Cafod pledges to keep mobilising and inspiring the Church community

When I look back on 2021, two themes dominate. As we prepared for the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, the focus of so much of Cafod’s work, everything we did was overshadowed by the Covid pandemic. It forced us to operate in different ways, which often turned out to be no bad thing.

As the pandemic drags on, it has of course been hard on people. But we remain inspired by our global partners and our supporters and volunteers. Seeing children and young people involved in the Eyes of the World climate justice campaign in the run up to COP26 or taking part in our Lent fundraiser Walk for Water, to songs or with their pets, really did lift our spirits.

It’s incredible how much our partners have been able to carry on doing their vital work, be it funding awareness, obtaining and shifting oxygen and PPE, or food provision. This was summed up by a picture I saw recently from a workshop in DR Congo that I’d visited before the pandemic. Then it was doing tailoring work; now it had shifted to producing masks and PPE.

And when it comes to working with our partners, there is something very equalising about all being on Zoom, reducing the need to fly and cutting back on our carbon footprint.  The immediacy of Zoom has also helped to deepen the connections with our partners and communities around the world. We can talk much more directly. One thing our conversations with them has brought home is that in so many of the countries where we operate, from Zimbabwe to Lebanon or Ethiopia, Covid is simply yet another crisis on top of so many others, whether it be conflict or environmental degradation.

Afghanistan, for which Britain’s Disasters Emergency Committee, of which Cafod is a member, has just launched an appeal, is a prime example. Even before the Taliban takeover in August, the latest upheaval in more than 40 years of war, Afghans were suffering a devastating third wave of Covid. But what has brought the country to the brink of famine is climate change. Droughts are becoming more frequent and more intense, so that 2021 has seen one of the worst droughts in two decades. The same is true in East Africa.

This underlines how important the environment has been for us. Throughout this past year, COP26 was a focus. It reflects Cafod’s concern for the environment more generally, and our commitment to living out the call of Laudato Si’, in which Pope Francis asks us to hear the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor. We made sure that the concerns of our partners were heard at COP, and our young campaigners raised their voices too.

We’ve also been looking at the ways in which our own international programme reflects that “cry of the earth and cry of the poor”. The environmental stewardship tool that we have been developing is intended to ensure that concern for the environment and sustainability is integrated right across our work. So, in South Sudan, for example, the installation of hand washing basins made us think about how the drainage worked. In places like Syria, local partners were looking at pest control and waste management.

Throughout our programming work, we are thinking about those longer-term environmental impacts.

Both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor come together in the work of the amazing human rights defenders that Cafod has been engaging with this year, particularly across the Amazon. The bravery and determination of ordinary people fighting the destruction and exploitation of our environment, as well as the legal workers who help them, is truly inspiring. They work tirelessly to protect our common home. As well as supporting them in country, some of them came over to be part of our delegation at COP26 in Glasgow.

In the past year we have also seen a significant increase in conflict and in climate-related, so-called natural disasters. Even before Covid appeared, there were projections that more than 200 million people would need food, shelter, clean water, medical assistance, and protection by 2022. Sadly, this situation will continue to get worse until climate change and the root causes of conflict are addressed.

It remains a question of power and powerlessness. For Cafod, like other NGOs, we are reflecting on our power and how we use it; to ensure that we can recognise and play our part in addressing the systematic injustices and inequalities in our world. 

One key part of this for us, and all international development agencies, is our commitment to support local leadership. This is a practical question, recognising that these local experts are the front-line, but also a matter of justice, in recognising the skills and contribution of local partners who know what is best for their local communities. Cafod works through local partners, because especially in the face of emergencies, and particularly in relation to faith communities and faith leaders, they’re part of the everyday lives of communities, and people respond to them. We will continue to support our valued local partners to be better organisations, sustainable for the future, and able to raise more money for themselves, so they’re not dependent upon income from us.

So, there is much work for us to do in 2022 and beyond. Our strategic framework, Our Common Home, remains an inspiring vision as we seek to implement Laudato Si’.

At the heart of Laudato Si is our own ecological conversion. Cafod has reduced its carbon footprint hugely, particularly through not travelling, though some travel is needed. But we’re continuing to commit ourselves to doing all that we’ve been calling on others to do.

Here at home, as the agency of the church in England and Wales, we aim to keep mobilising and inspiring our church community. As we think ahead to the new year we seek to reach out to younger and more diverse groups to ensure as Cafod we reflect our church community. 

We know that we offer support and solidarity to hundreds and thousands of people in communities all around the world. We support fantastic development projects and provide increasing amounts of emergency humanitarian assistance. Yet above it all, our power lies in the fact that Cafod is a witness of the Church, a witness to our value of life and a witness to solidarity.

Best wishes for a peaceful and safe Christmas and New Year.