Christian Aid News 61 - Autumn 2013

CHRISTIAN AID NEWS Issue 61

Autumn 2013

christianaid.org.uk

• Syria: ‘the great tragedy of this century’ • Zimbabwe: new food crisis warning • India: aftermath of the floods

Special issue ‘It’s our own parable of the talents’ – how Christian Aid is working to change the systems and structures that keep the poor in poverty

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Item name Client Client team

half-page youth leader bible studies Pippa Durn SPD IP CPU: Church Youth Team

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FOLLOW THE JUSTICE THREAD...

Explore our new series of resources for youth and student groups, which looks at one thread that spans the Bible from beginning to end. That thread is justice. Read, reflect, discuss: continue the story.

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IN THE BEGINNING GENESIS

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A PEOPLE SET APART LAWS

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LIFE IN COMMUNITY EARLY CHURCH

A PROPHETIC GENERATION PROPHETS

WHAT DID JESUS LIVE FOR? GOSPELS

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BRING ON A BETTER WORLD REVELATION

The sessions, and an introduction to them, are available as free downloads from christianaidcollective.org/justice-thread Project name Item name 14-360-J1835 Client Client team

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RAISE YOUR

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VOICE! Join our speaker team

Volunteer speakers and preachers help us fight poverty by taking stories about the work Christian Aid supports to churches and other community groups across Britain and Ireland. They inspire people to get involved with Christian Aid by giving, taking action and praying for change. Could you raise your voice and be part of this team?

If you share our vision for an end to poverty, are an inspiring communicator and have experience of speaking in a church environment, then we’d love to hear from you.

We will provide you with training and support, a wide range of resources, and out-of-pocket expenses. Above all, you’ll get the opportunity to use your skills and experience to help change the lives of some of the world’s poorest people.

To find out more: visit christianaid.org.uk/volunteering or contact us at volunteering@christian-aid.org

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CONTENTS

THANK YOU to all of you who responded – mostly favourably, too! – to our ‘Tell Us What You think’ survey in the last issue of Christian Aid News.

As we reveal on page 5, we’ll be making a few changes to the magazine from the next issue.

Meanwhile, we’ve taken the opportunity with this edition to highlight our Partnership for Change strategy and tell you a bit more about who we are, what we do and how we work to bring about real changes to the systems and structures that perpetuate poverty.

Over the summer, media coverage of charity chief executives salaries mentioned Christian Aid. This led to a larger than average postbag. Our Input page includes some of your comments, the board response, and reflections from our Chair, Dr Rowan Williams.

Roger Fulton, Editor COVER PHOTO Truphena Ireri gets weather forecasts by text message in Kenya’s Mbeetre district. It’s part of a project run by Christian Aid partner CCSMKE to help farmers take control of their growing calendar and reap bigger yields.

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Christian Aid News is printed on 100 per cent recycled paper

Christian Aid/Amanda Farrant

EDITOR’S LETTER

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SPECIAL FEATURES

THE POWER OF PARTNERSHIP ■ 8 A PARTNERSHIP FOR CHANGE Why aid works.

REGULARS

■ 10 PARTNERSHIP IN ACTION

■ 4 NEWS Christian Aid relaunches Syria crisis appeal; why a new food crisis is looming in Zimbabwe; an update on the India floods disaster.

■ 22 LIFE AND SOUL

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Buy an ethical Christmas gift and help the poor.

■ 26 EVENTS Cyclists tackle three big challenge events.

■ 12 OUR PARABLE OF THE TALENTS Christian Aid’s theory of change.

■ 14 WORLD OF CHRISTIAN AID

■ 24 YOUR CHRISTIAN AID News round-up from the regions and nations.

Highlighting some of the successes of the past year.

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Voices from the frontline.

■ 16 CAMPAIGN CALL Giving a voice to the poor.

■ 28 INPUT

■ 18 TAKE ACTION!

Your letters.

Campaign updates.

■ 29 LAST WORD

■ 20 CRISIS POINT

With Dr Rowan Williams.

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How humanitarian aid is changing.

UK registered charity number 1105851 Company number 5171525 Scotland charity number SC039150 Northern Ireland charity number XR94639 Company number NI059154 Republic of Ireland charity number CHY 6998 Company number 426928. The Christian Aid name and logo are trademarks of Christian Aid. © Christian Aid October 2013. The acceptance of external advertising does not indicate endorsement. If you wish to receive this magazine digitally, go to christianaid.org.uk/can

Christian Aid is a Christian organisation that insists the world can and must be swiftly changed to one where everyone can live a full life, free from poverty. We work globally for profound change that eradicates the causes of poverty, striving to achieve equality, dignity and freedom for all, regardless of faith or nationality.

We are part of a wider movement for social justice.

We provide urgent, practical and effective assistance where need is great, tackling the effects of poverty as well as its root causes.

■ Front cover Christian Aid/Susan Barry ■ Pictures Matthew Gonzalez-Noda ■ Sub-editors Belinda Vine, Tracy Tran, Andy Jacques ■ Circulation Ben Hayward ■ Design and production Becca Macdonald/Syon Publishing, 020 8332 8407 ■ Christian Aid head office 35 Lower Marsh, London SE1 7RL ■ Tel 020 7620 4444 ■ Fax 020 7620 0719 ■ Email info@christian-aid.org ■ Online at christianaid.org.uk

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NEWS syria

week at the end of summer.

Saman Majad from Christian Aid Iraqi partner REACH met families at the border. He said: ‘Many arrived on foot, after travelling through mountainous desert, exhausted and hungry, having fled from fighting and a breakdown in security generally. Some had waited for weeks to cross, in temperatures of up to 40 degrees; they arrived with nothing, hadn’t washed for days, their skin was burnt from the sun and their clothes were worn out.’

There are now 200,000 Syrian refugees in Iraq. Half of the new influx, however, is outside the overflowing camps. They are staying with host communities or sleeping rough under tarpaulins and other makeshift shelters with no access to water or sanitation or camping out in schools, mosques, libraries, garages and warehouses – anywhere they can find.

The autumn rains will make matters worse, particularly for those outside the camps. Refugees are already suffering from malnutrition and diarrhoea, and health issues will escalate without proper medical supplies, clean water and sanitation units. And winter is coming.

Christian Aid partner REACH has provided 7,000 refugees with food, water containers, sanitary products and other essential items. It plans to reach 10,000 more in the coming months.

Haifa Ungapen, who is helping our partners in Lebanon, said: ‘The international community has been generous, but we must not grow apathetic; there is still great need.’

Christian Aid, working with our sister ACT Alliance agencies, continues to provide emergency support to those who have been forced to leave their homes in Syria, and those who have fled to neighbouring Lebanon and Iraq.

• You can donate to the Christian Aid Syrian crisis appeal by visiting christianaid.org.uk/emergencies or by phoning 08080 004 004.

Saman Majad/REACH

Christian Aid has re-launched its emergency appeal as the United Nations declares the Syria refugee plight to be ‘the biggest displacement crisis of all time’.

Some 2 million people, a tenth of the population, have now fled as refugees, half of them children. A further 4.3 million have been displaced inside Syria. These numbers mean that more Syrians are now forcibly displaced than in any other country in the world.

António Guterres, the UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees, described Syria as ‘the great tragedy of this century – a disgraceful humanitarian calamity with suffering and displacement unparalleled in recent history.

‘The only solace is the humanity shown by the neighbouring countries in welcoming and saving the lives of so many refugees,’ he added.

Refugee numbers are continuing to rise at an alarming rate, having doubled in the past six months. The UN estimates that there could be 3.45 million by the end of this year. The largest single exodus since the conflict began two years ago saw 40,000 people cross the border into the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq in just one

Saman Majad/REACH

‘the great tragedy of this century’

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zimbabwe

2 million at risk in food crisis Erratic rains and unusual midseason droughts over the past year have triggered critical levels of crop failure in Zimbabwe. More than 2 million people are in need of urgent food assistance in the coming lean months, according to the World Food Programme.

The meagre maize and cereal harvest combined with tumbling grain stocks and inflated prices have forced President Mugabe’s government to depend on expensive food imports, mainly from neighbouring Zambia and South Africa.

‘The food security situation in Zimbabwe is dire, especially in the arid and marginalised Matabeleland provinces where we and our local partner organisations work,’ warns Miriam Machaya, country programme manager for Christian Aid Zimbabwe.

‘As well as poor rains and drought, a whole host of negative factors – including widespread poverty constraining even basic farming investment, the late or total

unavailability of government-funded seeds and fertilisers, damaging farming methods, and pest outbreaks – have contributed to frightening levels of potential hunger and malnutrition.

‘In Insiza district particularly, our partner ZimPro reports that the hunger situation is precarious, with only three out of 23 wards recording any surplus food.’

In addition to an increasingly unreliable climate and unseasonal droughts during the 2012/13 farming season, Machaya says that the current situation is compounded by Zimbabwe’s souring international donor relations.

‘The recently concluded election outcome and policies of President Mugabe are also likely to have a bearing on food and income availability, as relations with donors continue to decline.

‘Christian Aid’s Zimbabwe programme and partners are currently undertaking rapid emergency hunger assessments to analyse the food security situation here. Our findings will help us to identify and quantify the most vulnerable populations and assess their food needs. An early response now could help to save lives over the coming months.’

Support our Christmas appeal treatment experienced by people living under occupation. ‘I see how it has changed my life and my family’s life, and it keeps changing the lives of many,’ says Waleed’s mum Rufaida Badir.

This Christmas, Waleed and many others like him are enjoying a future filled with new hope, but we still need your help.

Waleed with his mother, Rufaida

Christian Aid

Saman Majad/REACH

This Christmas catch up with Waleed Badir, a Palestinian boy whose hearing difficulties made growing up amid conflict in the West Bank (part of the occupied Palestinian territory) a frightening and isolating experience.

After receiving a hearing aid from Christian Aid’s partner Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI), Waleed had started to make progress when we met him in 2012.

Support our Christmas appeal this year to witness for yourself the amazing journey Waleed has been on in the past 12 months. By visiting christianaid.org.uk/christmas you can find how much his life has changed with PHRI’s support.

PHRI works to raise awareness of the inequalities in accessing medical

and our survey said...

TELL US WHAT YOU THINK We’d really like to know more about who is reading Christian Aid News and what you think.

Your views will help us to improve the magazine and make sure it reaches the people who want it.

Please complete this short survey and post it to the address overleaf. Alternatively, you can save us the postage fee and complete the survey online at: feedback.christianaid.org.uk

In the last issue of Christian Aid News we invited you, our readers, to tell us what you thought of the magazine. We received almost 2,000 responses and we’ve been busy reading through all that you’ve told us.

We were thrilled to hear that most of you like the magazine. Two-thirds of you read every single issue and nearly three-quarters of you rate Christian Aid News as ‘excellent’.

Of course, there’s room for further improvement. You’ve challenged us to find more space for regional news and faith-based content, and perhaps use a little less space for fundraising information. You’ve also asked us to tell stories over time so you can see the difference your support makes.

Many readers asked to be updated about our finances, management team and operations, so we’ve done just that for this special edition of Christian Aid News. It seems a fitting way to end the current magazine design with a look back at what’s been a record financial year.

Your next issue of Christian Aid News will look entirely new and, we hope, deliver many of the suggestions you’ve shared with us.

We look forward to hearing your comments about the new magazine in February.

Until then, there are many other opportunities to get closer to Christian Aid and tell us what you think. We’re inviting readers to join an online panel to share their opinions about a wide range of issues.

You can find out more at christianaid.org.uk/getinvolved/ surveys/

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NEWS

Christian Aid/Sarah Filbey

GHANA

Farmer Thomas Ndebugri sprays his crops with organic, chemical-free pesticides he made himself from all-natural ingredients

PESTICIDE MISUSE AFFECTS MILLIONS EACH YEAR THE DEATHS OF 23 primary school children in the northern Indian state of Bihar in July highlight the potentially devastating consequences of careless pesticide storage. The children all died from eating school meals, allegedly poisoned by cooking oil stored in a container that had previously been used to decant pesticides.

