09/17/2007
Global Reconciliation
by EGR
Global Reconciliation—
What you And your Congregation can do . . .
Education
∞Have an adult education event about the MDGs and 0.7% giving.
∞Advocate 0.7% giving to poverty-reducing activities at the diocesan, congregational and individual level.
∞Have Sunday Schools and youth learn about MDG issues around the globe, and raise money and supplies to help children in developing countries.
∞Have space in every parish newsletter that talks about the MDGs, and what Episcopalians are doing about them.
∞Make educational materials on the MDGs visible and available in your church.
∞Start a book study group around a book concerning an MDG issue (e.g. Black Death: AIDS in Africa).
∞Put your parish on the Washington Office on Africa mailing list and display their materials prominently.
∞Invite students or colleagues who are from developing countries to tell their stories to you and your parish.
∞Link the Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation (www.e4gr.org) and MDG (http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals) sites to your church website.
∞Encourage your clergy to become educated about the MDGs (provide materials for them) and to preach and teach about our great opportunity to live as global Christians.
Prayer
∞Include the MDGs in the prayers of the people (take one goal a week and pray for it).
∞Include people and nations most effected by MDG issues in the prayers of the people (something new every week, e.g. one week pray for the people of Tanzania, 1/3 of which are HIV-positive, the next week pray for the people of Pakistan, 57% of whom have not had a primary school education, etc.).
∞Use the Anglican Cycle of Prayer to pray for the work toward meeting the MDGs that is going on in the wider Church.
∞Pray for God to open our hearts and minds to encounter Christ as we reach out to our sisters and brothers in need around the globe, and that they encounter Christ in us.
Giving
∞Give 0.7% of your income every year to reduce global poverty.
∞Instead of buying gifts at a store for Christmas or birthdays, give gift cards of donations to organizations working to reduce extreme poverty (ERD, globalgiving.org, etc. do this). Or buy gifts made by the global poor from online shops.
∞Have a parish fund-drive to get materials needed to make AIDS test kits, then have an afternoon of assembling and packaging them. Include notes with them.
∞Have every household in your congregation collect pennies in jars (kids love doing this), then have a “penny harvest” every six months with the proceeds being split between local outreach and international development.
∞Have each Sunday school class adopt a child and pay their school fees.
Public Policy
∞Become members of the Episcopal Public Policy Network (www.episcopalchurch.org/eppn) and call your representatives when MDG issues come before Congress.
∞Ask candidates for political office their plans to fulfil our promises for the MDGs and related goals.
∞Write letters to your elected representatives urging them to increase United States funding for the MDGs.
∞Write letters to the editor to your local newspaper using materials available on the EGR website.
Experience
∞Organize a church work trip to a developing country, connecting with the Anglican Church there. Go as pilgrims walking on holy ground and listen to their stories of both
hope and suffering, share your lives and work on a project that is of need to them.
∞Encourage college students and other young adults in your congregation to consider spending a year in a developing country through the Episcopal Young Adult Service Corps (http://ecusa.anglican.org/3702_51250_ENG_HTM.htm)
∞Look into possibilities of bringing children from a deeply effected country to camp for a summer (there is a Lutheran camp in Asheville, NC that does this with young people from Malawi every summer).
1The Millennium Development Goals
And Why We Have Them:
(Goals are set to be achieved by 2015, using 1990 as a benchmark)
Halve extreme poverty and hunger
1.2 billion people live on less than US $1 per day
Millions die every year from hunger
Achieve universal primary education
113 million children do not attend school
Empower women and promote equality between women and men
Two-thirds of the world’s illiterates are women, and 80% of its refugees are women and children
Reduce under-five mortality by two-thirds
11 million young children die every year
Reduce maternal mortality by three-quarters
In the developing world, the risk of dying in childbirth is one in 48.
Reverse the spread of killer diseases, especially HIV/AIDS and malaria
Each year, 300-500 million malaria infections lead to over one million deaths, of which 75% occur in African children 5 years and younger.
40 million people are infected with HIV/AIDS, with 5 million new cases in 2001 alone.
Ensure environmental sustainability
More than one billion people still lack access to safe drinking water.
Create global partnerships for development
Too many countries are spending more on debt service than on social services.
These are global challenges and require global partnerships
The Episcopal Church, through ERD and other partnerships, is joining with the United Nations Millennium Project on key issues such as HIV/AIDS, hunger, orphans, and to develop a specific program to fight Malaria.
Why 0.7% of our annual budgets?
0.7% is the figure agreed upon by the international community and signed by world leaders as the percentage of wealthy nations’ GNPs that is required to adequately fund sustainable international development aid. In 1972 a UN
approved a resolution calling on all developed nations to spend 0.7% of their
GNPs toward international development assistance. This was reaffirmed by
world leaders in September 2000 at the UN Millennium Summit where the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were established.
The United States government has agreed to the 0.7% of GNP funding levels
for international development. Yet, the U.S. only gives 0.13% of GNP per year (that is only a little more than 1 cent out of every $10) for development aid. We give only 1 cent per $100 to African aid. The U.S. is last among all nations in giving as a percentage of our wealth. The church’s giving 0.7% will help fund significant projects and serves as a witness to governments, especially our own, in calling on them to give what they have promised.
Where do we spend the money?
There are many great opportunities. One of the easiest is Episcopal Relief & Development (ERD), which funds many MDG-related development projects. There is also Five Talents International (http://www.fivetalents.org/), which provides microcredit loans to people in developing countries. You can contribute to MDG work and help build relationships between our diocese and other parts of the Anglican Communion by contributing to diocesan funds for the Anglican Diocese of Lui in Southern Sudan and to All Souls Liberian Episcopal Church and Child Development Center in Buduburam, Ghana.
