Annual Meeting
Annual Member Meeting at EAD
Posted March 30th, 3011
Last Saturday, at Ecumenical Advocacy Days, AFJN had its annual member meeting at a well-attended reception. Fr. Rocco Puopolo addressed the audience, highlighting some of AFJN's Successes and sharing AFJN's end of year Financial Information. The meeting also gave members a chance to thank Ann Oestreich, of the AFJN Board, for her years of dedicated service, and hear a few words from Fr. Rocco at his last AFJN Member meeting as Executive Director.
AFJN Members Ask Congress: Support Free and Fair Elections in Rwanda & End Violence Against Women!
Posted April 22, 2010
From April 17-19th, 2010 Africa Faith and Justice Network (AFJN) held its annual conference in Washington DC under the theme “Justice In Africa: On Whose Terms?” On Monday the 19th, conference attendees walked US Congress’ corridors asking legislators two things: first, to take action in support of free and fair elections in Africa beginning with Rwanda and second, to support and co-sponsor the International Violence Against Women Act (H.R 4594, S.2982). This lobby effort was a success because of the number of people who took part in it, the number of offices they visited, the positive reception, and the timeliness and relevance of our message.
Musings from the Member Meeting
This year's member meeting took place on April 18, 2010, as part of the 2010 conference "Justice In Africa: On Whose Terms?"
The time together for the annual member meeting was planned to reflect our very name: Africa Faith and Justice Network. Prayer was weaved through the two hour period to make our work a faith statement. The Justice component was fleshed out through the help of Sr. Marge Clark of Network who lead the group towards a better understanding of why we advocate for justice, how we do so as citizens and what outcomes for the poor and vulnerable are met. We had hoped to actually hand write letters to Congressmen and Senators on the asks for our conference, but there was little time.
We ended our meeting with the Networking piece, the very practical review of the network through the aid of the office report. We posed questions from what was reported in order to encourage some dialogue and interaction among the members. With regards to four focus areas that AFJN has been working on (Restorative Justice, Resisting AFRICOM, Peace in DRC and The African Synod), we asked: Does AFJN membership have other areas that they would want the staff to focus on? Some suggestions that arose from the discussion were: Development related to the MDG and who the actors are; a concern about African leadership; HIV/AIDS and PEPFAR; Muslim fundamentalism; and concern for the victims of the economic crisis. A second question was related to the networking of the network: Are there better ways for AFJN to link with the various JPIC offices of institutional members? A lot has changed over the years and issues that particular JPIC offices are following could be maximized through better connection with the DC AFJN office. There was a request to find a way for AFJN to help these office better know one another, even with a simple list serve. Regarding outreach, AFJN needs to reach out beyond the present membership in order to sustain itself. Initiatives have been made to universities, African Diaspora as well as parishes, and material has been generated for these outreaches, but better use of them has to happen. We have had limited success with this and we would welcome any ideas. At the meeting we also requested more feedback on the possibility of having the newsletter Around Africa sent out digitally (if you haven’t yet, there is still time to fill out our member survey on this question!).
The last concern that arose from the report and called for some feedback is the precarious financial position that AFJN is in at the moment. Membership dues provide only half of the finances needed to operate AFJN. Grants and donations make up the other half, and requests for funds from foundations have become more challenging. There is a very real possibility that we will not be able to continue our work if other funds are not forthcoming. We ask membership and friends to recommend ways for us to meet this financial challenge. All ideas are welcome.
Rocco Puopolo, s.x., Executive Director
Click here for other conference follow-up materials!
Educate and Advocate: 2010 Conference follow-up!
Last weekend, AFJN hosted its 2010 annual meeting and conference, entitled "Justice in Africa: On Whose Terms" featuring Fr. Peter Henriot, S.J. as a keynote. Nearly 150 individuals – missionaries, students, activists, scholars, and more – from across the U.S. and from several African nations, all gathered in Rosslyn, VA to share and learn from one another.
Justice both in and for Africa was the focus of the conference and Peter Henriot’s keynote address (click here for the full text), but workshop topics ranged from food security to U.S. Africa Policy more broadly to what you can do to make a difference. It is our hope that these conversations help mobilize AFJN members to help carry out our mission of educating and advocating for Africa and for more just U.S. relations with the continent.Look below for resources and information that can help as you look to learn more or to carry what you learned out into your communities!
Africa and Justice: Justice IN and FOR Africa
Keynote at the 2010 AFJN Conference by Fr. Peter Henriot, SJ
Surely, should we not really speak of “Africas” in the plural? Such a huge Continent, comprising over 700 million people living in over 50 countries. When I was travelling from Zambia last week to come to the USA to offer presentations like the one I am offering this evening, I looked at the map on the small TV screen in front of me at my seat. Africa, such a huge continent – you could fit the mainland USA into it three times and still have some space left over! It took over six hours of very fast air travel to cover only two-thirds of the continent. And such a wondrous variety of life below me!
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