2019 Africa Workshops
In Your Face Advocacy: Catholic Nuns in Africa Trouble the Social and Political Status Quo in Favor of the Poor and Vulnerable – With Practical Results.
Across the world, Catholic nuns are known for their service to the poor and vulnerable members of the society. In many African countries, Catholic nuns are in remote areas providing services to populations that often neglected by their governments. In recent years, nuns in Africa are taking their ministry of advocacy to the center of political power, demanding changes in the structures of injustice and accountability for the common good. This workshop will showcase advocacy strategies and efforts of Catholic nuns in Tanzania, Nigeria, Uganda and Ghana and ways they are troubling the status quo in favor of the poor and the vulnerable and getting practical results.
Panelists: Eucharia Madueke, SNDdeN, Coordinator, African Women Project, Africa Faith & Justice Network (AFJN); Aniedi Okure, OP, Executive Director, AFJN, Moderator: Faustine Wabire, Senior Manager, Policy and Advocacy, Management Sciences for Health
Africa’s Crisis of Displaced Persons: Refugees, Migrants and Trafficked persons
Panel will discuss the sale and scope of the displaced persons crisis. They will discuss key components of crisis including looking at drivers of displacement, the challenges being faced by the displaced populations, the international response this far, the new Global Compact and what the United States can and should do.
Panelists: Abdullahi Halakhe, Senior Program Officer, International Programs, Policy and Advocacy, Africa, International Rescue Committee (Overview of migration and displacement patterns), Mark Yarnell, Senior Advocate, UN Liaison, Refugees International (IDPs Ethiopia), Staff from operational NGO either World Vision/CARE TBC (Conditions in the camps: Opportunities and Challenges), ADNA member: Adotei Akwei, AIUSA (the causes behind the displacement and migration), Moderator: Nii Akuetteh, Independent Consultant
The Quad-Centennial and the Early Organized Faith Resistance Against Racism, Inequitable Wealth and Hunger Disparities
Africans and People of African Descent of faith have historically resisted racism, policies that have contributed to inequitable wealth and hunger disparities. Such has often had the blessings of many churches. What can we learn from the earliest period of resistance in the USA and Angola in the 1600’s that included war and lawsuits against laws that led up to legal enslavement, colonization and subsequent inequitable laws and practices in the USA and globally?
2019 marks the Quad-centennial of the transatlantic voyage of African peoples from the country of Angola in 1619 to Jamestown, Virginia. Although there was a battle in Angola to resist the illegal capture of Angolans, their contested transatlantic journey and arrival in Jamestown ushered in the pathway to legalizing the practice of enslaving African peoples by 1705 in the USA. Since then racist inequitable policies been built on this foundational policy of enslavement. A new Quad-Centennial devotional, “Lament and Hope”, and paper outlines this with tools for organizing action against this legacy through policy engagement today. The proposal is to learn and engage this history of injustice and resistance with the devotional resource for advocacy action today in conversation with experts who are working on this globally and nationally.
Panelists: Ambassador Arikana Chihombori, African Union (Video); General Secretary, All Africa Conference of Churches-Rev. Dr. Fidon Mwombeki (video); Rev. Q. Driskell, “Lament and Hope” Devotional Writer & Pastor of Beulah Baptist Church, Alexandria, VA ; Heather Taylor, Bread for the World; Father Aniedi Okure, OP, Executive Director, Africa Faith and Justice Network (AFJN) Moderator and Author of the “Lament and Hope” devotional and related paper, 2019-The Quad-Centennial: 400 Years of Inequitable Racist Polices and Resistance from Historic Black Churches in the USA: Rev. Dr. Angelique Walker-Smith, Bread for the World