In northern Ghana, similar cases of poor pesticide storage have come to light. In one especially harrowing case, a young farmer in Walewale, in the remote West Mamprusi district, had

been transporting pesticides on the back of his bicycle. He tied the container holding the chemicals next to a sack of maize flour bought to feed his family.

This simple oversight led to his death, and killed eight of his close relatives.

Unfortunately, his story was by no means a one-off.

With Christian Aid’s support, our Ghanaian partner Northern Presbyterian Agricultural Services (NPAS) has published a report, Ghana’s Pesticide Crisis: the Need for Further Government Action. The report reveals that

pesticides, some banned or restricted, were frequently kept near food stores in farming areas. This practice is believed to have caused the deaths of 15 farmers in late 2010 due to accidental seepage.

In fact, the World Health Organization estimates that acute pesticide poisoning affects 3 million people globally, with 20,000 unintentional deaths every year.

Most farmers Christian Aid spoke to were unaware of the hazards, although many had suffered a range of problems due to general misuse, inability to understand packet instructions (which are often written in a language they don’t speak), and a lack of protective clothing. Basic precautions such as wearing gloves or tucking trousers into boots were ignored. There were also anecdotal reports of impotency among male farmers who had been using pesticides over a prolonged period.

Currently funded through the British government’s UK Aid Match scheme, NPAS has spent the past three years raising awareness in farming communities about the correct storage and use of pesticides. It encourages farmers to use alternative organic pesticides such as pepper, lemongrass and garlic.

NPAS has also lobbied the Ghanaian government to strengthen and enforce the country’s laws and policies on proper marketing, handling and use of such chemicals.

Al-Hassan Mahama, NPAS deputy programme manager, warns that banned chemicals are still available, and that some pesticides cleared for use by the government should never have been approved.

NEW FILM EXPLORES GLOBAL TAX DODGING THIS AUTUMN Christian Aid is teaming up with ActionAid and Oxfam to host screenings of a new awardwinning documentary, The UK Gold.

The film explores global tax dodging through the eyes of an east London vicar, Rev William Taylor, following him as he stands up to the financial institutions of the City of London.

Explaining how he got involved, Rev Taylor said: ‘I can see the City of London from my parish in Hackney and I’ve often wondered “what does what goes on over there do for us over here”. This film is about joining the

dots and showing the connection between those with power and wealth and those without.’

He has been shocked at what he discovered while making the film. ‘I hadn’t realised the extent of the impact tax dodging has on aid and the developing world,’ he said. ‘There are countries in Africa struggling because the City is helping companies to channel funds through havens and avoid paying the taxes they owe.’

Christian Aid estimates that tax dodging costs developing countries US$160bn a year.

Rev William Taylor

This film is a compelling look at the complicity of the UK’s tax havens in fuelling that financial secrecy. The Guardian describes it as ‘the kind of film to get the blood boiling and steam hissing out of your ears.’

• For more information on screenings of The UK Gold, call 020 7523 2264, or see christianaid.org.uk/theukgold

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colOmbia

Christian Aid/Matthew Gonzalez-Noda

Indigenous Colombians resist toxic spraying

Christian Aid has backed Colombia’s indigenous Embera community in its protest against a government coca-spraying programme that has poisoned their food crops and water.

In July, the Colombian Air Force began a process of spraying of the

Protecting her future: a young Embera girl

illicit crops in Alto Guayabal, in Chocó region, north-western Colombia. The aircraft sprayed herbicide indiscriminately, reportedly into areas where there were only food crops.

‘The local Embera community has reported that the spraying has contaminated their water and crops

and is causing people, including children, to fall sick,’ says Thomas Mortensen, of Christian Aid Colombia.

After the spraying, the community wrote to the Colombian authorities denouncing the spraying. They demanded respect for their rights, and requested urgent health care, emergency food and clean water supplies.

The Embera are one of the 34 indigenous peoples in Colombia identified as at risk of physical or cultural extinction. They have defended their land before, opposing a mining company in 2009.

Christian Aid hopes that in continuing peace talks between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia rebels, the Embera communities’ rights are respected and their land protected for future generations.

• See christianaid.org.uk/colombia

india

Christian Aid’s partners in India are continuing to support communities struggling to rebuild their lives after the June floods in Uttarakhand, northern India.

Heavy and incessant rains resulted in floods and landslides that left 6,000 dead. Roads crumbled down mountainsides into the rivers below, leaving many communities cut off from emergency assistance. Homes, businesses and livestock were wiped out and crops destroyed – leaving many people without a source of income.

In response, Christian Aid launched its India Floods Appeal and thanks to the generosity of supporters, we raised nearly £200,000 to help communities in desperate need.

Local government has supported communities with emergency food rations and shelter, but destroyed

crops and farmland remain a grave concern. Many farmers will not have a harvest to rely on this winter. Rice is usually sown during the height of monsoon season (June to September), but the flooding has caused the soil to become unusable.

Ongoing monsoon rains have made access difficult; mountain passes, essential to reach those in need, are extremely treacherous. Much-needed road repairs are slow and prone to recurring damage.

Christian Aid partners Church’s Auxiliary for Social Action, Indo-Global Social Service Society and Sustainable Environment and Ecological Development Society initially provided emergency assistance to approximately 5,000 families, including food rations, healthcare and shelter to both rural and urban communities in Rudraprayag and

AP/Press Association Images

emergency flood appeal tops £200,000

Aftermath of the floods in India

Uttarkashi districts. they are now working with communities to help them re-establish agriculture and livelihoods.

Yeeshu Shukla, Christian Aid emergency officer, said: ‘We’re looking at ways to provide alternative incomegenerating opportunities for people who have lost their crops and businesses, as well as providing food and schooling for the children in the most affected areas. We are continuing to commit all our efforts to provide support to those most in need.’

• See christianaid.org.uk/india

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Po wer ohfip par tners

Christian Aid: our Partnership for Change

Christian Aid/Amanda Farrant

At a time when economic constraints have brought aid and development spending into question, Christian Aid offers powerful evidence that aid works. Drawing on themes from our Annual Report, the following pages highlight who we are, what we do and how we work to effect transformational change that enables people in poor countries to lift themselves out of poverty and have a say in decisions affecting their lives

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IN A WORLD OF UNPRECEDENTED WEALTH, the scale of suffering across the globe is a scandal. All of humanity’s technological advances and the vast resources at our disposal do not alter this stark fact: today, extreme poverty blights the lives of 1.4 billion people.

Poverty robs people of their dignity.

It denies them access to food, shelter, healthcare, education and an opportunity to fulfil their potential. It leaves them unrepresented, oppressed and at risk of harm and abuse.

But poverty is not inevitable. There is hope for a better world and that is where we – and you – come in. Created and perpetuated by human systems and structures, poverty can be ended by human action.

Development is so much more complex than just taking £1 from a donor’s hand and giving it to someone in need. If it were that simple, poverty would have been solved long ago.

With the support of our sponsoring churches, we strive not just to meet the needs of those afflicted by conflict or disaster around the world, but to use that £1 – and, indeed, £96 million more of them – to transform the systems and structures that keep people poor.

As highlighted in our Annual Report, Christian Aid is creating a fundamental shift in the balance of power through our new strategy, Partnership for Change. The strategy aims to give people:

• power to change institutions • the right to essential services • fair shares in a constrained world • equality regardless of gender, ethnicity or class • a life free from violence

In Burkina Faso, Christian Aid partners empower communities – and especially women – to identify both their needs and the factors that hamper their development. In this way, our partners ensure we are doing the right thing at the right time in a way that also strengthens community resilience to crises

These five ambitions will guide our work for the next five years. Achieving them is an immense challenge – one we cannot hope to accomplish alone.

Rather, it is through the power of our relationships that we can transform the world – our relationships with our partner organisations, with the wider development community, with policymakers and the business community, with grassroots groups, with the people living in poverty who need us to raise our voices on their behalf, and, of course, with the churches and faith groups, and with you, our supporters, without whom our energy for change would be diminished.

When people work together to achieve a common goal for the common good, change happens. We saw this in historic campaigns to end slavery, apartheid and poor country debt. We see it today in hundreds of communities transformed through the hard work of our partners in churches, cities, towns and villages across the globe. It’s this power of partnership that lies at the heart of Partnership for Change.

As Christian Aid News has reported, we have achieved some notable

successes over the past year, from the Enough Food for Everyone IF campaign – which pushed tax high up the G8 agenda – through to the Christian Aid-backed March for Justice in India, and a new chocolate factory built by indigenous cocoa farmers in the Bolivian Amazon.

Christian Aid transformed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people last year. We gave more money to our frontline work than ever before, while making substantial cuts to our running costs. Of every £1 we receive, 86p helps transform people’s lives across the world. The rest is used to generate more money for our work.

Across the sector, we’re winning the battle against poverty. The health, education and economic prospects of the world’s poorest people have all improved this century. Extreme poverty can be defeated – that’s the ambition we’ve set ourselves.

For the first time ever, that goal is within our grasp. In recent years, the number of people living on less than US$1.25 a day has been halved. The number of children dying before their fifth birthday has also almost halved over the past two decades. More children than ever are going to school, and looking forward to a better future.

Christian Aid is a big part of this story of success. Thanks to you, we’ve helped to improve the lives of millions of people across the world.

More pregnant women can give birth safely, and people caught up in deadly conflict or natural disasters can get basics like food, medicine and shelter.

Some of the changes demanded by our new strategy have been difficult.

We have reviewed every aspect of our work – from the way we structure our organisation to how we support our partners across the world. Those changes have made us stronger and better able to make a difference.

Aid works. Christian Aid works.

• You can read the Annual Report in full at christianaid.org.uk/annualreport

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The power of partnership in action Our vision of changing the lives of people living in poverty around the world saw some major successes in 2012/13. Here are just some of the ways we’ve helped to shift the balance of power

Christian Aid/Sian Curry

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We organised an epic – and successful – march of more than 60,000 of India’s poorest people to claim their right to land.

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Our partners offered food, emergency shelter, education and psychological support to thousands of Syrian refugees.

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Around the world, our partners have helped almost 1 million people get access to healthcare or adopt preventive health practices.

Christian Aid/Sarah Malian

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In Kenya, nearly 100,000 women and children have benefitted from vital maternal and infant healthcare.

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We helped provide more than 31,000 survivors of devastating floods in the Philippines with essentials such as food and blankets.

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Our work in partnership with the Department for International Development earned praise from an independent commission for our use of UK Government funds to promote greater accountability and innovation in our development projects.

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We successfully campaigned to strengthen new EU laws that will help tackle tax dodging by making companies more transparent.

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More than 2,000 Kenyan farmers now receive regular weather forecasts on their mobile phones, so they can plan when to plant their crops.

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In northern Iraq, Christian Aid partners successfully campaigned for changes in the law to make female genital cutting illegal and ensure ‘honour killings’ are treated as murder.

Christian Aid

Christian Aid/Sian Curry

In Brazil, a Christian Aid partner has helped quilombola communities fight for their collective land titles and block a timber company seeking to start logging in their part of the Amazon rainforest.

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The Enough Food for Everyone IF campaign brought together more than 200 organisations in a coalition to tackle global hunger. It not only put the issue on the G8 agenda, but made sure the politicians took note.

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Christian Aid/Tom Pilston

Adding value: our own parable of the talents

As the world grows more complex and interrelated, so too does Christian Aid. Our presence in many countries gives us the opportunity to make a strong global impact on poverty. And at the heart of our development is the partner-based model. Here, our International Director Paul Valentin explains how the pieces fit together Can you outline briefly how Christian Aid’s development model works?

We work uniquely with partners in both development work and in our humanitarian and emergency response.

This sets us apart from the majority of other agencies. We believe in it because the ownership of our work needs to lie with local people, with local organisations; we can’t ‘own’ their development. We can support, encourage, we can help bridge gaps, but we can’t do it for them.

