By Patience Gbeze
Accra, March 02, GNA – The Global Act Alliance General Secretary, Bueno de Faria, has asked Christians to work together as Churches to address the humanitarian and developmental needs in the country and the sub-region.
He said that power dynamics amongst Churches, Civil Society Organizations and Development partners created challenges in responding to the needs of the less privileged and disadvantaged people in society.
He said in his capacity as the General Secretary over the years, he realised that most Churches were not part of the alliance, a situation which defeated God’s call for action to serve humanity and called on faith communities to prepare towards responding to emergency situations in the sub-region.
Rudelmar made the call at a meeting with Church Leaders and ACT Alliance Forum Convenors in West Africa in Accra.
He stated that merging ACT Development and ACT International into ACT (Action by Churches Together) Alliance was to come up with a formidable organization that represented the ecumenical movement championing humanitarian work worldwide.
Act alliance is a global faith-based coalition organized in national and regional forums operating in more than 120 countries.
“Through our more than 140 members, we work on humanitarian aid, gender and climate justice, migration and displacement, and peace and security to support local communities.
“The goal is to promote a locally-led and coordinated approach to advocacy, humanitarian and developmental issues,” he said.
The current focus of the Alliance was not on the increase in membership; rather, members will recognise the need to join the alliance and be a part of it. It was his vision to include the various Council of Churches globally to be part of the forum to keep the identity as a faith-based network.
He said the alliance had the best structure in responding swiftly to humanitarian needs in society through the various forums.
He cited the recent swift response to victims of the earthquake disaster that occurred in Syria and Turkey.
He urged the various forums to strengthen the cohesion by working together and focusing on capacity building to train and develop members to be better equipped in the approach to finding solutions to the plight of humanity in the sub-region.
He pledged his support to the capacity strengthening activities in the sub-region.
The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, Rt. Rev. J. O. Y. Mante, disclosed that, the Presbyterian Church of Ghana had been a member of the ACT Alliance since 2010.
That partnership, he said, begun with an invitation for the PCG to attend the first General Assembly meeting in Arusha Tanzania.
Since then, the PCG through the Presbyterian Relief Services and Development (PRESED), we have worked as partners to provide humanitarian relief and support to disaster affected victims in Ghana.
“These have included the provision of food and non-food basic items, training and disaster risk reduction strategies in disaster prone communities across the country.
“The Church is proud to have supported directly, more than 7,500 individuals and 30,000 households.
“Recently, through the support of ACT Alliance partner Hungarian Church Aid, the church provided much needed support to persons affected by explosion in Appeatse in the Western Region of Ghana. We have also provided various support interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic all with support from the ACT Alliance.”
Rt. Rev. Mante said the Church was grateful for the partnership “which ensures that we can reach out to persons affected by disaster and respond in an adequate manner to provide much needed supplies and support.”
“Our partnership also helped us to provide training that mitigates the risk of potential disasters and supports the building of resilient communities.”
He concluded with an African proverb which says’ if you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together’. We as the PCG want to raise the bar and do more, and we request for Church actors to join.
He advised the West African alliance to be strategic and focused in requesting support when engaging with the UN at any given forum.
Present at the meeting were; The ACT Alliance African Representative; Elizabeth Kisiigha Zimba the General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana, Rev. Dr. Cyril Fayose; Very Rev. Evans Onyemara; the General Secretary of the Nigerian Christian Council, Very Rev. Evans Onyemara; General Secretary of the Council of Churches in Siera Leone, Mrs. Kezia Kargbo; and the General Secretary of Liberia Council of Churches, Rev, Christopher Wleh Toe; The National Director, Development and Social Services of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana and the West African Forum Coordinator, Mr. Emmanuel Nyarko Ankamah.
GNA