies and techniques. The program seeks to strengthen the capacity of these organizations to influence local, national, and international policy-makers on decisions about key policies and programs. The overarching goal of the program is to contribute to the development of a democratic culture in Central America by promoting values such as equality, gender and ethnic equity, respect for diversity, dignity, tolerance, and human solidarity.
This manual is the product of a team effort by the staff of the Central America Advocacy Training Program and is based on extensive field experience in that region. It was developed in 2000–2001 by Patrick Baltazar and Andrés McKinley, with important contributions from Angélica Alarcón, Joshua Lichtenstein, and Susan Peacock, under the supervision of Danuta Sacher. It contains conceptual and practical tools to increase the effectiveness of individuals and organizations that seek to strengthen and assist advocacy initiatives through training, planning, and evaluation efforts. While the original Spanish-language manual was developed for use in Central America, this English-language edition is intended for broad use in other regions of the world, including Africa, Asia, and English-speaking countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The editing and publication of the manual are the result of a joint effort by WOLA and the Center for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA). The manual was translated from Spanish to English by Susan Peacock, with support from Bread for the World (Germany).
We would like to thank the Asociación Mujer Vamos Adelante (AMVA) in Guatemala for its suggestions on how to incorporate a gender perspective into the manual. AMVA’s review of the manual was recommended by participants in the Training School for Policy Advocacy that was carried out jointly by WOLA and CEDPA between November 2002 and February 2003.
We hope this manual will be helpful to those persons and organizations that are working to consolidate human rights, democracy, and social justice through advocacy in Latin America and beyond.
WOLA, BROT FÜR DIE WELT, CEDPA PAGE 2 MANUAL FOR FACILITATORS OF ADVOCACY TRAINING SESSIONS ► SECTION 1
Section One:
Overview
WOLA, BROT FÜR DIE WELT, CEDPA PAGE 3 MANUAL FOR FACILITATORS OF ADVOCACY TRAINING SESSIONS ► SECTION 1 ► INTRODUCTION TO MANUAL
INTRODUCTION TO THE MANUAL
This manual is the product of six years of experience in Central America, facilitating advocacy training sessions and working in cooperation with specific advocacy campaigns. It offers conceptual and methodological tools to persons who wish to train civil society groups in the participatory planning of advocacy initiatives aimed at changing public policies and programs so that they benefit those in society who are traditionally marginalized.
The manual is organized into four sections:
Section 1 provides an overview of the manual and of the basic principles for facilitating events. These principles cover key areas that all facilitators should keep in mind when undertaking any training, planning, or evaluation activity intended to strengthen efforts to change public policies and programs.
Section 2 consists of two training guides for general workshops The first focuses on the concept of advocacy, understood both as a change process and as a way to exercise power. A full conceptual understanding of advocacy is key to the planning of successful advocacy initiatives. The second guide in this section introduces the eight steps that make up WOLA’s basic methodology for the planning of advocacy campaigns.
Section 3, the most extensive, consists of training guides for each of the eight steps.
Finally, Section 4 contains several appendixes with additional practical material for general reference. It includes a sample workshop agenda, suggestions on how to take minutes, and a selection of group exercises for use in workshops.
Using the Training Guides
Each of the 10 training guides, two general and one for each of the eight steps, is organized in a similar way. Each begins with a summary page listing the learning objectives, key concepts, practical techniques, and learning indicators for the guide. Next, key concepts are explained in detail. The core of each guide is a set of practical techniques that can be used in training sessions, with instructions for using each one. Most of the guides include worksheets to use with the techniques, as well as graphic resources that facilitators can use as handouts or as models for displays to illustrate the ideas discussed.
The facilitator using a particular training guide should first read the summary and the key concepts. He or she can then choose one or more of the practical techniques that seem most appropriate for the group’s campaign, taking into account its objectives, the characteristics of the group, and the time available. The facilitator can choose the worksheets and resources that are most useful with the technique selected and photocopy them for use in preparing the session.
WOLA, BROT FÜR DIE WELT, CEDPA PAGE 4 MANUAL FOR FACILITATORS OF ADVOCACY TRAINING SESSIONS ► SECTION 1 ► BASIC PRINCIPLES
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF FACILITATING ADVOCACY EVENTS
The facilitation of advocacy training sessions or of other group processes related to advocacy initiatives requires a variety of technical, pedagogical, political, and artistic skills and knowledge. Facilitators should have at least a primary school education, with good reading comprehension and writing skills. They also need a commitment to advocacy, and the willingness to continue to learn by experimenting with new techniques and methods. It can be said that facilitators are not born, but rather develop through practice and continuous effort to improve and grow.