This means, ultimately, that our

work is more sustainable, because we never have the problem of having to hand over to the local people, which is a problem other agencies experience on a regular basis, particularly after emergencies. It doesn’t mean we are always successful, but the success rate and sustainability of most endeavours is higher because local ownership is there from the start.

How do we ‘find’ our partners?

There is no one formula. In some cases it is historic – we know them or have

In the village of Phanisa, in Malawi, an irrigation scheme is being constructed with the guidance and support of our partner Churches Action in Relief and Development. This is a practical initiative that can be repeated throughout Malawi and elsewhere to help communities build resilience to changing climatic conditions

known of them for some time, because they are well-known development actors in their countries. This is especially so with church-based organisations whose roots go deep into communities.

But we also have country managers and teams in many countries, who keep their ears close to the ground, and who have a good understanding of the countries, the terrain and local needs.

Out of that ‘field intelligence’ we can identify organisations new to us and get to know them first before we might start funding them.

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How much turnover is there with partners?

Over time there is quite a lot of churn, but partnerships generally last more than four years. With some organisations we fund their core costs, which enables them to keep going, and allows them to run more than just a few projects. With other partners, they might get their core funding elsewhere and we work with them on a projectby-project basis. But if everybody in the development field just funded groups project-by-project many organisations would not be able to exist. Core funding sounds boring but is vital to any wellfunctioning organisation.

It’s important, too, to respect the work our staff do in these countries, and pay them a decent salary. In many cases they will have gone through a lot to complete their education and go to university. Relying entirely on volunteers is not a good basis on which to do development work. If charities did not pay enough, then as staff became more professional they would leave – for jobs in their own private sectors, or with the UN! This does sometimes lead to tension with churches who don’t

partner voices

Christian Aid/Tabitha Ross

How is the relationship managed and maintained after we become partners?

It’s a bit like a marriage. Both partners actively need to keep the relationship alive to avoid it going stale. Where only one side initiates everything, problems will arise. But if both are active, the partnership works. And it’s about more than money, it’s about ideas. Though there is room for some disagreement, basically if we don’t agree it will be time to go our separate ways.

Our field-staff are critical. They add huge value and ensure we are doing much more than just delivering cheques. They visit the partners regularly, they monitor progress.

They spend time with the partner working with the communities so the community knows and understands a project. In London, we collate the lessons learned and interpret the impact data, and we challenge partners if we see a repeat of mistakes or we fail to see evidence of impact. But we also highlight success stories so we can take the learning from one country to another or inform the wider development community.

pay as highly, (but often do provide housing and free access to education), but if we neglect or forget this, the whole development model would fall flat. Sure, we could just send people from this country to hand out money, but that would be an affront to the dignity of local people who need to take ownership of their own development.

Why is this the most potent model for development?

The potency lies in the added value which ensures that the £1 of a supporter is turned into £10, £100 worth or even many times more. Critics will complain that with every £1, you take some of that off for staff and administration costs and that means less gets to the recipient. But by having good staff, good systems and a long-term strategy we can bring about change that works 10 or 100 times harder. Otherwise what is it? You’re just trying to buy an end to poverty? That won’t work.

For example, in India we used £50,000 to help a partner organise a land rights campaign that resulted in thousands of poor people securing rights to many thousands of acres of land. If we’d just used that money to buy land, we’d have only helped a handful of families.

An investment of a few thousand pounds in creating an enabling environment is thus turned into development returns worth millions!

Is this Christian Aid’s ‘theory of change’?

Yes, the theory of change is that people are actors in their own development.

Our role is to be a catalyst for that change. And there’s no point wanting to eradicate poverty if you work in just a few villages. There’s nothing wrong

‘Christian Aid is very much a partner in our work. They really care about poverty. They are concerned with reaching not only the poor, but really the poorest of the poor. This is in line with our own thinking, and so we feel that we really have a shared vision.’

Bishop Youannes, director of COC Bless, Egypt

with doing that, but it’s not ambitious enough. Every project needs to have the potential to be scaled up. Sometimes you start with, say, five villages and scale up to ten or 100, but the point is to effect transformational change.

We also seek to achieve leverage, which means ensuring that the development investment results in a far greater return. Gender equality work is a good example of this. If you change the minds of 100 fathers in a district that it is worth investing in their daughters’ education, those girls will grow up better-educated, more able to earn a living, and likely to have less children. Poverty gets addressed in a fundamental, structural way. This will have an impact way above the level of the money first invested. It’s our own parable of the talents.

Moreover, people who experience poverty or oppression deserve more than a promise that their issues will be resolved at some time in the distant future. The scandal of poverty is here with us today and our actions should be informed by a sense of urgency.

Climate change has put this into sharp perspective; we may only have a window of five to 10 years to head off catastrophic developments. Our theory of change should therefore be informed by the notion that we haven’t got time on our side. Time is critical.

Partners by numbers Christian Aid gives grants to 814 partner organisations in 46 countries and has offices in 30 of these. As of 31 March this year, it employed 404 staff overseas. Of these, 95 staff were based in Asia and the Middle East, 259 in Africa and 50 in Latin America and the Caribbean.

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Christian Aid/Matthew Gonzalez-Noda

‘It’s important they know I’m the same as they are and they can be the same as me’

Our man from Malawi: MacDuff Phiri on stage at this year’s Greenbelt Festival

Christian Aid’s church and campaigns journalist Joe Ware talks to Malawi country manager MacDuff Phiri about how his work for Christian Aid is helping to make a difference in his homeland – and about his unusual Christian name! in country Christian Aid country managers oversee and coordinate the work of the organisation within their country.

They build relationships with local partner organisations, checking on their work and ensuring they are supported. They also represent Christian Aid in the media and in discussions with their government and other bodies. The majority of country managers are native to the country in which they work.

The man who oversees the work of Christian Aid in Malawi knows how it feels to have nothing. MacDuff Phiri grew up as one of eight children. As a boy he would work in people’s gardens, not for pocket money but for food.

‘I was born in poverty,’ he says. ‘I know what it feels like to go to bed hungry and not for a day or a week or a year but for years. I remember having lice in my hair and my clothes.

‘I went to a boy’s boarding school and I arrived wearing just some plastic

shoes, a pair of trousers and a shirt.

They asked me where my belongings were and I told them these were all I had. Most of the time I had to borrow other boys’ clothes. Often, the only garments I wore which were my own were my underpants. I’m just grateful I went to an all-boys school because I would have had a hard time impressing girls.’

MacDuff now meets regularly with cabinet ministers, liaises with donors and partner organisations, and oversees an office of 26 people. It’s been a long road for the 42-year-old father-of-three.

‘I was the first in my family to go to university. My dream was to be a medical doctor, but it was never realised because I was rubbish at physics, biology and maths. So I had to focus on something else and got into sociology and demography.’

After university MacDuff wanted to work in development, but jobs were hard to come by. With his pioneering spirit MacDuff offered to volunteer at the United Nations Development Programme office and helped set up the national volunteer scheme for Malawi.

After that he worked at ActionAid and Voluntary Service Overseas, including a year in the UK, before heeding the call to come to Christian Aid. He says: ‘My wife and I had a yearning to go back to Malawi and make a difference in our home country.

I’m a Christian which was why I was drawn to Christian Aid. Here I can express my Christian faith and it’s why I do what I do. I’m glad that I have a job and am grateful that Christian Aid pays my wages, but it’s more than a job, it’s a calling. It’s the purpose of my life.’

Now MacDuff uses his experience and first-hand knowledge of poverty to support 11 Christian Aid partner organisations and inspire others to lift themselves out of poverty.

‘I have failed a lot in life but it has

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‘Christian Aid is like a mother and father to HARD. Our message to people who support Christian Aid is that they are really helping and really making changes to the lives of very vulnerable people in South Sudan and in Northern Bahr el Ghazal in particular. Their money is not wasted. The money is in safe hands and it is really reaching those most in need. It has been acknowledged by the government that this is making a real difference to people’s lives.’

Joseph Garang, Director Hope Agency for Relief and Development (HARD), South Sudan

shaped me and my career. When you go through failure it’s easy to give up, but it’s so important not to let it give you a defeatist attitude. That can lead to self-pity and wanting others to feel guilty for their success.

‘As a country manager, when I visit communities they will offer me a chair, but I always sit on the floor with them.

It’s important they know I’m the same as they are and they can be the same as me.’

MacDuff also works closely with the Malawian government, holding them accountable for actions and policies. He says: ‘We’re not anti-government but we’re not going to compromise on what we stand for. We challenge them when they’re not doing their job as custodians of development.’

And what about his somewhat unusual first name? MacDuff explains: ‘There are a lot of historical connections between Scotland and Malawi. When I was born my parents had some Scottish friends and they asked them for a name to call me. They chose MacDuff. It was only when I got older that I learned he was a character from Macbeth and that I really have two surnames.’

• See also christianaid.org.uk/malawi

Together we really can make a difference Christian Aid’s deep-rooted relationship with churches in Britain and Ireland is fundamental to its vision of ending poverty, says David Pain, Director of Supporter and Community Partnerships Fighting poverty is a two-way process for Christian Aid and its supporters. In our partnership with the churches, together we can develop and engage in our mission to transform relationships which are at the roots of poverty – the systems that keep people poor.

A big part of Partnership for Change is about enabling supporters to live out their faith and use their power and influence in their churches, communities and workplaces; to raise their voices against poverty – both to government and also with actions they can take in their daily lives, in the things they do and the consumer choices they make. Supporters working with their church and in their community are brilliant fundraisers – sharing a vision for a changed world, and creating practical ways in which people can give money to support our work. Our role is to inspire and equip people to campaign and to raise the funds we need to achieve a global impact on poverty.

Christian Aid is deeply rooted in communities both internationally and

Christian Aid

Christian Aid/Andrew Testa

partner voices

throughout Britain and Ireland. We are close to people living in poverty and with our partners make careful choices to ensure we are doing things that are really going to have an impact. We are part of the life of the Church in Britain and Ireland. That gives us our strength and a unique set of relationships.

From time to time people ask if Christian Aid is too big. The clear answer is no. Our size gives us a breadth of experience about the nature and causes of poverty, while the scope of our relationships – with government, with churches and with business – means we can engage at a level that’s going to make a difference.

We’re not simply raising money and transferring it to another community.

We are investing in long-term change.

We are involved with a wide range of churches, yet the common thing for all is their commitment to be part of a partnership that is truly transformational. It’s important we harness that shared energy to help people connect their sense of outrage about poverty with a practical commitment to see it changed.

The humour and passion shown by the bicycling Bishops epitomised the wonderful spirit of Christian Aid Week

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‘We’re making the poor impossible to ignore’ Christian Aid has a long history of campaigning for justice; far from seeing this as undermining the purity of our charitable purpose, we believe that charity and justice are inextricably linked.

If poverty is to end, the voices of vulnerable and marginalised people have to be heard by the powerful.

Here Christine Allen, Director of Policy and Public Affairs, explains why our advocacy work is so vital Over recent months, I have felt that the word ‘charity’ has been used (often by critics of our work) to paint a very particular picture – small-scale, unprofessional, a simple response and definitely not venturing into the political. For Christian Aid supporters, I know that such a view is anathema, for

our complex organisation is involved in a variety of change processes, from cutting-edge developments in the field, right through to sitting round the table with the likes of David Cameron and George Osborne – and beyond, in terms of Europe and the UN. Christian Aid’s robust policy and

research, our creative campaigns and our strategic and well-placed advocacy have an impact that still surprises many. When we sit down with politicians, we are there on behalf of thousands of supporters – and those politicians know that. Politicians, civil servants, business organisations and other policymakers and influencers respect us. They know what we stand for and, importantly, they know who we stand for: hundreds and thousands of people around Britain and Ireland, as well as millions of people around the world who we work with and support.

