Annual Meeting
Never Again: Honoring Jennifer Davis with the 2009 Faith & Justice Award
Ms. Jennifer Davis received the 2009 Faith & Justice Award at AFJN's annual member meeting and reception in March. AFJN's Board Chair Fr. Chris Promis remarked on Jen's work:
“Never again”… words we often hear in the face of tragedy and horror, holocaust, and genocide. Words Ms. Jennifer Davis heard from her German grandmother and parents as they recalled the horror of the Nazi Holocaust. This young Jewish girl, born in South Africa from a German mother and a South African father, was able to transfer the passion and power of those words to the tragedy and pain of apartheid in her country during her formative years. For Jen, “’never again’ meant that every Jewish person should be an activist, resisting religious and racial oppression wherever it occurred.” During her years in secondary school and university studies, she engaged in organizing efforts to rid South Africa of this injustice. After she married and her young family moved to New York, she became the research director and later the second executive director of the American Committee on Africa, based in New York. She retired from that in 2000.
Now that she is in Washington, she has been engaged with many other African activists, continuing the task of advocating in clear and uncompromising language that justice be done in Africa. Yet, she still keeps ties with colleagues in New York and South Africa, monitoring events as they unfold. She stays connected, and through her, we are connected.
Through her work with the Washington Office on Africa, on its board and as interim director, she became involved in the planning and execution of the Africa Track at Ecumenical Advocacy Days each year. So it was within the context of this year’s EAD that AFJN honored and publically acknowledged Jen with the 2009 Faith and Justice Award at a special reception on Saturday evening, March 14th. She prophetically embodies characteristics of faith, collaboration, and being “an instrument of education and advocacy on behalf of justice for Africa.” No one can doubt her conviction to seek secure relief from systemic injustice in any form. Her indomitable spirit has been a gift to all of us involved in the preparation of the Africa Track each year at EAD. She is our memory (she keeps us from repeating ourselves year after year), she keeps us focused (lest we stray from what really needs to be offered in a workshop or plenary), and she holds us together. The bestowal of this award is AFJN’s way of offering our admiration and gratitude to Jen for her passion and work. —Rocco Puopolo, s.x.
2009 Staff Report
Staff:We have a three person full time staff at AFJN. Beth Tuckey who has been with us since June 2007 is the associate director for program development and policy. She also assists with outreach. Bahati Ntama Jacques began in September of 07. He is the policy analyst. He is from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Both began here as interns. And there is myself as Executive Director since September 2006.
During the Summer of 08 we were fortunate to have 2 interns assisting us, Allison Burket from Kenyon College, Ohio and Sara Shanley from Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond VA. During the Fall of 09 we welcomed Gbenimah Slopadoe from Holy Cross, Worcester. This spring we have five: Fr. Emmanuel Adeboa from Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg VA, Jason Bongiovanni from Houghton College, NY, Meghan Mattern from Calvin College, MI, Katie Mattern from American University DC and Andrew Fallon, from American University and Wesley Seminary, DC. All have had Africa experience and bring that passion and interest to their work at AFJN.
Highlights from the Year:
The Board of AFJN has met three times since our last Annual Meeting: July 26 by conference call, September 19th/20 ; and January 31st . The main work has been the review of the operational plan, renew Board Committees, improve outreach to new communities/parishes for membership and attend to the financial situation of AFJN. At the January meeting, Fr. Chris Promis became the new Chair of the Board. Our main focus areas remain Restorative Justice, AFRICOM and issues related to the upcoming Africa Synod on Justice and Peace. Two related issues, Northern Uganda and particularly DR Congo are followed by the staff as well.
AFJN exhibited at Jubilee USA Conference in Columbus Ohio in June, Sojourners conference in Cleveland Ohio, The Convention for the Common Good in Philadelphia in July, the Annual Africa Diaspora Day in DC in July, LCWR/CMSM in Denver in August.
Collaboration with other Advocacy groups:
ADNA (The Advocacy Network for Africa which AFJN co-chairs) has been resurrected and there is interest by many partners. We are looking forward on working on the Foreign Assistance Reform Act when it comes up in Congress, hopefully by June. The Catholic Task Force for Africa is still meeting Monthly. Congo Global Action is now housed at Trinity and is continuing its work. AFJN is the fiscal sponsor.
University outreach:
AFJN assisted in Congo Week in October, which promoted worldwide advocacy for Congo. Beth and Bahati were present at Notre Dame for a Conference on Development with AFJN-ND in October. Rocco was part of a seminar on Peacekeeping in Africa at Catholic University Law School. Beth was part of a symposium on AFRICOM at Howard University, Bahati spoke at American University on Congo and AFRICOM. We still hope to have AFJN chapters in a number of Catholic campuses soon.
Africa Summits:
Since our last member meeting there was one Summit in December in Chicago. There is one coming up in two weeks in Cincinnati. We hope by the end of 09 to be part of two others: Baltimore and possibly Southern California.
Response to some of our campaign requests:
1. The Situation Paper on Congo and Rwanda – “Two Rebel Groups, One Solution” was completed and circulated to offices on the Hill and at State Department as well as all our contacts. It has been very well received.