To be a facilitator also requires a strong commitment to the empowerment of other people. It is important to remember that a facilitator exercises considerable power and influence within the organizing and educational campaigns that s/he seeks to strengthen. For this reason, the facilitator should always be conscious that s/he has a responsibility to promote democratic participation and to seek to empower the group, community, or coalition with which s/he is working. Everything that a facilitator says or does—or does not say or do—has consequences for organizing and educational efforts. These consequences may not always be readily evident, but in the long run may either benefit or hurt a group.
It is therefore important to ensure that decisions made as part of an organizing or educational effort reflect a collective understanding and are based on the experiences of the group. They should not be based solely on the criteria and experiences of the facilitator.
Functions and Responsibilities of a Facilitator
A facilitator should:
• Contribute to the building of common understandings based on the group’s own organizing experiences.
• Contribute to the building of common understandings based on the group’s educational experiences.
• Learn new things.
• Make the group more aware of its own internal dynamics.
• Stimulate democratic participation.
• Help the group to identify its problems and analyze their causes.
• Motivate the group to define and achieve its objectives.
WOLA, BROT FÜR DIE WELT, CEDPA PAGE 5 MANUAL FOR FACILITATORS OF ADVOCACY TRAINING SESSIONS ► SECTION 1 ► BASIC PRINCIPLES
• Help the group to work through internal conflicts in a constructive manner.
• Plan a logical and orderly process geared toward clear objectives.
• Prioritize and summarize important points.
• Go back to decisions made by the group and urge participants to follow up on them.
• Facilitate evaluation as an integral part of group processes.
Qualities and Skills of a Facilitator
A facilitator should be creative and dynamic, yet at the same time observant and sensitive to the needs and mood of the group. He or she should be patient and flexible, responsive to questions, and open to criticism. It is very important to be committed to gender inclusiveness and to respect cultural and ethnic differences. Finally, the facilitator should be consistent in his or her practices and statements.
Practical Tips for Facilitators
The following are general tips for the design and facilitation of advocacy training sessions or of meetings to plan or evaluate advocacy initiatives.
Before the event
1. Define the objectives of the session with leaders or representatives of the organization (or organizations) that will participate in it. This is especially important when the organization has requested that the session take place. A facilitator should be clear about how this particular event fits within the organization’s overall structure and programmatic activities. S/he should try to ensure that it is consistent with the organization’s stated mission and objectives.
2. Ensure that the people with whom you are coordinating the event have the backing of the organization and its membership in order to avoid such problems as manipulation, poor attendance, or lack of credibility.
3. Arrange for the facilitation to be done by a team of facilitators.
4. Make sure that whatever technical equipment is needed for the event is available and functioning properly.
5. Gauge the participants’ true level of commitment to and involvement in the group’s advocacy initiative.
6. Obtain as much information as possible about the organization: its history, current objectives, structure, activities, and internal dynamics. Information can be gathered through interviews, informal conversations, documents, and minutes.
WOLA, BROT FÜR DIE WELT, CEDPA PAGE 6 MANUAL FOR FACILITATORS OF ADVOCACY TRAINING SESSIONS ► SECTION 1 ► BASIC PRINCIPLES
7. Bear in mind the characteristics of the people who are going to participate: their ages, ethnicity, race, gender, knowledge and experience related to the issue, level of formal schooling, responsibilities within the organization, and level of political awareness.
8. Deal with logistical aspects of the event: the schedule, time allotted for lunch, where and how to hang up newsprint, the size of the space, the noise and temperature levels, the availability of break-out space for small group work, and so on.
9. Ensure that the specific objectives of the session contribute to the organization’s overall objectives.
10. Ensure the logical sequencing of the content to be presented and select training techniques that will fulfill the specific learning objectives of the event.
11. Be familiar with all the materials that will be used during the session, ensuring their appropriateness for the particular group and issue under discussion.
12. Maintain good communication and coordination within the team of facilitators, agreeing in advance on each person’s role and responsibilities.