Policymakers do understand that the causes of poverty are complex and appreciate that we seek to address

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Christian Aid

Christian Aid/Jo Rogers

Campaign power: A mass demo in London’s Hyde Park ahead of the G8 summit in June

More than 500 campaigners dressed as George Osborne gathered in Parliament Square, Westminster, on the morning of the Budget to remind the chancellor why he needed to keep the government’s 0.7 per cent aid promise

those structural causes. We know that poverty is not an accident in this world and we believe that we can do something about it. This requires us to analyse what is happening and how things need to change. We work hard at that. Advocacy work takes nerve, preparation and massive amounts of time. It takes skills, expertise and a certain degree of political nous to insert the right information with the right people at the right time.

Political change never happens by accident, either; it’s a calculated process, a shifting of vested interests grinding against one another. You see that with Syria and we’ve seen it with tax. Sometimes it’s a long game, at

other times we face opportunities and we have to take them.

Over the past year in Christian Aid we have seen some incredible successes.

We have balanced strategic political engagement alongside exerting public pressure. Sometimes we have done it on our own, but mostly we work with others through coalitions or something like the IF campaign. The two big successes from the IF campaign – on tax and sticking to the 0.7 per cent promise on aid – were achieved in the face of increasing antagonism towards aid. A view that is, perhaps, natural in ‘austerity Britain’, but which is consistently fuelled by some sections of the media.

We seek to empower our supporters to have their voices heard – and our campaigns encourage them to contact and meet with MPs. However, that public pressure is the tip of the iceberg.

Underneath is a load of advocacy work to keep the issues alive. This doesn’t only mean talking with politicians. We work with Church leaders and people in the private sector, to influence them and help them to be advocates for

change, and help their companies live up to their corporate responsibilities.

Our experience is that many companies are adopting that agenda for themselves, from climate change to tax.

Of course, supporters only see that tip of the iceberg – the posters, the events, the rallies, the TV ads – and can’t always have a sense of what goes on underneath. One of the challenges for us is to explain that better.

Christian Aid has always sought to have a sense of a movement in our campaigning. Currently, we are working with a whole range of environment and development organisations on climate change, looking at ways we can build partnerships to connect the issues on a local as well as global level in the next couple of years.

Our faith calls us to love our neighbour in a practical way and to also ask why that neighbour is poor and identify what we can do about it. We know that by engaging at the political level we can achieve much more and have a more lasting impact than we can on our own. Perhaps that’s why some people are afraid of it.

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Uncover the phantom firms Christian Aid is stepping up its pressure on tax dodgers with a campaign to persuade Business Secretary Vince Cable to help unmask the ‘phantom firms’ that dodgers use to hide their dealings.

Currently tax dodgers can hide their vast profits by keeping their money in a complex network of trusts and shell firms, particularly in secretive tax havens.

By setting up these shell firms – also known as phantom firms – they can conceal the truth about who really owns the companies, the profits they make, and the taxes they potentially owe.

Tax dodging prevents developing countries from collecting an estimated US$160bn a year – money that could help feed hungry families and provide healthcare and education.

Christian Aid Scotland intern Katie Allan at the Lib Dem conference in Glasgow with our Russian dolls (symbolising how a large firm can hide its profits within smaller ones) to highlight our campaign for greater transparency on phantom firms

We are calling on Vince Cable to ensure public registers are created to reveal who owns what, where and for whose benefit. It would then be easier for tax authorities, the media and ordinary citizens to:

1. uncover who is dodging tax 2. u ncover who is behind corrupt deals 3. h old them to account and ensure developing countries get the money that’s rightfully theirs.

Christian Aid’s long-term campaigning on tax, underscored by this year’s Enough Food for Everyone IF campaign and the work of the Public Accounts Committee chaired by Margaret Hodge, has fundamentally changed how politicians, the media and the public see the role that tax plays in tackling poverty. It has shown the

urgent need to deal with unscrupulous companies who dodge what they owe.

Public anger about tax dodging has grown during the campaign and there is increased outrage in particular about the secrecy that tax dodgers use to hide their dealings. A recent ComRes poll for Christian Aid revealed the majority of Britons (57 per cent) believe that company owners should not be allowed to keep their identities secret, with most (57 per cent) saying they are suspicious of the owners’ motives where that is the case.

A huge 78 per cent of those polled cited tax avoidance and evasion as the main reasons why a company owner would remain anonymous.

Some 90 per cent still think companies should pay tax in all the countries where they make a profit.

At their June summit, the G8 leaders made big promises about tax and transparency, pledging to make sure tax dodgers had nowhere to hide. But the walls of corporate tax secrecy still stand firm, casting a shadow over poor countries’ ability to claim the tax income they are rightfully due.

There are two ways Business Secretary Vince Cable, can push for these measures.

1

Nationally: the government can introduce legislation for public registers of all UK companies. It should also use its powers to ensure that all our Overseas Territories

Christian Aid/Ian MacNicol

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A climate of change…

Clare Fussell gives an update on Christian Aid’s ongoing campaign for climate justice Christian Aid has hailed the publication of a major new report as a warning that climate change urgently needs to go to the top of the global agenda.

The hugely significant fifth assessment report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) presents the findings of thousands of scientists from across 120 countries working together to discover the extent and impact of climate change on our planet.

The experts now report that the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere has increased by 40 per cent since pre-industrial times and that virtually all of this increase is due to the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation. They are highly confident that the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere over the past century alone are unprecedented in at least the last 800,000 years.

and Crown Dependencies publish this information too.

2

At a European level: Vince Cable can call for all EU member states to set up similar public registries as part of a new law (the EU AntiMoney Laundering Directive). If these measures are put into place, it would put major pressure on all tax havens to set up public registries as well.

The IF campaign led to our political leaders turning up the rhetoric on tackling tax dodging. Now this campaign is about turning their words into action.

take action online at christianaid.org.uk/ phantomfirms or order our prayer and action cards by calling 0870 078 7788, quoting the code F2221.

Christian Aid is very concerned about these findings. Our partners across the developing world are already feeling the impacts of a changing climate and preparing for future extreme weather. This report demonstrates the urgent need to stop climate change in its tracks by committing to rapidly reducing global carbon emissions; it also shows that we need to be prepared to respond to the impacts of warming that are still to come.

‘Now is the time to demand that our leaders respond to the evidence, not the sceptics,’ says Alison Doig, Christian Aid’s Senior Climate Change Advisor.

‘We need urgent action to reduce our carbon emissions and help poor countries develop in a low-carbon and resilient way. We’ll be stepping up our campaigning on climate change over the coming months.’

World leaders, through the UN, set up the IPCC to find out more about how our global climate is changing, so it’s crucial that they act on the latest evidence.

Please help us step up the pressure for action, whether in your local church

or community, in Parliament or at a global level. We can all play our part.

Go to christianaid.org.uk/climate for more information.

Energy for a new future A vital key to tackling climate change is phasing out our reliance on fossil fuels for energy and moving towards renewable sources of power. Over the past year, we’ve been campaigning as part of the Stop Climate Chaos coalition to ensure the UK electricity sector gets on track to a low-carbon future.

Many of you have lobbied your MP to support the inclusion of a clean energy target in the Energy Bill currently being debated in Parliament. Support for this target is growing.

This autumn, Christian Aid is working to secure this change to the bill in the House of Lords. Find out more about the action you can take on the UK’s energy policies at christianaid.org.uk/climate

Can you take your campaigning a step further?

‘Speak up for those who cannot speak, for the rights of all the destitute’ – Proverbs 31:8 Ever wondered how you could actually put those words from Proverbs into practice? Why not join hundreds of Christian Aid supporters around Britain by becoming a local lobbyist?

For decades many of you have joined us in tackling the systems and structures that keep people in poverty. By becoming a local lobbyist you’ll take your campaigning that step further by getting in touch with your MP to ask them to take specific actions to benefit the world’s poorest communities. It’s a great chance to have your voice heard and take your passion for justice to the heart of government.

As a local lobbyist you’ll receive mailings from Christian Aid’s campaigns team up to four times a year, with all the information you need to lobby your MP about Christian Aid’s campaigns.

Christian Aid local lobbyist and regional co-ordinator, Jessica Hall says: ‘I see lobbying with Christian Aid as a really powerful way to put my faith into action. Although I was nervous about talking to my MP at first, I was spurred on by the great privilege of using my political freedom for those living in poverty around the world.’

• If you would like to join our local lobbyist programme, or wish to receive more information, call the church participation team on 020 7523 2264 or sign up at christianaid.org.uk/locallobbyist

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‘AID IS ABOUT SO MUCH MORE THAN HANDING THINGS OUT IN A CRISIS’ In 2012/13, Christian Aid’s spending on its humanitarian work was £21.28m, roughly a third of our international expenditure. Wherever there’s an earthquake, a drought, a flood or a conflict – there will be victims who need help, and Christian Aid needs to be ready to respond quickly and effectively, whatever the disaster. Nick Guttmann, head of our Humanitarian Division, outlines some of the challenges in delivering aid I’VE BEEN INVOLVED in humanitarian work since 1988, and in that time humanitarian aid has changed dramatically. It’s much more effective and better targeted. The levels of

accountability are much higher, and the local people are more involved in deciding what will be delivered – that, certainly, is a trend we’d like to see maintained and expanded.

But it has also become more challenging because of the politicisation of aid, particularly in conflict areas and where the West is seen as one of the agents of conflict.

However, the assistance we provide is completely impartial – targeting is based on need. By making what we do accountable and transparent, we make that impartiality clear and ensure that our assistance is not pushing any religious or political agenda. And that does make it possible – along with the fact that we work alongside local partners – to get into some very difficult areas.

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‘

Christian Aid/Sarah Malian

Through our partner REACH, Christian Aid is able to help refugee families who have fled across the border from Syria to northern Iraq

For every £1 spent in preparing for a disaster, you can save £7 that you’d spend in relief response

’

The general perception people have about humanitarian aid is that it is very much about handing out things in a crisis. When people have lost their homes, have fled conflict and lost their possessions they need assistance

and support. Now, while we do still sometimes give them food, clothes or shelter materials we are moving much more to providing them with cash so that they can decide for themselves what to prioritise. Not only does this give people more choice, it can also help to get the economy going again.

We will organise local traders to set up markets with all the things people need, from clothes and pots and pans, to rice, maize or cooking oil – that’s better than buying stuff outside the areas and taking it in. And it gives people a choice on what they want to buy; some might prioritise clothes over pots and pans, others rice over maize. And because it’s cash vouchers and the affected population have told us what they would like to see provided, there is little chance they will get things they don’t need or spend it on non-essentials.

Humanitarian aid goes in several phases: there’s the first phase of immediate relief, such as food, water, medical supplies and shelter. Then comes the task of helping people re-establish their lives, so providing seeds, tools and help with livelihoods becomes crucial.

Thirdly, we try to help people become less susceptible to future crises, as many of these natural disasters will recur. We can’t prevent droughts for example, but we can help communities to build reservoirs to see them through a drought, as we’ve done in places such as Burkina Faso.

Prevention comes in many forms.

We’ve worked with farmers and pastoralists in Africa in cordoning off parcels of pasture which are kept untouched, to be used in an extreme crisis. In the Philippines, which is prone to typhoons and floods, a lot of the poorest communities live in the most vulnerable areas. We’ve done work on early warning systems and evacuation procedures for when the floods arrive.

In Bangladesh, cyclones used to result in thousands of people dying. But this year, when a cyclone hit, thanks to the early warning systems and evacuation plans we had helped put in place, there was no loss of life – even though more than a million people were affected.

We’ve done work on drought-resistant crops and sand dams in places such as Ethiopia, Burkina Faso and Kenya.

Relief work is much more expensive

than helping communities prepare.

For every £1 spent in preparing for a disaster, you can save £7 that you’d spend in relief response. It’s a very cost-effective way of working.

One of the biggest challenges we face is finding the funds to be able to do what we want quickly. Supporters and the general public are very generous after a disaster, but we’d like to have more resources in reserve so we can respond faster and with a much greater capacity.