Earlier email blasts on this issue resulted in 1,433 faxes sent to Congress on Congo-Rwanda Relations plus phone calls to President Bush on this issue.
2. Through our advocacy for Water for the Poor Act which was up for reauthorization in 08 the new law now includes 125 Million of 300 Million allocated for 20 SubSaharan African Countries This is a first, meaning 2 to 3 million dollars now available for each country.
3. In part due to AFJN’s advocacy and public outreach, the budget for AFRICOM in FY2008 was cut by about 1/3.
Presence at Public Events:
AFJN was present at various public events such as a vigil and protest at the Rwanda Embassy on Oct 31st , the “March for Congo” from State Department to Lafayette Park on January 17th – AFJN, Friends of the Congo and Congo Global Action organized this. Many Diaspora attended. AFJN was also a principal organizer of the Resist AFRICOM Protest on Capitol Hill in October.
Media:
Beth had several articles on AFRICOM appear in Pambazuka, FPIF, AllAfrica, etc. Rocco was interviewed and the article appeared in the Ghana National Catholic Paper in November. Rocco was interviewed on the radio both in Liberia and in Sierra Leone on Restorative Justice. Bahati was interviewed on Africa Now! on the DC public radio station on the Congo issue. The AFRICOM group put together a 8 minute video on AFRICOM that is now available on YouTube and was posted on the Huffington Post’s website.
Connections to Africa:
Trips by Staff: Rocco spent the month of November in Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone for the Restorative Justice Project. Bahati and Beth visited Burundi and Uganda in late Janaury and early February. Bahati is still in the Congo, returning at the end of March.
Visitors: We have hosted here a number of African Bishops: Bishop Menghestreab of Eritrea, an AFJN member and Comboni Missionary visted in the office and shared the situation of Eritrea with us. AFJN hosted two Congolese Bishops and a Congolese Sister who are part of the Justice and Peace National Commission of Congo while they were in DC advocating for peace in Congo who were brought here through the offices of CRS. Archbishop John Baptist Odama was in DC recently and AFJN and the Catholic Task Force organized a gathering for him. He was the keynote speaker at the recent USCCB Social Ministry Days.
Outreach: We are trying to reach out to our Africa Contacts both of AFJN as well as various Justice and Peace Offices to welcome reflections in preparations for the upcoming Synod on Africa.
Grants received and requested:
$24,000 from the Adorers of the Blood of Christ for the Restorative Justice Project. $5,000.00 from the Oblates of Mary Immaculate for parish outreach for AFRICOM, $2,000 from the Marianist Community for the Restorative Justice Project, and $700 from an online appeal for funds to support the making of a video for AFRICOM.
We have made grant requests to the Jesuits, the Holy Cross Sisters, and the Holy Child Communities recently.
Tasks for the Future:
Funding: With the help of the Board and Membership, we need to redouble our efforts to secure necessary funds to guarantee that AFJN can do its work.
Increase Membership and Donations: At the moment we have 34 community memberships, including one parish. We have around 700 individual “members” on our data base, but not not all are up to date on dues. We have over 3,000 emails on our email blast list, and we often invite them to join us as paying members if they benefit from our services. We also need to find better ways to “engage” membership in a mutual way with our work.
We are looking to develop closer mutual links with Justice and Peace Offices of Member communities as well as those in Africa. Through the creation of a new Parish Outreach Strategy in January, we will seek improved Outreach to US Parishes, Dioceses and Schools that have links with Africa.
Rocco Puopolo, s.x.
Executive Director
March 14, 2009
Climate Change Talking Points - 2009 EAD Lobby Day
2009 ECUMENICAL ADVOCACY DAYS – ENOUGH FOR ALL CREATION
Talking Points for Participants on Our Message for Congress
God created the earth and declared it “good.” As people of faith— called to protect the vulnerable and to the care and keeping of God’s earth—we are gravely concerned that the impacts of climate change have and will dramatically and negatively alter our earth's natural balance. Because the effects of global climate change are already impacting those least able to cope with them, addressing global climate change is also a justice issue.
Talking Points for Participants on Our Message for Congress
God created the earth and declared it “good.” As people of faith— called to protect the vulnerable and to the care and keeping of God’s earth—we are gravely concerned that the impacts of climate change have and will dramatically and negatively alter our earth's natural balance. Because the effects of global climate change are already impacting those least able to cope with them, addressing global climate change is also a justice issue.
Reduce Climate Change Emissions:
- Enact a mandatory system that lowers greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. to meet standards recommended by the international scientific community for ensuring the earth’s temperature does not increase by more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees F) above pre-industrial levels. Many scientists believe an increase in 2 degrees C. will bring about a "tipping point" that will cause irreversible and catastrophic damage to the earth's climate.
- We applaud the president’s commitment to climate change mitigation as shown in his budget proposal, the assumed 100 per cent auction of carbon credits, and the investments in developing a renewable energy economy.