During the event
1. Make good use of the physical space available.
2. Allow participants the opportunity to express their hopes for the session so that they feel as though their opinions are taken into account from the beginning. Agree upon a schedule and some basic ground rules—the need to be punctual, to listen to other people’s opinions, to be brief, to avoid excessive repetition, to respect others, and so forth. In order words, clarify expectations and the “rules of the game.”
3. Create work groups of participants that will have specific responsibilities and tasks during the event to assist the team of facilitators.
4. Before presenting content, agree on how to handle the taking of minutes. It is important to be clear about the type of minutes that are needed, who will prepare them, with what inputs, and by what date. Explain that the minutes will serve as a report to be given to the team of facilitators. They should record the interests and needs expressed by the participants, analyze any difficulties that arose, and note which techniques were most helpful and appropriate and which achieved the best results.
5. Maintain fluid communication among members of the facilitation team, and model a participatory and democratic work style characterized by mutual respect.
6. Use a variety of presentation techniques (cards, newsprint, transparencies, the blackboard, etc.) to convey information and help participants follow a sequence of topics.
WOLA, BROT FÜR DIE WELT, CEDPA PAGE 7 MANUAL FOR FACILITATORS OF ADVOCACY TRAINING SESSIONS ► SECTION 1 ► BASIC PRINCIPLES
7. At the end of each step in the methodology, summarize it and highlight the main points of the discussion in order to clearly mark the end of one step and the beginning of another.
8. Make visual contact with all of the people in the group of participants. Do not direct your attention at only one person or one subgroup of people. When participants speak, they should speak to the entire group and not just to the facilitator.
9. Be creative and use appropriate new techniques to communicate with the participants. Know when to switch to a different technique (for example, after a long plenary, a serious discussion, a sad or emotional moment, or a break or meal). Varying the techniques helps keep participants energized and alert. Do not, however, go overboard and allow the techniques to distract from the content being presented or to curtail debate among the group participants on contentious issues.
10. Recognize and deal with the conflicts and disagreements that arise during the session. It is counterproductive to continue to present content when it is obvious that conflict is brewing or that feelings are not being expressed.
11. Address comments or statements made by any participant that are racist, sexist, homophobic, or otherwise offensive, by questioning underlying behaviors or attitudes instead of attacking the person. The facilitator should make every effort to create a safe and congenial environment in which all participants feel respected.
12. Maintain a high level of motivation within the group throughout the session. It is important to create a positive and friendly environment by using techniques that allow the participants to get acquainted with one another.
13. Do not be afraid to make mistakes! Group facilitation is not an exact science, but rather a trial-and-error exercise. Popular educators often say that “a person who never makes mistakes is someone who is not practicing.”
WOLA, BROT FÜR DIE WELT, CEDPA PAGE 8 MANUAL FOR FACILITATORS OF ADVOCACY TRAINING SESSIONS ► SECTION 2
Section Two:
Training Guides for
General Workshops
WOLA, BROT FÜR DIE WELT, CEDPA PAGE 9 MANUAL FOR FACILITATORS OF ADVOCACY TRAINING SESSIONS ► SECTION 2 ► INTRODUCTION TO ADVOCACY
Training Guide:
Introduction to Advocacy
What is advocacy?
Why engage in advocacy?
What are the main things to keep in mind when we do advocacy?
WOLA, BROT FÜR DIE WELT, CEDPA PAGE 10 MANUAL FOR FACILITATORS OF ADVOCACY TRAINING SESSIONS ► SECTION 2 ► INTRODUCTION TO ADVOCACY INTRODUCTION TO ADVOCACY: SUMMARY
Washington Office Center for Development
on Latin America and Population Activities MANUAL FOR FACILITATORS OF ADVOCACY TRAINING SESSIONS ► CONTENTS
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Section One: Overview
1 Introduction to the Manual
2 Basic Principles of Facilitating Advocacy Events
Section Two: Training Guides for General Workshops
1 Introduction to Advocacy
2 A Step-by-Step Approach to Participatory Planning of Advocacy Initiatives
Section Three: Step-by-Step Training Guides
Step 1: Identify and Analyze the Problem
Step 2: Formulate the Proposal
Step 3: Analyze the Decision-Making Space
Step 4: Analyze Channels of Influence
Step 5: Do a SWOT Analysis
Step 6: Design Advocacy Strategies
Step 7: Develop an Activity Plan
Step 8: Carry Out Continuous Evaluation
Section Four: Appendixes
1 Practical Tips on How to Facilitate Training Sessions
2 Preparation of Minutes
3 Group Exercises
WOLA, BROT FÜR DIE WELT, CEDPA PAGE 1 MANUAL FOR FACILITATORS OF ADVOCACY TRAINING SESSIONS ► ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) is a nonprofit policy, research, and advocacy organization, founded in 1974 by religious and other civil society leaders. WOLA promotes human rights, democracy, and social and economic justice in Latin America and the Caribbean and encourages a United States foreign policy that contributes to the achievement of those goals.