The war in Syria is currently creating one of the biggest refugee crises ever seen. Through our partners, Christian Aid is working there and in the surrounding countries – in Iraq we are one of the few agencies providing relief for mostly Kurdish Syrian refugees.

But around the world there are numerous small-scale, lower-profile crises such as droughts or flash floods, occurring as a result of climate change.

Very often these are not big news, so there are no big appeals. And it’s hard to raise funds for complex, conflictrelated emergencies. Addressing that is a huge challenge.

The business of delivering effective humanitarian aid requires dedicated staff with a wide range of skills. I have a team of 22 highly-trained staff, including engineers, security experts, economists, people with social work and community development backgrounds, as well as those who have experience of logistics and medical programmes. If you’re a mother with a malnourished child, or a community trying to set up a water purification system, you need people with the right expertise, not volunteers.

After all, you don’t run the emergency services in the UK with volunteers.

They have highly-trained, highly-skilled staff. It’s the same when working in emergencies overseas, and it’s vital when you are providing support in volatile environments to people who have often lost everything.

In the 25 years I have been working in emergencies, I have seen many changes for the better. There has always been compassion and a wish to assist those in greatest need. We have learnt a lot over the years and are now much better at working alongside people affected by disaster, helping them through the crisis, and to rebuild their lives so they are stronger and can cope better if disaster strikes again.

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LIFE AND SOUL

Preparing the harvested blossoms to extract the juice

The way we lead our own lives can have a tangible impact in the fight to end poverty. By ‘doing the right thing’ we show we have a commitment to a sustainable lifestyle that places a high value on helping others

Linking small producers to big markets is key in helping impoverished farmers find a reliable source of income CHRISTIAN AID’S private sector work ranges from influencing multinationals on business practices on tax, the environment and human rights, to supporting pro-poor enterprises to access investment, and empowering marginalised people to escape poverty through inclusive market access.

One example of how Christian Aid has helped to link small producers to markets is the Hibiscus Cooperative in Nicaragua. Through our partner Nochari, we are supporting this cooperative to become a major player in the national hibiscus market and helping farmers to access a reliable and profitable income source.

Nicaraguan smallholder farmers struggle to make enough money to cover basic needs, such as food, health and housing. Low maize and bean yields due to erratic weather patterns mean farming communities do not have sufficient food or regular income.

As an alternative, Nochari and the

Hibiscus Cooperative are supporting farmers to cultivate hibiscus, a new resilient and sought-after crop that can withstand changes in climate. The cooperative trains small producers in better farming techniques and secures higher prices for their produce through value-added processing, and selling finished products directly to markets.

Small businesses often struggle to access credit to help start and grow their business. Christian Aid funding is split between a grant and a loan, providing vital access to finance which the cooperative could not otherwise obtain. The loan has enabled the cooperative to increase production and invest in new harvesting, processing and storage facilities.

As a result it has improved productivity and quality. It has developed an innovative product line including hibiscus juice, wine and seeds, which it sells directly to supermarkets, restaurants, hotels and the cosmetics industry across Nicaragua and beyond.

We supported the cooperative to participate in international trade fairs, resulting in negotiations to export their produce to European markets.

Christian Aid/Sian Curry

THE FLOWERING OF A NEW LIVELIHOOD The cooperative members speak of how proud it makes them feel to see their produce on display in national supermarkets, alongside products from big multinational companies.

This ‘social business’ model has helped increase incomes, employment and food security for more than 105 hibiscus producers and their families, and created 2,500 seasonal jobs. Our support has helped increase sales by 76 per cent in the last year and the cooperative is on track to make its first loan repayment in 2014. Christian Aid has also successfully gained municipal support and new legislation for locally produced goods, ensuring a greater share of the profits for producers.

By 2016 the cooperative will have directly helped more than 1,800 people increase their annual income and will generate seasonal jobs for more than 4,000 people. Having built up its assets through our support, the cooperative will be transformed into a mediumsized enterprise with the ability to access formal finance sources to continue to grow its business and generate lasting change in this impoverished area of Nicaragua.

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Countdown to Will Aid IN NOVEMBER 2013, Will Aid celebrates its 25th anniversary.

During the month, solicitors across Britain will draw up people’s wills and waive their fee – in exchange for a donation to the nine Will Aid charities, including Christian Aid. Over 25 years, Will Aid has raised more than £100m for a range of good causes, both in the UK and overseas.

Last year alone 24,000 people used the service to write or revise their will, and their Will Aid donations raised more than £200,000 for Christian Aid. The suggested minimum donations for using Will Aid are £90 for a single will and £135 for a pair of ‘mirror’ wills. To find your nearest participating solicitor, visit the Will Aid website – willaid.org.uk – or call the Will Aid hotline on 0300 0300 013.

Last Christmas it was all about the goat – the most popular gift in the Present Aid catalogue. What will take the top spot this year?

THIS CHRISTMAS if you’re looking for a ‘gift that keeps on giving’, look no further than Christian Aid’s new Present Aid catalogue.

This year’s catalogue – included inside this copy of the magazine – features several new gifts. They include the mobile doctor, physicians who offer their skills to provide much needed medicines and healthcare in the occupied Palestinian territory, and the lap desk, which provides lessons for children unable to get to school.

There’s also a larger selection of small but affordable gifts for friends, neighbours or even your secret Santa – gifts under £10, such as the high-nutrition food supplement for malnourished children in Colombia or one chicken that can help a family start a new business.

Will the chicken knock the goat off the top spot for most popular gift?

Children learning using the lap desk

Well, that’s up to all of you!

Gifts are categorised – in the catalogue and on the website, presentaid.org – by theme, by occasion, by price and gift bundles, to help you pick the ideal present.

If you want to club together with friends, family or colleagues, to say ‘thank you’ or show your appreciation to someone, you can opt for the ‘give as a group’ option – where you can create a group, choose your gift and allow others to contribute individually.

With gifts starting at £5 and covering many aspects of our work, we hope you find a gift to suit everyone. The last posting date for cards to arrive in time for Christmas is 13 December.

Digital cards will be available right up until Christmas.

• Visit presentaid.org today or, if you prefer to order by phone, ring us on 0845 330 0500.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS FROM DIVINE THIS YEAR DIVINE AND CHRISTIAN AID celebrate 15 years of working together, building understanding about the importance of fair trade, and its impact on smallholder farmers.

So this year, as a thank you to Christian Aid supporters for championing Divine and Fairtrade, Divine are offering a special Christmas present: for every Divine advent

* Up to a maximum of 1,000 purchases

THIS ADVENT, allow Christian Aid to help you follow a journey towards Christmas that encompasses the stories of our partners working to bring about peace and reconciliation.

We have created reflections for individual use that follow the prophecy of Isaiah through the four Sundays of Advent, focusing on the work of our partners in Angola, Colombia, Iraq, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory. To accompany these are Bible studies, designed for group use, that follow the same four partner stories.

Leading up to Christmas, you can also join Waleed, who featured in our 2012 Christmas Appeal, on his journey to healing, thanks to partner Physicians for Human Rights Israel.

Download your copy of An Advent Journey from our website and reflect daily on the themes of hope, peace, love and joy that form a vital part of Waleed’s story.

• All these resources are available to download from our website at christianaid.org.uk/christmas

WILL THE GOAT STILL FLOAT YOUR BOAT?

Christian Aid

Goat: Shutterstock.com

ADVENT OF PEACE AND RECONCILIATION

calendar you buy, Divine will donate 50p to Christian Aid.* Just email us at CAN@ divinechocolate.com with evidence of your purchase, such as a receipt or a photo of you with your calendar.

See divinechocolate.com for stockist details and the full chocolate range.

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AROUND CENTRAL ENGLAND Pete Campbell, Greg Hodgson and Matt Keetley at John O’Groats

the collective approach

And while we’re on the subject of bike rides, here’s a quick take on the annual London to Paris cycle challenge: ‘It’s like Death Valley out there,’ said Andy Daniels, sheltering in the scant

shade afforded by a barn somewhere north of Compiegne. Cycling from London to Paris is a real challenge in any weather. This year, 75 miles a day for four days in the summer heat was all forgotten as the Eiffel Tower came into view at journey’s end. Andy, from Derby, and Pete Kelsall, from Walsall, raised nearly £4,000 between them. You can sign up now for next year’s ride!

Claire Daniels

Thunderstorms, wind, rain, heatstroke, injuries, fatigue, crashes, charging cattle and mechanical issues all failed to stop three cyclists from Nottinghamshire from cycling from Land’s End to John O’Groats.

Even more astonishingly, the trio, Pete Campbell, Greg Hodgson and Matt Keetley, achieved their goal in just nine days, a feat normally accomplished in 14 days, and raised more than £3,000 for Christian Aid and Disability Snowsport UK! • To read the whole story, written by Pete, please visit the East Midlands regional webpage, christianaid.org.uk/ east

Andy Daniels and Pete Kelsall

Loretta Minghella brought a standing ovation from the Bishop of Birmingham’s 2013 Birmingham Clergy Conference, with an inspiring 45-minute address.

Based on the theme of discovering grace and justice, Loretta (right) shared her personal journey and the journey she is on with Christian Aid. She placed that into the context of the inspiring women she has met when visiting Christian Aid partners around the globe.

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Christian Aid

Loretta brings clergy to their feet

Christian Aid/Anna Burden

now that’s wheel power!

Christian Aid Collective provides an opportunity for young people, students and youth leaders to wrestle with the big issues surrounding global poverty, inspiring mutual learning, collective passion and joint action in solidarity with the world’s poor.

Members of the Collective brought their passion and zeal to the Soul Survivor festival at the end of July.

Rachel Tween and Anna Burden from the West Midlands office joined Hannah Henderson from Christian Aid Collective to look after the stall on the Staffordshire showground.

There they met hundreds of enthusiastic young people and their leaders.

Christian festivals give us the chance to experience what living in a community and being disciples is like, but we then need to bring back the refreshed passion for being living disciples, and use it in the real world.

Life is better lived in community.

It’s how we’re meant to be. The early Church made it their mission to tackle poverty in their communities.

Today, community looks different from that of the early Church. We live in a global community, sharing resources and dependent on people from all corners of the earth. The actions we take every day have an effect on thousands of others.

What would it look like if we followed the early Church, if we took that notion of community from the festivals? What does it actually look like to love our neighbour in China who makes our clothes? To love our neighbour in India who picks our tea? To love our neighbour in Kenya who faces the full effects of our carbon-heavy lifestyles?

Christian Aid Collective has resources and support to help our youth and student groups work through these life questions.

• Find out more online at christianaid collective.org/resources/same-table Eight-year-old Esther Burden

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AROUND LONDON

Let Heaven and ‘Angels’ Sing...

Let us be bold in our celebrations of Christmas this year – a shining beacon in our communities of the good news we proclaim. If you do not already hold a community carol service, then this Christmas is a good opportunity to let heaven and ‘angels’ sing, and share the stories of the promised saviour.

The Big Christmas Sing is Christian Aid’s rallying cry throughout Britain to celebrate the birth of Christ by lifting up our multitude of voices in unison, and at the same time remembering those who will not have the opportunity to enjoy the generosity that Christmas brings.

Thank you to everyone who took part in Christian Aid’s Big Christmas Sing 2012. You raised voices to bring hope and healing to some of the world’s poorest communities. If you already host a carol service, why not consider Christian Aid as one of the charities to benefit from the proceeds of your collection?

• You can register online for your free e-fundraising pack at christianaid.org.uk/bigsing or call 020 7523 2248.

Every year Union Chapel, Islington, attracts more than 1,000 attendees to its annual carol service and will host a Big Christmas Sing this year.

Proceeds will be shared between Christian Aid and the chapel’s charity for people living on the margins in the UK.

inspiring a new generation Meet Christian Aid’s new London interns, who are engaging the capital’s young people Kit Powney: ‘Hello Christian Aid supporters!

My name is Kit and I became a Christian at 16.

Since then God has been revealing to me his heart for justice. I spent two years overseas with another Christian organisation, Operation Mobilisation. Through our work in some of the most remote places around the world we saw first-hand the destructive effects of injustice. I remain committed to working for this to change.