How do we know the money goes to the poor and sick, where it is intended?
If we contribute our 0.7% to major development programs, such as ERD and/or Five Talents, the programs are completely transparent and accountable with careful audit systems in place. Similar systems of accountability are being set up with Lui and All Souls. Other organizations such as Heifer Project have similar accountability structures. You can also donate directly to the UN-administered Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and other UN funds, which also are transparent and fully audited. (www.unfoundation.org)
Many of us already give to ERD and other similar groups; why 0.7%?
We are looking to establish 0.7% so we can fund on-going MDG-related development programs in a specific and concrete way so that it becomes part of the fabric of what we do as a church rather than one time or occasional gifts. It also serves as a powerful witness to governments to do the same (to fulfill the promises already made).
Global Reconciliation on the Web
Resources for individuals and congregations
www.e4gr.org - Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation – A national organization of Episcopalians committed to moving the church to a global mission focus. The website has lots of practical resources, including ways to donate online.
www.anglicancommunion.org -- The Anglican Communion – learn about our global partners in faith.
www.un.org/millenniumgoals -- The official UN site about the MDGs
www.developmentgoals.org -- The World Bank site about the MDGs
www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/developingnations/millennium.html - The Millennium Challenge Account – information about the fund established by the Bush Administration to address the MDGs.
action.truemajority.org/ctt.asp?u=249169&l=275 – the “Oreo cookie” video comparing U.S. government expenditures on the defense industry and global poverty
www.theonecampaign.org -- The One Campaign – A campaign to rally Americans to fight global AIDS and extreme poverty.
www.data.org - Debt, AIDS and Trade in Africa – Bono’s (lead singer of U2) organization. Great resources in the “action center” – including resources for churches and other faith organizations.
www.worldonfire.ca -- The Sara McLachlan “World on Fire” video that led off this workshop.
www.episcopalchurch.org/eppn -- Episcopal Public Policy Network – your connection to the advocacy power of the Church in Washington.
Global Reconciliation and the
Millennium Development Goals
Some Questions and Answers
Q: How much will the MDGs cost?
A: At least $100 billion a year until 2015
Costs are hard to estimate. Especially for a whole planet! So much depends upon how governments, development agencies, and small initiatives accomplish the goals. Every place is different. Some are very cost effective. In other places things do not go as planned. A hurricane or a violent conflict makes the work harder and more expensive—but no less necessary!
The World Bank and United Nations organizations have calculated rough estimates of costs for meeting the MDGs. It is a range because we don’t know for sure how it will go. At present, the developed countries provide $58 billion in overseas development assistance. We will need at least an additional $40 to $60 billion every year from now until 2015 to meet the MDGs. That’s a lot of money! But is it really?
In 2003 the US government spent roughly $400 billion on the military; and $13 billion on development assistance. Budgets reflect priorities. We could give more—its not asking much. How will we respond?
Q: Is 0.7% enough?
A: Yes, it’s enough—but only if many people act.
Otherwise, we need to give more.
Since 1970, the international community has asked the developed nations to give 0.7% of their Gross National Income to reduce poverty. Five of them do. If most gave 0.7%, we could easily reach the goal of $100 billion a year.
If every diocese in the Episcopal Church gave 0.7% we would raise $1.2 million every year.
If every parish in the Episcopal Church gave 0.7% we would raise $9.8 million every year
If every person in the Episcopal Church gave 0.7% of his or her income we would raise $354 million every year
If the United States Government gave 0.7% of its Gross National Income we would raise $75 billion every year
If the “rich countries” all gave 0.7% of their Gross National Income we would raise $175 billion every year
Q: Why give 0.7% overseas?
A: Because we forget to give beyond our borders.
As American and as Christians we are generous people. We give of our money, our love, our time, and our prayer. In 2002, American individuals, private foundations, and corporations
gave $241 billion to various charitable causes. But how much of our giving supports people who are destitute and desperately poor in distant parts of the world? The shocking, painful answer is that although we don’t realize it, we forget to send our gifts beyond our borders.
Less than 2% of Americans’ gifts go to US-based groups that work abroad, or go to activities in poor countries. Of the $241 billion we gave, less than $5 billion supported international programs relating to peace and security, arts and culture, poverty alleviation, education, health, and the
environment.
This is an oversight—especially for Christians.
We do not intend to live lives of opulence unknown in any previous generation or most other nations on earth while billions scrape by, like Lazarus at our gate. But we do. The 0.7% guide reminds us to send some of our tithe, some of our donations, some of our gifts, to our sisters and brothers overseas.
Send more if you can by all means, but please send some.
Q: Is money effective? Isn’t it mostly wasted?
A: We have gotten dramatically better at using development assistance.
Studies suggest that our ability (as donors working in mutual partnership with poor people, with civil society groups, and with governments) to reduce poverty permanently has
increased considerably. Why?
∞We waste a lot less money on huge projects that don’t work, or that don’t reduce poverty.
∞We recognize the importance of governance, encourage accountability and fight corruption.
∞We strive to create pro-poor growth (where the poor get jobs and increase their productivity).
∞We know how to give the poor resources so they can solve their problems productively.
∞We know how to involve the poor so we can build on their knowledge and respect their culture.
∞We recognize that investment in education and health are means to growth as well as ends.
∞We have data to track progress as never before and respond in a timely way.
∞We have better technology—to deliver heath care, lay roads, make water drinkable, improve seeds, use e-mail.
Accidents might still happen—but then your teenager might wreck your car or the stock market might undercut your pension—and you do not decline to support them.