WOLA’s Advocacy Training Program in Central America was established in 1996 to train civil society organizations in the region in the use of advocacy methodologies and techniques. The program seeks to strengthen the capacity of these organizations to influence local, national, and international policy-makers on decisions about key policies and programs. The overarching goal of the program is to contribute to the development of a democratic culture in Central America by promoting values such as equality, gender and ethnic equity, respect for diversity, dignity, tolerance, and human solidarity.
This manual is the product of a team effort by the staff of the Central America Advocacy Training Program and is based on extensive field experience in that region. It was developed in 2000–2001 by Patrick Baltazar and Andrés McKinley, with important contributions from Angélica Alarcón, Joshua Lichtenstein, and Susan Peacock, under the supervision of Danuta Sacher. It contains conceptual and practical tools to increase the effectiveness of individuals and organizations that seek to strengthen and assist advocacy initiatives through training, planning, and evaluation efforts. While the original Spanish-language manual was developed for use in Central America, this English-language edition is intended for broad use in other regions of the world, including Africa, Asia, and English-speaking countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The editing and publication of the manual are the result of a joint effort by WOLA and the Center for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA). The manual was translated from Spanish to English by Susan Peacock, with support from Bread for the World (Germany).
We would like to thank the Asociación Mujer Vamos Adelante (AMVA) in Guatemala for its suggestions on how to incorporate a gender perspective into the manual. AMVA’s review of the manual was recommended by participants in the Training School for Policy Advocacy that was carried out jointly by WOLA and CEDPA between November 2002 and February 2003.
We hope this manual will be helpful to those persons and organizations that are working to consolidate human rights, democracy, and social justice through advocacy in Latin America and beyond.
WOLA, BROT FÜR DIE WELT, CEDPA PAGE 2 MANUAL FOR FACILITATORS OF ADVOCACY TRAINING SESSIONS ► SECTION 1
Section One:
Overview
WOLA, BROT FÜR DIE WELT, CEDPA PAGE 3 MANUAL FOR FACILITATORS OF ADVOCACY TRAINING SESSIONS ► SECTION 1 ► INTRODUCTION TO MANUAL
INTRODUCTION TO THE MANUAL
This manual is the product of six years of experience in Central America, facilitating advocacy training sessions and working in cooperation with specific advocacy campaigns. It offers conceptual and methodological tools to persons who wish to train civil society groups in the participatory planning of advocacy initiatives aimed at changing public policies and programs so that they benefit those in society who are traditionally marginalized.
The manual is organized into four sections:
Section 1 provides an overview of the manual and of the basic principles for facilitating events. These principles cover key areas that all facilitators should keep in mind when undertaking any training, planning, or evaluation activity intended to strengthen efforts to change public policies and programs.
Section 2 consists of two training guides for general workshops The first focuses on the concept of advocacy, understood both as a change process and as a way to exercise power. A full conceptual understanding of advocacy is key to the planning of successful advocacy initiatives. The second guide in this section introduces the eight steps that make up WOLA’s basic methodology for the planning of advocacy campaigns.
Section 3, the most extensive, consists of training guides for each of the eight steps.
Finally, Section 4 contains several appendixes with additional practical material for general reference. It includes a sample workshop agenda, suggestions on how to take minutes, and a selection of group exercises for use in workshops.
Using the Training Guides
Each of the 10 training guides, two general and one for each of the eight steps, is organized in a similar way. Each begins with a summary page listing the learning objectives, key concepts, practical techniques, and learning indicators for the guide. Next, key concepts are explained in detail. The core of each guide is a set of practical techniques that can be used in training sessions, with instructions for using each one. Most of the guides include worksheets to use with the techniques, as well as graphic resources that facilitators can use as handouts or as models for displays to illustrate the ideas discussed.