‘During my theology degree, I explored challenging questions about what true justice looks like and understood that justice is what Christians are called to strive for. As poverty is one of the greatest injustices of our time, I am excited to be joining the London team at Christian Aid and

participating in the eradication of poverty. I look forward to the challenges of the role and inspiring young people and churches across London to get involved with the issues that trap people in poverty.’

Danielle Simkins: ‘Hi, my name’s Danielle and I’m very excited to be joining the London team. My role will be to talk to young people throughout London, inspiring them to take action on poverty and injustice.

Having just moved back to London after three amazing years studying theology at Bristol University, I’m keen to start working with our London supporters to really make a difference.

I’ve always been interested in social

justice and serving the world’s poorest, and have been involved in charity fundraising throughout university.

‘Last summer I was fortunate to spend an incredible three months volunteering with a community in rural Uganda on a project focusing on health and sanitation. This small glimpse into how poverty affects people throughout the world has really highlighted to me our obligation as Christians to fulfil Jesus’ message to love one another.

I am excited to have this opportunity to continue this mission through my internship with Christian Aid.’ • If you would like Kit or Danielle to visit your church, youth group or school, please get in touch. They can offer interactive workshops and exciting presentations on the current work of Christian Aid, and support you with fundraising ideas and campaign action.

• Contact Kit at kpowney@christian-aid.org and Danielle at dsimkins@christian-aid.org

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AROUND NORTH ENGLAND

A STORY OF HOPE

PRAISE FOR CHRISTIAN AID VOLUNTEERS FORMER ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY Dr Rowan Williams preached to a packed Sunderland Minster to celebrate Christian Aid’s work and thank all our supporters in the region.

In one of his first public preaching engagements since he became Chair of Christian Aid, Dr Williams said: ‘This is not a prosperous part of the UK, but its people have shared life and reached out to help others come alive.’

Praising the work of Christian Aid volunteers, Dr Williams said: ‘We are involved in Christian Aid not through a stern sense of duty but through a sense that we are sharing in God’s project, God’s life-giving plan. God calls upon our volunteers and our partners to share in his work.’

Judith Sadler, Christian Aid’s regional manager, said: ‘This event was a huge affirmation of the significant work that is done by Christian Aid’s supporters. The service was a reminder of the theological basis to the work that we do.’

Shutterstock.com

transformed his life in one of the toughest places in the world. One of the daily challenges for people living under occupation is that it is difficult to access medical treatment.

Waleed had found communication both at home and at school very difficult, and as a consequence he felt very isolated. In the past year he has been transformed from a quite withdrawn boy to a confident individual.

All three regional offices have taken this success story and created an engaging service that could be carried out at your church. Why not contact your regional office to find out more? newcastle@christian-aid.org leeds@christian-aid.org warrington@christian-aid.org

Dr Rowan Williams

Christian Aid

ADVENT HOPE is coming to a place near you! These services provide a chance to approach Christmas with the promise of God’s extravagant love that still whispers revolution in our hearts today.

Last Christmas we introduced supporters to Waleed, a remarkable young boy with a hearing impairment, growing up in the West Bank – part of the occupied Palestinian territory.

Earlier this year Christian Aid went back to see Waleed, and his heartwarming story of progress forms the basis of this autumn’s engaging Advent Hope services.

Thanks to Christian Aid’s partner Physicians for Human Rights – Israel, Waleed, who is 90 per cent deaf, now has hearing aids, which have

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AROUND SCOTLAND Speak out against injustice with the Collective

Christian Aid/Jen Clark

Youth development officer Sharon McNamara (left) and intern Katie Allan are encouraging young people to speak out against injustice

Christian Aid Collective is a network of young people, youth leaders and students who believe the world doesn’t have to be the way it is and that together we can be the generation that ends poverty. The Collective in Scotland launched earlier this year, and youth development officer Sharon McNamara wants to help support you with lots of exciting events and resources over the months to come.

‘It has been a fantastic year for the Collective in Scotland,’ says Sharon.

‘We’ve had a very positive response as we’ve been making contact and

delivering workshops with hundreds of young people from more than 60 youth groups and student/youth organisations across Scotland. We’ve also been involved in many youth events, including Deep Impact, Solas Festival, Heart & Soul, Lifepaths in Blantyre, the URC Youth Assembly and the Church of Scotland National Youth Assembly.

‘We have just welcomed our new intern, Katie Allan, who will be helping us take our youth work forward over the next year. Along with other interns from around the country she has visited Colombia to see our work there

and is looking forward to sharing her experiences with groups across the country.’

The Collective is currently updating its youth contact records and Sharon is keen to hear what you’ve got planned, and to help in any way she can. If you are a youth leader and would like to know about youth events, opportunities, campaigns and any new resources that become available, please get in touch to register for updates.

• You can contact Sharon by emailing smcnamara@christian-aid.org or calling 0141 241 6133.

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AROUND THE SOUTH EAST Regional news and events in Beds, Berks, Bucks, Herts and Oxon

Christian Aid/Lily Peel

angolan priest joins advent celebrations

Padre Pio, president of the Association for Building Communities, Angola

A leading light in peace-building and conflict resolution is our special guest this Advent. Padre Pio, a Catholic priest in Angola and president of Christian Aid partner the Association for Building Communities (ACC), will be the guest

Christian Aid opens new office in St Albans Christian Aid has a brand new office in St Albans at Holywell Lodge, 41 Holywell Hill, St Albans AL1 1HE. This will be the base for Adrian Whalley, regional coordinator for Hertfordshire.

Adrian can offer you a whole range of Christian Aid resources and welcomes speaking and preaching opportunities.

He will be delighted to see you at the new office, but it will be best if you could give him prior notice so he can ensure that he is there.

Contact him on: 01727 818145 or 07807 180071.

speaker at our Advent day retreats across the region at the end of November.

ACC is a Christian human rights group based in south west Angola. The group, which is committed to resolving conflict, promotes ‘respect for the dignity and sanctity of the human being’ It plays a leading role in defending the land rights of pastoralists from powerful local farmers who have grabbed traditional and ancestral land.

Father Pio and his colleagues at ACC have received repeated death threats but are convinced of the strength of non-violence as a means of changing society. He believes that a durable peace in Angola

Sweeter deal is the bees’ knees This year the Bishop of St Albans’ Harvest Appeal ‘A Sweeter Deal’, will raise money to support a Christian Aid partner in Ethiopia that is teaching farmers about beekeeping.

We’re really pleased to be working closely with the diocese again on its Harvest Appeal, which last year raised over £70,000 for Christian Aid’s work in the Caribbean.

We would love to encourage even more churches and schools to take part this year.

If you would like more information or a speaker, please contact Adrian by phone (see left) or email awhalley@christian-aid.org

depends on equality and respect for others.

Join us for one of our retreats, which will draw on the theme of the popular Advent hymn O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. It reminds us that during Advent, Christians across the world prepare for the celebration of the arrival of the Lord into the world, as a baby in the manger. It is also used as a time to celebrate light in the midst of darkness – a reminder of the many situations around the world where Christians are called to be a light in the world.

• Details of the retreats and our two Advent Hope services – one in Oxford and one in Welwyn – are in the events section (see right).

over the edge

EVENTS WEDNESDAY 27 – SATURDAY 30 NOVEMBER Advent Day Retreats Join Christian Aid and guest speaker Padre Pio from Angola at one of our day retreats across the region. All retreats will be from 10am-4pm.

Suggested donation of £12.50 includes a light lunch.To book or for more information please contact the Christian Aid office in Oxford on 01865 246818 or oxford@christian-aid.org Wednesday 27 November The Well at Willen, Newport Road, Willen, Milton Keynes MK15 9AA. Thursday 28 November Bradbury Centre, Wokingham Methodist Church, Wokingham RG40 1XS. Friday 29 November St Ethelwold’s House, 30 East St Helen Street, Abingdon OX14 5EB. Saturday 30 November All Nations Christian College, Easneye, Ware, Hertfordshire SG12 8LX. FRIDAY 29 NOVEMBER Advent Hope 8pm, St Michael at the North Gate Church, Cornmarket Street, Oxford OX1 3EY. A service of reflection and inspiration. Tickets are free but must be booked in advance from the Oxford Christian Aid office on 01865 246818 or oxford@christian-aid.org SATURDAY 30 NOVEMBER Advent Hope 8pm, St Mary the Virgin Church, Church Street, Welwyn AL6 9NB. Details as above.

Rachel Blackmore was one of 25 brave people that abseiled down the church in Weston Turville, Buckinghamshire earlier this year. The event raised £5,000 and included our youngest ever abseiler who took part a few days before his 11th birthday. Thank you to everyone who joined in. We are planning more church abseils in the spring in Oxfordshire, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire. Get in touch if you would like to find out how to get involved.

TUESDAY 4 DECEMBER, WEDNESDAY 5 DECEMBER Big Christmas Sing 6.30pm, Oxford Town Hall, St Aldate’s, Oxford OX1 1BX. Join primary schools from across Oxfordshire in a gala concert. Tickets £4/£2.Contact Sarah Clay on 01865 246818 or sclay@christian-aid.org 1 JANUARY 2014 New Year’s Day Sponsored Walk 10am, Abingdon.

Start the New Year with a refreshing walk in the Oxfordshire countryside.

Contact walk organiser Rob King on 01235 553715.

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AROUND THE SOUTH AND WEST

BUILDING A LEGACY OF HOPE SUPPORTERS IN THE SOUTH AND WEST have been learning all about the importance of legacies as a source of income to help fund Christian Aid’s work.

Legacies represent about 10 per cent of our income each year. Last year, that was more than enough to cover all of Christian Aid’s work across 11 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, helping to change the lives of thousands of people.

Alison Knight, Christian Aid’s senior

regional legacy officer, works with churches across the south and west to raise awareness of what legacies can help achieve in the world’s poorest communities. She has been touring churches and cathedrals with a special photography exhibition, Building a Legacy of Hope, featuring Christian Aid’s work with children and young people living in the Gaza Strip.

Many children in Gaza have suffered the physical and psychological effects of conflict and insecurity for most of their

lives. Christian Aid’s partner the Culture and Free Thought Association (CFTA) provides a space for them to play, learn and access counselling, helping to overcome trauma and fears.

If your church would like to find out more from Alison, you can contact her via our Bristol office (see panel, right).

Don’t forget that November is Will Aid month (see story, page 23). So far there are solicitors taking part in Bath, Yeovil, Shepton Mallet, Wells, Glastonbury, Castle Cary, Street and Frome.

Christian Aid

CYCLISTS COME COASTING HOME

SOUTH AND WEST pedal power was to the fore in Christian Aid’s Cathedrals to Coast cycle ride in September.

A Methodist minister and a father and son from Castle Cary, Christian Aid’s local organiser for Weston-super-Mare and our regional coordinator for Dorset joined other supporters for the 148-mile ride from Guildford to Weymouth.

Rev Ken Chalmers, minister of five Methodist churches around Castle Cary, was inspired by a member of his congregation Brett Hall, who completed the two-day challenge last year with his

Rev Ken Chalmers (centre) with Ged Hall (right) and his son Brett

father Ged. Ken, who confessed to being out of shape, said knowing Brett and Ged were to tackle the course again this year, spurred him into action. He said: ‘I used to be a keen cyclist when I wasn’t fat and 50! But seeing Brett so keen to put his faith into action was inspiring.

My faith has always been founded on action, on wanting to change things and this ride was about helping Christian Aid to change lives. It was one of the most challenging things I’ve done.’

Weston-super-Mare’s local organiser Emily Cumberbatch said: ‘I wanted to

make a difference. It is hard to accept that people have nothing, are being oppressed and treated as if they are of no value, while we have more than we need. I enjoyed meeting the other cyclists and it was great to see the cathedrals – they are amazing.’

