Indian Faith-Based Organisations Commit Co-Operation for Fevelopment
Over twenty organizations representing different faiths - including Art of Living, Brahmakumaris, Ramakrishna Mission, Sant Nirankari Mandal, Diocese of Agra and Church of North India, Emmanuel Hospital Association, Evangelical Fellowship of India Commission on Relief, World Vision India, Bharat Sokagakkai, Bahai National Spiritual Assembly, and UNESCO Parza and the World Interfaith forum - participated in an inter-faith connectedness on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
India - November 10th, 2005 (OneWorld South Asia) - Over twenty organizations representing different faiths - including Art of Living, Brahmakumaris, Ramakrishna Mission, Sant Nirankari Mandal, Diocese of Agra and Church of North India, Emmanuel Hospital Association, Evangelical Fellowship of India Commission on Relief, World Vision India, Bharat Sokagakkai, Bahai National Spiritual Assembly, and UNESCO Parza and the World Interfaith forum - participated in an inter-faith connectedness on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The MDGs translate human development into simple and meaningful objectives; they go right to
the heart of improving lives of people and address some of the most enduring problems of
human
suffering. More importantly, they are achievable goals, dependant only upon political will
and citizen’s determination. In substance, they constitute an agenda for eradicating
poverty - human poverty not just income poverty - in the world.
Faith leaders and faith based organisations have always been part of global solutions for human suffering. They have demonstrated their love and compassion through education and health initiatives. Innovations such as telemedicine in health and ICT in education have linked this deprived community to world.
Global experience tells us that faith organizations also have tremendous potential to play a critical role in partnerships and coalitions that are needed to confront even greater issues related to human sufferings. For instance Uganda, Thailand and Senegal, are three countries that have witnessed their courageous and effective efforts related to HIV/AIDS.
OneWorld Seminar for Faith Based Partnerships
Today, with knowledge forming a central vehicle in the creation of a poverty free world, there is a need to harness the power of communication between stakeholders, to enhance partnerships for progress towards the Millennium Development Goals. Therefore, OneWorld South Asia organized a one-day seminar in New Delhi, on November 10, 2005, with the following objectives:
- To communicate with one another about what different FBOs are doing.
- To learn form one another about new ways of reaching out to the disadvantaged and deprived.
- To explore the formation of faith-based Communities of Practice (CoP) and networks as a platform for working towards common objectives related to the MDGs.
In his welcoming remarks, Dr. Shadrach, director of OneWorld South Asia shared a message from Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, who saw the seminar as an encouraging step towards realizing the vision of Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam, meaning One World Family. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar lauded the initiative to bring different groups together for a common cause and stressed that the key challenge was to nurture the self-esteem of human beings, thus empowering them in dealing with issues closest to their lives.
Dr. Shadrach also pointed out that religious organizations had been working for upliftment of people and their self esteem for almost four thousand years. ‘Their contribution goes beyond spiritual awakening - very often they addressed issues of people’s material needs as well as those of social reform,’ he said.
Rev. CB Samuel, Chairman, Micah Challenge India (an Evangelical Christian Alliance on MDGs) provided an overview of the MDGs in the context of FBOs. ‘Although historically, faith based organizations have not always been reputed for efforts in poverty alleviation and empowerment, I am happy to note that this has changed. Today there is much more openness to dialogue with and among FBOs for meaningful partnerships in meeting the MDGs’ he said.
Speaking about the MDGs, Rev.Samuel added, ‘these are actually Minimum Development Goals. The concept of halving infant mortality by 2015 means that where we have 30,000 children of the world dying every day, we work towards a situation where 15,000 children will die! If we, who are from the religious community, believe that life is from God, then each life is important.’
Elucidating that religious agencies, having always provided much needed succor to people, now need to advocate their unique analysis of poverty and development, Rev Samuel said, ‘So far governments and economists have looked at development as a material activity. FBOs should stress that persons are more than material.’
‘Our interventions need to be rooted in the ground realities and basic needs of the people. When we set up hospitals we need to ensure that healthcare reaches the poorest of the poor. When we educate, we need to ensure that education addresses the knowledge and learning needs of children.’
The seminar, with representation from different sections of Bahai, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Parsi and Sikh religions, was replete with exciting and varying philosophies, approaches and programmers for support and development of grassroots communities.
Several commonalities emerged in the sharing that followed - there was a common belief in the innate nobility and dignity of human beings, the need to educate children in the mind and spirit to prepare them for a worthy life, the need to mobilize communities, not just individuals, and to share one’s material possessions, talents and capacities in the service of God and humanity.
It was evident that these organizations were involved in each and every area specified in the MDGs, including poverty alleviation, education, empowerment of women and marginalized communities, disaster relief, sustainable livelihoods, health, water and sanitation. It was also felt that efforts at inter-faith harmony would bring everyone to a common platform of co-operation for working to achieve the MDGs.
The meeting concluded with commitment to continue the dialogue that had been initiated by OneWorld South Asia, and to form theme-based communities of practice that would facilitate sharing of knowledge, best practices, resources, expertise and co-operative efforts to meet the MDGs. OneWorld is convinced that the Faith Based Communities of Practice do have vital contributions to make on each MDG and they look forward to facilitating partnerships and initiatives that will enhance and support them.
Source: The Millennium Campaign.
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