The facilitator using a particular training guide should first read the summary and the key concepts. He or she can then choose one or more of the practical techniques that seem most appropriate for the group’s campaign, taking into account its objectives, the characteristics of the group, and the time available. The facilitator can choose the worksheets and resources that are most useful with the technique selected and photocopy them for use in preparing the session.
WOLA, BROT FÜR DIE WELT, CEDPA PAGE 4 MANUAL FOR FACILITATORS OF ADVOCACY TRAINING SESSIONS ► SECTION 1 ► BASIC PRINCIPLES
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF FACILITATING ADVOCACY EVENTS
The facilitation of advocacy training sessions or of other group processes related to advocacy initiatives requires a variety of technical, pedagogical, political, and artistic skills and knowledge. Facilitators should have at least a primary school education, with good reading comprehension and writing skills. They also need a commitment to advocacy, and the willingness to continue to learn by experimenting with new techniques and methods. It can be said that facilitators are not born, but rather develop through practice and continuous effort to improve and grow.
To be a facilitator also requires a strong commitment to the empowerment of other people. It is important to remember that a facilitator exercises considerable power and influence within the organizing and educational campaigns that s/he seeks to strengthen. For this reason, the facilitator should always be conscious that s/he has a responsibility to promote democratic participation and to seek to empower the group, community, or coalition with which s/he is working. Everything that a facilitator says or does—or does not say or do—has consequences for organizing and educational efforts. These consequences may not always be readily evident, but in the long run may either benefit or hurt a group.
It is therefore important to ensure that decisions made as part of an organizing or educational effort reflect a collective understanding and are based on the experiences of the group. They should not be based solely on the criteria and experiences of the facilitator.
Functions and Responsibilities of a Facilitator
A facilitator should:
• Contribute to the building of common understandings based on the group’s own organizing experiences.
• Contribute to the building of common understandings based on the group’s educational experiences.
• Learn new things.
• Make the group more aware of its own internal dynamics.
• Stimulate democratic participation.
• Help the group to identify its problems and analyze their causes.
• Motivate the group to define and achieve its objectives.
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• Help the group to work through internal conflicts in a constructive manner.
• Plan a logical and orderly process geared toward clear objectives.
• Prioritize and summarize important points.
• Go back to decisions made by the group and urge participants to follow up on them.
• Facilitate evaluation as an integral part of group processes.
Qualities and Skills of a Facilitator
A facilitator should be creative and dynamic, yet at the same time observant and sensitive to the needs and mood of the group. He or she should be patient and flexible, responsive to questions, and open to criticism. It is very important to be committed to gender inclusiveness and to respect cultural and ethnic differences. Finally, the facilitator should be consistent in his or her practices and statements.
Practical Tips for Facilitators
The following are general tips for the design and facilitation of advocacy training sessions or of meetings to plan or evaluate advocacy initiatives.
Before the event
1. Define the objectives of the session with leaders or representatives of the organization (or organizations) that will participate in it. This is especially important when the organization has requested that the session take place. A facilitator should be clear about how this particular event fits within the organization’s overall structure and programmatic activities. S/he should try to ensure that it is consistent with the organization’s stated mission and objectives.
2. Ensure that the people with whom you are coordinating the event have the backing of the organization and its membership in order to avoid such problems as manipulation, poor attendance, or lack of credibility.
3. Arrange for the facilitation to be done by a team of facilitators.
4. Make sure that whatever technical equipment is needed for the event is available and functioning properly.
5. Gauge the participants’ true level of commitment to and involvement in the group’s advocacy initiative.
6. Obtain as much information as possible about the organization: its history, current objectives, structure, activities, and internal dynamics. Information can be gathered through interviews, informal conversations, documents, and minutes.
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7. Bear in mind the characteristics of the people who are going to participate: their ages, ethnicity, race, gender, knowledge and experience related to the issue, level of formal schooling, responsibilities within the organization, and level of political awareness.
8. Deal with logistical aspects of the event: the schedule, time allotted for lunch, where and how to hang up newsprint, the size of the space, the noise and temperature levels, the availability of break-out space for small group work, and so on.
9. Ensure that the specific objectives of the session contribute to the organization’s overall objectives.
10. Ensure the logical sequencing of the content to be presented and select training techniques that will fulfill the specific learning objectives of the event.
11. Be familiar with all the materials that will be used during the session, ensuring their appropriateness for the particular group and issue under discussion.
