Join the Africa Faith and Justice Network at Ecumenical Advocacy Days 2023: Swords into Plowshares: Achieving Enough for All & Pursuing Peace, on April 25-27, for a virtual conference to worship, educate, and advocate for the innovative and courageous policies needed to realize God’s promise of peace.
Ecumenical Advocacy Days is an annual gathering of Christian advocates and activists. We worship, delve deeply into the pressing issues of the day, and lift our voices by speaking truth to power on Capitol Hill.
Ecumenical Advocacy
Days 2023
Swords into Plowshares: Achieving Enough for All & Pursuing Peace
April 25-27, 2023
Africa Track Workshops Lists
Reversing Financial Theft and Reshaping Mechanisms to Restore Well-Being: the Role of the Faith-Based Community
April 26, 2023
11:30 am to 12:15 pm EDT (US and Canada)
Around the globe, the many weapons of war must be reshaped toward peace. In like fashion, powerful mechanisms of international financial exploitation must be transformed into tools for development. In Africa, where financial institutions based in many external countries, including the United States, extract value and resources from the continent, just as they also facilitate the flood of weapons of war. In so doing they introduce deprivation and escalate conflicts instead of promoting peace and equity. This workshop focuses on the challenges of reversing these processes with attention to the financial dimension.
Objectives
This workshop will:
- Lift the voice of faith-based communities in Africa who bear witness to the global and national efforts of those “taking by force what was intended to be shared”
- Call on people of faith and equip them to advocate for an end to the seizing of Africa’s wealth and support justice and equity
Moderator
Dr. Steven Nabieu Rogers, Executive Director, Africa Faith and Justice Network
Speakers
Ms. Melanie Foley, Deputy Director, Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch
Dr. Pauline Kamau (Kenya), Quaker International Affairs Representative, Africa Region, American Friends Service Committee
The Resources Wars in Africa: The Case of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
April 26, 2023
3:00 PM- 3:45 PM EDT (US and Canada)
To achieve peace and economic prosperity, the African Union set the goal to silence guns by the year 2020. Unfortunately, new armed conflicts have emerged and existing ones have worsened. Rwanda’s invasion, aimed at annexing part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), is the latest example. Despite the United Nations Mapping Report documenting Rwanda’s previous outrageous crimes in the DRC, including genocide, no one has ever been held accountable.
Objectives
This workshop will:
- Highlight the need for accountability in promoting peace
- Break the silence and call for justice
- Establish links between the war in the DRC and the industrialized countries’ demand for its natural resources
Moderator
Ntama Bahati, Policy Analyst, Africa Faith and Justice Network
Speakers
Mr. Maurice Carney, Executive Director, Friends of the Congo
Mr. Claude Gatebuke, Executive Director, African Great Lakes Action Network
Alternatives to War and Conflict: Investment and Accompaniment with Pan-African Farmers
April 27, 2023
10:00 AM- 10:45 AM EDT (US and Canada)
Pan-African communities live with the threat and reality of hunger and poverty. Climate change is a factor. Many African countries and the African Diaspora live at the bottom of the economic scale historically and presently given economic and racist inequities. Many wars and conflicts find their cause because of this. Pan-African land ownership, food sovereignty and production are long-term sustainable solutions. The reauthorization of the Farm Bill is an investment to address this.
Objectives
This workshop will:
- Provide a general comparative lens of the situation relative to Pan-African farmers domestically and globally
- Provide a general identification of challenges and opportunities relative to the systemic issues of causation of war and conflict versus proactive choices that promote sustainable and abundant life in Pan-African communities
- Think about what storytelling might participants offer to engage these presentations?
Moderator
Rev. Dr. Angelique Walker-Smith, Strategist For Pan African And Orthodox Faith Communities, Bread for the World
Speakers
Mr. Wubshet Loha, Cardiovascular Health Program’s Advocacy Associate Director for Africa, Global Health Advocacy Incubator
Dr. Susan Moenga, Computational Biologist, NuCicer
The Role of Faith in Peace building in Africa
April 27, 2023
11:00 AM- 11:45 AM EDT (US and Canada)
“We are one body in Christ”. Across Africa insecurity is creating region-wide crises. People’s rights are increasingly restricted as autocratic governments suppress people’s freedoms. Additionally, climate change related displacements are creating conflicts over limited resources. The number and living conditions of those affected, especially women and children are alarming.
Objectives
This workshop will explore:
- The role of the faith communities in mitigating these challenges
- Advocacy opportunities in Washington DC
Moderator
Dr. Pauline Muchina, Africa Representative, American Friends Service Committee
Speakers
Ms. Bonnie K. Holcomb, Senior Research Associate, George Washington University, ICPS
The Most Rev. Martin Blaise, NYABOHO, Vice-Chair and President, Central Region of All Africa Conference of Churches