- To achieve this, the U.S. must reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25-40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 and work for long-term reductions that are at least 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. The short-term carbon cap proposed in the president’s budget - 14% emissions reductions below 2005 levels by 2020 - is inadequate to avert the most catastrophic effects of climate change.
- Voluntary measures have been shown to be ineffective - there must be a regulatory incentive for carbon emitters to comply with reduction targets.
- Mechanisms developed for achieving these reductions must be clearly based on principles of transparency, accountability, global equity and environmental effectiveness.
- Provide international adaptation assistance to vulnerable communities in the Global South that are struggling to adapt their lives and livelihoods to respond to shifts in weather patterns and the natural environment.
- We are concerned about a lack of clear commitment in the president’s budget for international adaptation funding.
- Climate change is already disproportionately affecting poor countries, and will continue to do so – the countries that contribute least to the causes of global warming and have the least resources to protect their vulnerable populations.
- The UN Human Development Report estimates that at least $86 billion per year will be needed by 2015, including money to “climate-proof” development investments, build resiliency of affected communities and respond to climate-related disasters.
- Adaptation funding should take the form of grants, not loans, and be delivered through mechanisms that are transparent, participatory and accountable to those most impacted, including women and indigenous communities.
- The Adaptation Fund under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) provides a positive step in this direction, However, given the World Bank’s carbon-intensive investment portfolio, poor record on environmental and social concerns, and undemocratic and nontransparent structure, it does not seem that the World Bank’s Climate Investment Funds would be an appropriate vehicle for international climate funding.
- Because of the massive U.S. contribution to greenhouse emissions, money for adaptation and transition is a moral responsibility, must not be considered as charity, and must be new and in addition to U.S. commitments to foreign aid
- Provide generous humanitarian assistance to people fleeing effects of climate change.
- Admit a significant number of environmental migrants through a new entry mechanism similar to the special immigrant visa process.
- Between 2007 and 2008 alone, more than 400 natural disasters resulted in over 16,000 persons dead and 234 million displaced from their homes. It is estimated that by 2050 over 200 million people will have been displaced due to the effects of climate change.
- Individuals forcibly displaced by natural disasters have little to no access to international protection and humanitarian assistance, and absolutely no access to refugee resettlement in the U.S., since international law does not regard them as refugees.
Register Today!
Africa Faith and Justice Network with the Center of Concern
2010 Conference & Lobby day.
Justice in Africa: On Whose Terms?
Keynote Speaker: Fr. Peter Henriot, S.J.
Saturday April 17 & Sunday April 18, with Monday, April 19 Lobby day
This year’s Conference includes a panel discussion on Restorative Justice, featuring the professors contributing to the AFJN book on that theme, as well as a wide variety of workshops - Restorative Justice, US Africa policy (including both the trend of militarization and Obama administration’s Africa policy), Great Lakes Region, Food Security (including GMO’s), College AFJN Chapters and Advocacy on Campus, and Parish twinning.
We will follow our discussions with a Lobby day Monday, April 19, arranged by AFJN staff, giving you a chance to have your voice heard by those who shape US policy on the issues you care about!
| Register Here! |
Holiday Inn, Rosslyn at Key Bridge
1900 North Fort Myer Drive
Arlington, VA 22209
Accessible by D.C. Metro (Rosslyn Station)
Registration Fee: $175 Early Bird Rate; $200 after Feb. 28; $55 Student Rate
Click here for more information on Fr. Peter Henriot
Conference Schedule
Saturday
2-4 p.m: Registration
4-5:45 p.m: Restorative Justice Plenary
featuring the professors contributing to the AFJN Restorative Justice book project
6:30 p.m: Keynote address and Banquet
featuring Fr. Peter Henriot, S.J. and African musicians
Sunday
8 a.m.: Continental Breakfast
9 a.m: Liturgy featuring Fr. Clement Aapengnuo
10:30-12:00 p.m: Workshops I
•US Africa policy: Nii Akutteh, Policy Analyst; Emira Woods, Foreign Policy in Focus
•Great Lakes Region: Paul Miller, Africa Team Leader and Policy Advisor, CRS
•Restorative Justice: Peter Quaranto, Legislative Assistant for Senator Feingold; Bahati Jacques, AFJN Policy Analyst
•Food Security: Kristin Sampson, Center of Concern; Fr. Peter Henriot, JCTR, Zambia
12:00 -1:00 p.m: Lunch
1:00-2:30 p.m: Workshops II
•US Africa policy •Great Lakes Region •Restorative Justice: see above
• College Outreach:Lacey Haussamen, Notre Dame; Michael Poffenberger, Resolve Uganda
• Parish Twinning: Teresa Phillips, Archdiocese of Cincinnati; Trevor Rodrigues, St. Monica's Parish, Santa Monica, CA
3:00-5:00 p.m. Closing Plenary/ member meeting – “Apply your Faith to Justice”
5:00 p.m. Lobby Day training
Monday
Lobby Day: Help Shape U.S. policy! AFJN will scheduling meetings with your representatives.
Photos of 25th Anniversary Conference
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