12. Maintain good communication and coordination within the team of facilitators, agreeing in advance on each person’s role and responsibilities.
During the event
1. Make good use of the physical space available.
2. Allow participants the opportunity to express their hopes for the session so that they feel as though their opinions are taken into account from the beginning. Agree upon a schedule and some basic ground rules—the need to be punctual, to listen to other people’s opinions, to be brief, to avoid excessive repetition, to respect others, and so forth. In order words, clarify expectations and the “rules of the game.”
3. Create work groups of participants that will have specific responsibilities and tasks during the event to assist the team of facilitators.
4. Before presenting content, agree on how to handle the taking of minutes. It is important to be clear about the type of minutes that are needed, who will prepare them, with what inputs, and by what date. Explain that the minutes will serve as a report to be given to the team of facilitators. They should record the interests and needs expressed by the participants, analyze any difficulties that arose, and note which techniques were most helpful and appropriate and which achieved the best results.
5. Maintain fluid communication among members of the facilitation team, and model a participatory and democratic work style characterized by mutual respect.
6. Use a variety of presentation techniques (cards, newsprint, transparencies, the blackboard, etc.) to convey information and help participants follow a sequence of topics.
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7. At the end of each step in the methodology, summarize it and highlight the main points of the discussion in order to clearly mark the end of one step and the beginning of another.
8. Make visual contact with all of the people in the group of participants. Do not direct your attention at only one person or one subgroup of people. When participants speak, they should speak to the entire group and not just to the facilitator.
9. Be creative and use appropriate new techniques to communicate with the participants. Know when to switch to a different technique (for example, after a long plenary, a serious discussion, a sad or emotional moment, or a break or meal). Varying the techniques helps keep participants energized and alert. Do not, however, go overboard and allow the techniques to distract from the content being presented or to curtail debate among the group participants on contentious issues.
10. Recognize and deal with the conflicts and disagreements that arise during the session. It is counterproductive to continue to present content when it is obvious that conflict is brewing or that feelings are not being expressed.
11. Address comments or statements made by any participant that are racist, sexist, homophobic, or otherwise offensive, by questioning underlying behaviors or attitudes instead of attacking the person. The facilitator should make every effort to create a safe and congenial environment in which all participants feel respected.
12. Maintain a high level of motivation within the group throughout the session. It is important to create a positive and friendly environment by using techniques that allow the participants to get acquainted with one another.
13. Do not be afraid to make mistakes! Group facilitation is not an exact science, but rather a trial-and-error exercise. Popular educators often say that “a person who never makes mistakes is someone who is not practicing.”
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Section Two:
Training Guides for
General Workshops
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Training Guide:
Introduction to Advocacy
What is advocacy?
Why engage in advocacy?
What are the main things to keep in mind when we do advocacy?
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sexta-feira, 18 de dezembro de 2009
Lisboa: Marcha contra a Pobreza reune várias dezenas de pessoas
Lisboa, 17 Dez (Lusa) - Várias dezenas de pessoas participaram hoje, em Lisboa, na Marcha contra a Pobreza, uma iniciativa da associação CAIS que pretendeu chamar a atenção para um problema que afecta cerca de dois milhões de portugueses.
A concentração começou no Largo Camões, e daí, ao som de um grupo de tambores, muitas pessoas caminharam pelo Chiado, passando pela rua Garrett, em direcção ao arco da Rua Augusta, já próximo da Praça do Comércio, onde se encontra uma réplica da laje da Praça do Trocadero, em Paris, em honra das vítimas da fome, da ignorância e da violência.
A marcha pretendeu "chamar a atenção para a pobreza e a exclusão que vivemos em Portugal. Não é nada de novo mas é algo que se tem vindo a agudizar, a tornar mais insuportável em 2009, em que estamos com cerca de 700 mil desempregados, dois milhões de pessoas no limiar da pobreza e se não fossem as transferências sociais teríamos uma percentagem de 41 por cento", disse à Lusa o director-executivo da CAIS.
No entender de Henrique Pinto, esta situação não é apenas resultado da actual crise socio-económica, que afecta todo o mundo, mas também da recessão económica em que o país "se vê mergulhado já há muito tempo" e a uma "péssima distribuição da riqueza".