Christian Aid Regional Coordinator for Dorset Stephen Dominy represented the regional staff on the ride which started at Guildford Cathedral and passed Winchester and Salisbury cathedrals before heading to the coast for the finish on Weymouth’s seafront.

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AROUND WALES

of the artists commented it would be suitable for an art exhibition, with the proceeds going to support Christian Aid projects in east Africa.

‘My late wife, Hazel, liked the idea and offered to exhibit some of her work and the others generously joined in as well, and we made a weekend of it. Lots of furniture had to be moved, but that first exhibition raised £1,600!’

It was so successful that Peter and Hazel decided to hold the event the following year, and roped in more artists, adding craftwork and bringing in more volunteers to help. The event continued to grow with exhibits of sculpture, woodturning, papermaking, rocking horses, pottery, painted glass and tapestry. The grounds were used for stalls of second-hand books, bric-abrac, plants and Fairtrade goods, as well as weaving and painting, opera singing, music, tame hawks and woodland walks.

When Hazel died in 2006, Peter decided it was time for a change and the event moved around the area, but he and his wife Catherine brought it back to Fern Lea a couple of years ago, before taking the decision to hold the last one in June this year.

Over the 23 years, more than £75,000 has been raised for many different projects, including supplying essential items for returning refugees in Eritrea, wells providing clean water in Tanzania, agricultural projects in Ethiopia, education in South Sudan and anti-malaria projects in Sierra Leone.

Peter said: ‘We’ve made many friends over the years and given a lot of pleasure, as well as raising muchneeded funds for Christian Aid.’ Art for Africa will be a much-missed event in the Christian Aid Wales calendar. A huge thanks to all who have taken part, but especially to Peter for his vision, enthusiasm and commitment.

supporting.’

Drawing on her recent experiences of working in Sierra Leone, where one in five people are chronically malnourished despite the country having vast diamond and iron ore deposits, Cathrin Daniel said: ‘If only Sierra Leone was getting money owed from taxes – that’s why IF’s role in challenging the structural causes of hunger is so important.

Rebecca Evans AM, admitted that she was excited by the ‘emphasis on tax in development achieved by the campaign.’

The IF coalition in Wales is calling on the First Minister of Wales to make sure his government: • ensures that the money spent by Wales supports fair trade, tax

transparency and environmental sustainability • introduces a strong Sustainability Development Bill that gets to grips with climate change – which deepens global hunger • renews its commitment to education for sustainable development and global citizenship, which will help our young people to understand the causes of global hunger • maintains its support for the Wales for Africa programme, backing action to support hospitals, schools and farmers in poor African communities.

• Please contact your local Christian Aid office (see above right) for the Welsh Ask campaign postcards and details on how you can join in the campaign.

Christian Aid/Mari McNeill

Catherine and Peter Symes at the last Art for Africa event

Art for Africa takes its final bow Art for Africa, the long-running art exhibition and sale in Monmouthshire, has finally come to an end, after 23 years of raising funds and awareness for Christian Aid projects in east Africa.

‘It was a major east African drought in 1991 that kicked things off,’ explained Peter Symes, one of the event founders.

‘The Wye Valley Art Society was meeting at our home, Fern Lea, and one

Enough food for everyone – IF Wales plays its part On 2 July, IF campaigners in Wales met with Welsh Assembly members to discuss the campaign’s successes to date, and to look at what Wales could be doing to ensure its part in ending global hunger.

Head of Christian Aid Wales, Cathrin Daniel, speaking on behalf of the IF coalition in Wales, said, ‘The G8 was not the end of the journey. As a coalition, we are moving forward to mobilise people to call on decision makers in Wales to play their part.’

In response, Rhodri Glyn Thomas AM, said: ‘The Welsh IF campaign “asks” are all things we should be

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Keep up to date with what’s happening across your area online at christianaid.org.uk/eastengland • christianaid.org.uk/eastmidlands • christianaid.org.uk/westmidlands

walkers go the extra mile Participants IN the North Staffordshire Walk showed dedication to the cause when they refused to be deterred by the event’s cancellation, and still raised more than £40,000 for Christian Aid. The annual sponsored walk, which normally raises more than £50,000, was due to take place in March.

However, heavy snow made access to Tittesworth reservoir impossible,

forcing organiser John Bamford to cancel the event.

Putting out the news to the 500 participants, John suggested that they might wish to organise their own short walks at Tittesworth or other locations.

He could not have predicted that they would respond with such commitment and enthusiasm, gathering in large numbers to complete the walk at different times and venues.

The cancelled event has now brought in an astonishing £41,935.75. Praising the efforts of those who went the extra mile to raise this money, John said: ‘It’s one thing to turn up on the day, but to organise your own event is an amazing commitment. To walkers and sponsors – thank you all so much.’

The 2014 North Staffordshire Walk will take place on 5 April… er, weather permitting!

• To find out more, contact John Bamford on 01782 516137.

EVENTS IN CENTRAL ENGLAND East Midlands MONDAY 14 – SUNDAY 27 OCTOBER One World Week exhibition Loughborough Library, Granby Street, Loughborough LE11 3DZ. Exhibition by Loughborough United Reformed Church’s Peace & Justice Group.

WEDNESDAY 23 OCTOBER Organ recital 7.30pm, Holy Trinity Church, Essex Street, Norwich.

Richard Cockaday, organist at Holy Trinity, will perform an organ recital with readings by John Balls. All welcome. Free entry with donations to Christian Aid. SUNDAY 27 OCTOBER Loughborough Simple Sunday Lunch 12.30pm, Thorpe Acre, Thorpe Acre Road, Loughborough LE11 4LF. All proceeds go to Christian Aid. TUESDAY 12 NOVEMBER Christian Aid Quiz Ashbourne, venue and time tbc.

Entry details from John Hurfurt (jandehurfurt@supanet.com) or Stuart Green (stuart@ greenofashbourne.plus.com) MONDAY 18 NOVEMBER – WEDNESDAY 20 NOVEMBER Derby Clergy conference Martin Gage, Christian Aid’s East Midlands regional and legacy regional coordinator, will be at the Derby Clergy conference this November. He will be holding a workshop on tax called ‘IF: what did the Churches achieve and where are we now? The G8, tax and phantom firms’.

All are invited.

SUNDAY 24 NOVEMBER Loughborough Simple Sunday Lunch 12.30pm, Trinity Methodist,

Royland Road, Loughborough LE11 2EH. All proceeds go to Christian Aid. THURSDAY 12 DECEMBER Big Christmas Sing 7pm, The Samworth Church Academy, Sherwood Hall Road, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire NG18 2DY. Celebrate Christmas with school choirs from across Nottinghamshire. An inspiring evening of festive music and song with stories of transformation and hope. For more details and to book tickets (£5 each), please contact Nick Thorley on 01509 754765 or nthorley@christian-aid.org SUNDAY 22 DECEMBER Loughborough Simple Sunday Lunch 12.30pm, Baptist Church, Baxter Gate, Loughborough LE11 1TG. All proceeds go to Christian Aid. West Midlands Sunday 20 October IF Campaign update Bethel Church, Stone Street Oldbury B69 4JD. This update on the IF campaign will include a short presentation on what it achieved and where the campaign goes from here.

Wednesday 23 October Traidcraft event Carr’s Lane Church Centre, Birmingham.

An event and sermon aimed at encouraging people to reflect upon the biblical inspiration for social justice and in particular for trade justice. Theologian Paula Gooder will preach in a short service and Traidcraft’s new range of Rwandan and Ethiopian fresh ground coffees will be served.

SATURDAY 26 OCTOBER Go nuts about hunger

7.30pm, St Helen’s Church, Fish Street, Worcester WR1 2HN An evening of live music with a light supper (bring your own drinks). Tickets are £10 each and available from Alison Clarke. All proceeds to Christian Aid. To book, email clarke.alison@ gmail.com or call 01905 640581.

Sunday 3 November IF campaign update Winson Green Elim Church Handsworth, New Road, Birmingham B18 4PG. This update on the IF campaign will include a short presentation on what it achieved and where the campaign goes from here.

Thursday 14 November Beyond Belief presentation 7pm, Halesowen URC, Hagley Road, Birmingham B63 4PX. This moving and empowering Christian Aid presentation, featuring beautiful images and music, tells the stories of Israelis and Palestinians who courageously work for peace and justice in the Holy Land.

During the evening there will be refreshments, including Middle Eastern nibbles, and also some Palestinian crafts for sale. Free entry, no booking required. For more information, contact the West Midlands office.

Sunday 17 November IF campaign update The Riverside Church, Dog Lane, Bewdley DY12 2EF. This update on the IF Campaign will include a short presentation on what it achieved and where the campaign goes from here.

Friday 6 December Young Strings Project fifth anniversary Christmas concert 7pm, St John’s & St Peter’s Church, Darnley Road, Ladywood, Birmingham B16 8TF. Tickets: Adults £7 in advance (£10 on the night), children/OAPs

£5 in advance (£7 on the night).

Book online at Development and Missions Network (developmentandmissions.org) or call 0121 200 2283.

Tuesday 10 December Ashmore Park choir concert 7.30pm, St Thomas’s Church, Church Street, Wednesfield, Wolverhampton WV11 1SS. For tickets (adults £5, children £2.50), email Roger Poole on rapoole@virginmedia.com Friday 13 December Joint churches Christmas service 7.30pm, New Testament Church of God, 240-244 Lozells Road, Birmingham B19 1NP. Hosted by The Lozells Project.

Contact Pall Singh on 07813 038756.

Saturday 14 December Sing a carol 10.30am-12 noon, The Lecture Hall, Shrewsbury United Reformed Church, English Bridge, Coleham Head, Shrewsbury SY3 SBJ. Come along, choose a carol and we’ll all sing it!

Contact Jean Fox on jeaniusfox@yahoo.co.uk Wednesday 18 December Shrewsbury Choral Society Christmas concert 6.30pm, St Mary’s Church, St Mary’s Street, Dogpole, Shrewsbury, Shropshire SY1 1EF. Tickets (adults £6, children free) online via Shrewsbury Choral Society or on the night.

Saturday 12 January 2014 Bimingham Sponsored swim Hourly slots from 10.30am5.30pm, Birmingham University’s Munrow Sports Centre.

The Birmingham sponsored swim is back for a third year.

Register online now at christianaid.org.uk/swim

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Keep up to date with what’s happening across your area online at christianaid.org.uk/london

Welcomes and goodbye

Preaching with conviction

We would like you to welcome our new regional church coordinators.

Julia Suit (left) will serve the boroughs of Harrow and Brent, and Frances Reynolds (right) will serve Enfield, Barnet, Haringey, Hackney, Tower Hamlets and Newham.

Sadly we also say goodbye and thank you to our administrator, Joanna Lockwood, and wish her well for the future.

Fresh from a preaching refresher course at Cambridge, the London team is eager to inspire and sustain the passion not to relent in our commitment to see an end to poverty among our supporting churches, Christian Aid groups, synods and wherever we are welcome.

I Was Just Thinking…

Love must conquer fear!

Travelling on the underground recently I noticed two tattoos inscribed on the feet of a young woman. On the top of her right foot was the word ‘love’ and on her left foot the word ‘fear’. It got me thinking. What motivated her to make a public display of words that speak of a tension most of us experience day-to-day? Was it youthfulness, honesty, desperation? Whatever life experience prompted her choice for tattoos of love and fear, she had inspired me. In a practical sense, every step this young woman makes is either preceded by fear or love.

Fear can be a driver and motivator.

Indeed the fear of God is a virtue (Psalms 19:9). But it can also be crippling and disabling. Fear can stifle our

aspiration and hold us back from daring to take risks. In these circumstances we are reminded that ‘God has not given us the Spirit of fear, but of boldness and a sound mind’. (2 Timothy 1:7).

In contrast to fear, love knows no limit. When we embrace love there is a doggedness and determination to pursue its ultimate goal. We are bold and defiant in the face of families, friends and whosoever or whatsoever.

Why? ‘Perfect love casts out fear’ – (1 John 4:18).