Para o director-executivo da CAIS, importa agora que, para além das ajudas do Estado, as pessoas tenham em si a cultura da ajuda e da solidariedade. "É um problema que passa por uma educação em casa e na escola porque se não nos for dito que a nossa vida é tanto ou mais feliz na medida em que se dá aos outros, nós viveremos sempre na indiferença e não nos faz qualquer tipo de impressão, não nos impressiona a historia de outros que possam ter que ver com a pobreza e a exclusão social", apontou Henrique Pinto.
Já na rua Augusta, tempo de ouvir a "Ode do Pão", do escritor chileno Pablo Neruda, para depois todos fazerem um minuto de silêncio.
Apesar da organização da marcha ser da responsabilidade da CAIS, contou com a participação da Amnistia Internacional, da Assistência Médica Internacional (AMI), da Comissão Nacional Justiça e Paz, da Comissão Social da Junta de Freguesia de Santos-o-Velho, da Fundação Obra do Ardina, da organização Médicos do Mundo, da associação O Companheiro e da Rede Europeia Anti-Pobreza.
terça-feira, 28 de julho de 2009
DIREITOS HUMANOS
Comemorou-se o 60º aniversário da Declaração Universal dos Direitos Humanos.
Foi declarada em Paris a esperança de que tudo mudasse e que a humanidade visse garantidos os seus mais elementares direitos, simples e tão importantes.Sessenta anos volvidos e concluímos que a humanidade tem motivos de sobra para ter perdido a esperança nesta declaração. Ela é uma carta de intenções que em inúmeros países do mundo não é observada, em praticamente todos os países do mundo, se não numas coisas será noutras.
A quem viola estes princípios declarados nada acontece, salvo se existirem interesses políticos demasiado importantes.Nos últimos anos temos assistido a genocídios em África em que a própria ONU tem “problemas” em reconhecê-los. Os “problemas” são causados principalmente pelos EUA. Se não lhe convém que a ONU reconheça genocídios pressiona. Os secretários-gerais, os comissários, os funcionários, obedecem cegamente às conveniências ditadas pelos interesses e políticas dos EUA. Só por si estas atitudes são violações grosseiras e gritantes por parte da ONU. Uma ONU às ordens dos EUA e não ao serviço indubitável dos interesses da humanidade.
Inúmeras violações foram cometidas pelos EUA durante a administração Bush. Crimes têm sido cometidos por aquela administração, com a desculpa do terrorismo mas sem esconder a sua obsessão em fiscalizar e dominar o mundo, os povos e as suas riquezas naturais. Alguém espera ver W. Bush e os seus colaboradores a responder por aquelas violações?Se os maus exemplos, as violações mais graves, vêm da potência mundial, como querem que os outros políticos, de países ditos atrasados, procedam no respeito pelo inscrito na Declaração dos Direitos Humanos?Os casos de violação são bastantes, por todo o mundo. No que diz respeito a Timor também eles existem. Há um genocídio para julgar. Mais de 200 mil timorenses foram assassinados pelos militares indonésios desde 1975. A sanha assassina só terminou em 1999.
Comprovadamente, as milícias responsáveis por inúmeros actos selváticos foram treinadas e instruídas para se comportarem como o fizeram por ordens de militares indonésios de alta-patente. Alguém vê esses responsáveis serem responsabilizados e julgados por um tribunal internacional?O pretexto é o de que a Indonésia e Timor se reconciliaram e perdoaram os seus actos infames. Timor-Leste, os timorenses, nada devem à Indonésia, muito pelo contrário.Estamos sem saber porque razão os líderes timorenses recusam apoiar investigações e julgamentos aos culpados.
Também estamos sem saber porque razão um tribunal internacional não toma a decisão de proceder aos julgamentos. Cometeram-se violações que devem ser investigadas, apurar responsáveis e julgá-los, isso cabe à comunidade internacional e a ONU tem uma palavra muitíssimo importante a dizer e uma decisão a tomar. O SG e a ONU em Timor devem procurar o caminho da neutralidade e do respeito pela Declaração dos Direitos Humanos, de facto, em vez andarem a dizer palavras muito bonitas mas nada fazerem. Mais ainda. Em vez de nada fazer para que seja reposta a justiça ainda pactuam com os violadores, sejam eles quem forem. A própria ONU acaba por aceitar as violações e confraternizar com os assassinos.Não esqueçamos que, no caso de Timor, existem violações graves na actualidade, sendo a mais flagrante ocorrida este ano, em Fevereiro, com a execução de opositores políticos do primeiro-ministro Xanana Gusmão.
O caso está por resolver, como convém, e os representantes da ONU, provavelmente, confraternizam com os eventuais criminosos, limitando-se a dizer palavras de conveniência nos dias em que se comemoram efemérides como a de ontem. Ao fim de 60 anos é frustrante assistir a tanta hipocrisia, vinda de uma organização mundial que se desejava política e moralmente imaculada.Que direitos humanos resistem a este estado de impunidade e descaramento?.
Publicada por Fábrica dos Blogs em 16:12
Etiquetas: ONU, Timor-Leste
Publicada por Fábrica dos Blogs em 16:12
Etiquetas: ONU, Timor-Leste
Sabtu, 25 Juli 2009 | 07:17 WIB-MELBOURNE, KOMPAS.com
MELBOURNE, KOMPAS.com - Presiden Timor Leste Jose Ramos Horta, Jumat (24/7), menyatakan bahwa tentara Indonesia menyiksa dan membunuh lima wartawan asing atau dikenal dengan ”Balibo Five”.
Kelima wartawan itu tewas tahun 1975 saat meliput masuknya Indonesia ke Timor Timur.Ramos Horta mengatakan, dia memeriksa kematian kelima wartawan itu tidak lama setelah mereka tewas di batas kota Balibo.”Mereka tidak hanya dieksekusi.
Dari yang saya ingat saat itu, salah satunya disiksa secara sangat brutal,” kata Ramos Horta saat penayangan perdana film Balibo di Melbourne, Australia.
Dia menambahkan, film itu ”hampir 100 persen” akurat, tetapi si pembuat film tidak bisa menyampaikan horor dari penyiksaan dan pembunuhan itu karena akan terlalu mengerikan bagi penonton.Balibo adalah film kisah pertama yang pengambilan gambarnya dilakukan di Timor Leste.
Film itu berkisah tentang lima wartawan, Greg Shackleton dan Tony Stewart (Australia), Brian Peters dan Malcolm Rennie (Inggris), serta Gary Cunningham (Selandia Baru), yang tewas saat pasukan Indonesia menyerbu Balibo pada Oktober 1975. Kelima wartawan itu meliput masuknya tentara Indonesia ke Timor Timur untuk jaringan televisi Australia.
Wartawan keenam, Roger East, yang datang ke Indonesia untuk menyelidiki nasib rekan- rekannya, tewas di Dili, ibu kota Timor Timur, enam pekan kemudian saat tentara Indonesia menguasai kota itu. Film Balibo menggambarkan East dipukuli kemudian dibunuh.Pemerintah Indonesia telah menyatakan bahwa kelima wartawan itu tewas tanpa sengaja di tengah baku tembak antara tentara dan kelompok Fretilin. Versi ini telah diterima Pemerintah Australia.Ramos Horta sendiri waktu itu adalah pemimpin Fretilin dan menjadi tokoh sentral dalam film Balibo.Temuan koronerMenurut Ramos Horta, pejabat Indonesia telah memerintahkan tentara untuk membakar mayat kelima wartawan itu untuk menyembunyikan bukti pembunuhan. ”Orang-orang yang membunuh mereka merasa perlu untuk membakar mayat mereka karena pejabat senior tiba di lokasi dan melihat apa yang terjadi,” ujar Ramos Horta.”Orang-orang itu tahu apa konsekuensinya sehingga mereka harus menghilangkan bukti bahwa para wartawan itu ditangkap hidup-hidup lalu dibunuh dengan brutal. Itulah sebabnya, mayat mereka dibakar untuk menghilangkan bukti penyiksaan,” katanya.
Tahun 2007, seorang koroner Australia yang meninjau kembali bukti-bukti kematian menemukan bahwa para wartawan itu tewas saat mereka mencoba menyerahkan diri kepada tentara Indonesia. Dia merekomendasikan agar para pembunuhnya dituntut atas kejahatan perang. Akan tetapi, pemeriksaan tidak menyebut adanya penyiksaan.Hampir 18 bulan setelah temuan itu diserahkan, Pemerintah Australia tidak merespons seruan koroner tersebut untuk mengajukan tuntutan kejahatan perang. Para pembuat film Balibo berharap bahwa film itu akan mendorong Australia untuk bertindak.
Ramos Horta menyatakan, Indonesia kini telah berubah menjadi lebih baik. (AFP/BBC/FRO)
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