Whatever steps we take in the coming months, let the love we have for justice and our passion to end poverty drive us to conquer our fear, take a risk and do what is pleasing to God. Mark Sturge, head of London region

If you would like a church coordinator to deliver a sermon in your service or offer a presentation at an event about Christian Aid’s work and the latest stories and developments with Christian Aid’s partnerships around the world, please contact london@christian-aid.org.

EVENTS IN LONDON Calling all campaigners Thursday 7 November 6-9pm, ICH, 35 Lower Marsh, Waterloo.

2013 has been an amazing year of campaigning for Christian Aid, with the Enough Food for Everyone IF campaign putting tax justice at the heart of the G8’s agenda. But there’s much more to be done on both tax and on climate change. We’d like you to hear about the changes Christian Aid is calling for, as part of our efforts to tackle these issues.

Please register for your free place by emailing or calling the South East team on LSE@christian-aid.org or 020 7523 2105.

Thursday 30 January Annual supporters evening Afternoon session: 2-4.30pm Evening session: 6-8.30pm ICH, 35 Lower Marsh, Waterloo.

Please book this date in your diary hear about and plan for Christian Aid week 2014.

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Keep up to date with what’s happening across your region online at christianaid.org.uk/northeast • christianaid.org.uk/northwest • christianaid.org.uk/yorkshire

EVENTS IN NORTH ENGLAND NOVEMBER Will Aid Every November, local participating solicitors waive their fee for writing a basic will.

Instead, they invite clients to make a donation that goes towards nine Will Aid charities, one of which is Christian Aid. For more information, email Ruth Tormey on rtormey@christian-aid.org FRIDAY 15 NOVEMBER An Evening with Trevor Dennis 7.30pm, St Mary’s, Handbridge.

Music from Chester Cathedral musicians and readings from Trevor Dennis. Light refreshments available.

Suggested donation £10, in support of Christian Aid. For further information, contact Pat Linsey on 01244 320562.

SATURDAY 16 NOVEMBER Christian Aid concert with Loxley Silver Band St Andrew’s Church, 31 Psalter Lane, Sheffield, South Yorkshire S11 8YL. Please contact Alison Trezise on jandatrezise@virginmedia.com or 01142 365938.

TUESDAY 19 NOVEMBER From Hope to Action – living out our faith 7.30-9pm, Huddersfield Methodist Mission, 3-13 Lord Street, Huddersfield HD1 1QA. Learn about the work of our partners in Africa, Asia, South America and the Middle East.

More information from Shelagh Fawcett at sfawcett@christianaid.org FRIDAY 22 NOVEMBER Christmas flower demonstration 7.30pm, Hutton Village Hall, Longton PR4 5SE. For more information, email Cath Greenlees on cathgreenlees@hotmail.co.uk

TUESDAY 26 NOVEMBER Fruit not famine celebration 7pm, Carlisle Cathedral.

An evening of celebration with Carlisle Christian Aid Group and local schools who have been raising money for Christian Aid’s food projects.

For further information, contact Doug Scott on scott@vantydoug. freeserve.co.uk or 01697 473556.

DECEMBER Advent Hope services A service that looks at the work of Christian Aid’s partners across the globe, at what can happen when poor communities are empowered to transform lives.

For more information, contact your regional office.

Sunday 1 December Advent Hope 6.30pm, Poynton Methodist Church.

A multimedia worship helping us to reflect during Advent.

For more information, contact the Warrington office on 01925 573 769.

Sunday 1 December Thornaby Advent Hope 7pm, Thornaby Methodist Church, Stanstead Way, Thornaby TS17 9EA. For information, contact Judith Sadler on 0191 228 0115 or email jsadler@christian-aid.org SUNDAY 1 DECEMBER Jarrow Christian Aid carol service (Big Christmas Sing) 7pm, St Matthew’s RC Church, York Avenue, Jarrow NE32 5YX. For information, contact Marilyn Merrin on 0191 489 1405 or email marilyn-13968@sky.com SUNDAY 1 DECEMBER Advent Hope: Peace in a Divided Land Toll Gavel United Church, Beverley HU17 9AA. Prayers and reflections for the Holy Land—Janet Symes, head

cath cheered by the kindness of strangers Committed North west Christian Aid supporter Cath Greenless took on her latest trekking challenge in August, completing the Three Choirs’ Way. The

100-mile walk, linking the three cathedral cities of Gloucester, Hereford and Worcester, took her 10 days.

‘From walking boots, to accommodation and drinks,

of the Middle East region for Christian Aid will share some of her experiences.

For more information, email John Turner on jeturnerbev@hotmail.com TUESDAY 3 DECEMBER Advent Hope: Peace in a Divided Land 7pm, St Chad’s Church (Far Headingley), Otley Road, Headingley, Leeds LS6 5JT. Prayers and reflections for the Holy Land.

For more information, email Shelagh Fawcett on sfawcett@christian-aid.org SUNDAY 8 DECEMBER City Centre Carol singing 10.30am-4.30pm, Sheffield.

For more information, please contact Sara Millard on 01142 864427.

SUNDAY 8 DECEMBER Advent Hope 10am, Stalybridge Congregational Church.

A multimedia worship experience helping us to reflect during Advent.

Contact the Warrington office on 01925 573769 for further information.

SUNDAY 8 DECEMBER Advent Hope 6pm, Wigan, venue TBC. A multimedia worship experience helping us to reflect during Advent.

Contact the Warrington office on 01925 573 769 for further information.

For more information, contact Janet Bryer on janet.bryer@ btinternet.com or 01609 773620.

SATURDAY 14 DECEMBER and SATURDAY 21 DECEMBER Carol singing Promenades shopping centre in Bridlington.

For more information, contact John Eckersley on 01262 850515 or johneckersley@ymail.com SUNDAY 15 DECEMBER Middlesbrough Advent Hope 6.30pm, St Mary’s Church, Church Lane, Acklam, Middlesbrough TS5 7DY. For more information, contact Judith Sadler on 0191 228 0115 or email jsadler@christian-aid.org SATURDAY 14 DECEMBER Carols in Wonderland concert 6.30pm, All Saints Church, Daresbury Lane, Daresbury WA4 4AE. Christmas concert with a Lewis Carroll theme, including a signing choir, school choir, handbell ringers and much more.

For more information, contact rturner@christian-aid.org or phone 01925 573769 TUESDAY 24 DECEMBER Carol singing and bucket collection York Railway Station.

Collectors, musicians and singers needed.

For more information, contact Jill Johnson on 01904 795652 or on jillyj24@virginmedia.com

SATURDAY 14 DECEMBER Carol singing in Northallerton Market Place All welcome.

FRIDAY 31 JANUARY and SATURDAY 1 FEBRUARY Sponsored snooker marathon 8am-8pm each day, at Westborough Methodist Church.

Players young and old, male and female, will be most welcome on this enjoyable sporting occasion.

For more information, contact David Bridge on 01723 362091 or email davidgarnerbridge@ googlemail.com

the blessings and good fortune experienced were abundant,’ says Cath.

‘I received several unexpected donations,’ she adds. ‘The manager of one of the hotels I stayed at gave me £100 and a young man shovelling stones by the roadside gave me £5! The

kindness of strangers!’

The money raised will go towards the Afghanistan Community Partnership project, which is empowering women to have their voices heard. To sponsor Cath, please visit http://uk. virginmoneygiving.com/ CathGreenlees

SATURDAY 14 DECEMBER Carol singing 11am-12 noon, under the clock in Thirsk Market Place.

All welcome.

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KEEP UP TO DATE WITH WHAT’S HAPPENING ACROSS YOUR AREA ON THE CHRISTIAN AID SCOTLAND WEBSITE AT christianaid.org.uk/scotland

Our work in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory is to be highlighted at a series of events organised in conjunction with the Church of Scotland and the Scottish Episcopal Church. We are committed to working together in this area.

These evenings invite churches and members of the local community to hear more about the work of our partners and to pray together for peace in this region, as part of the global ACT Alliance prayer initiative.

• For more information, see the Scotland events section opposite or contact Val Brown on 0141 221 7475.

EVENTS IN SCOTLAND TUESDAY 22 OCTOBER Eco-Congregation roadshow 7-9pm, Clark Memorial Church, Bath Street, Largs KA30 8BL. Christian Aid joins EcoCongregation Scotland and SCIAF for an informative evening in Largs.

THURSDAY 24 OCTOBER Christian Aid and World Mission Council drop-in 1-3pm, Knox’s Church, Howard Street, Arbroath DD11 3AL. An informal, drop-in afternoon to meet staff of Christian Aid and the Church of Scotland World Mission Council.

THURSDAY 24 OCTOBER Stories from Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory 7-9pm, Queen’s Cross Parish Church, Albyn Place, Aberdeen AB10 1YN An evening of stories from recent trips to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory

by Christian Aid, the Scottish Episcopal Church and the Church of Scotland, with prayers for peace.

THURSDAY 24 AND FRIDAY 25 OCTOBER Fundraising concerts Two fundraising concerts in support of Christian Aid, featuring contemporary acoustic duo Thursday’s Child.

24 October – 7.30pm, Bearsden

MORE POETRY, LESS POVERTY CHRISTIAN AID SCOTLAND is excited to be launching a collection of inspirational poetry and stories to bring you an insight straight from the heart of our work in the world’s poorest communities.

The More Poetry, Less Poverty resource will help you raise awareness and raise money for the 500 partners we are working with across 45 countries.

Contributions for the book have been drawn from the experiences of our overseas partners and staff in Latin America, Africa, south east Asia and the UK, touching upon issues of poverty, human rights, and inequality around the world.

Every poem is complemented with a story from one of Christian Aid’s partners, and the resource also includes practical ideas for holding a fundraising poetry event or a Burns Supper with an international twist.

• Download your free copy at christianaid.org.uk/poetry or order a printed copy by calling 0141 221 7475.

Cross Parish Church, 59 Drymen Road, Glasgow G61 2SU. 25 October – 7.30pm, Helensburgh United Reformed Church, 30 West Princes Street, Helensburgh G84 8TD. THURSDAY 31 OCTOBER More Poetry, Less Poverty – a night with Kenneth Steven 7-9pm, St Leonard’s Church Hall, Monument Road, Ayr KA7 2RL. Christian Aid hosts a night of poetry and music to launch our new fundraising resource More Poetry, Less Poverty – a collection of poems and stories from Latin America, south east Asia, Africa and the UK. For more details, call Amy Menzies, Christian Aid Scotland Events Fundraising Officer, on 0141 241 6138 or email amenzies@christian-aid.org WEDNESDAY 6 NOVEMBER Christmas roadshow – Arran 7-9pm, Whiting Bay and Kildonan Church, Whiting Bay, Arran KA27 8RE. A showcase of Christian Aid’s work, with a focus on our Christmas resources. A chance to learn more about us, meet staff and get new ideas.

SUNDAY 24 NOVEMBER Ecumenical Thanksgiving Service for the work of Christian Aid 6-7pm, Glasgow Cathedral,

Cathedral Square, Castle Street.

Christian Aid Scotland, the Church of Scotland’s World Mission and Church and Society Councils and the Scottish Episcopal Church invite all to a Service of Thanksgiving for the work of Christian Aid around the world, which will include partner stories from across the Middle East.

THURSDAY 28 NOVEMBER Question Time: International development 7.30pm for 8pm start, Orchardhill Parish Church, 12 Church Road, Giffnock, Glasgow G46 6JR. A panel discussion on international development from a Scottish perspective, with Kathy Galloway, head of Christian Aid Scotland, and a local MP. Wine and nibbles from 7.30pm.

SATURDAY 14 DECEMBER A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens 3pm and 7pm, St Andrew’s and St George’s West Church, 13 George Street, Edinburgh EH2 2PA. Snow Angels Theatre Company presents Charles Dickens’ seasonal classic tale, with proceeds to Christian Aid. Tickets £10, or £8 concession, are available on the door, or can be reserved by contacting the church office on 0131 225 3847.

CONFERENCE CALL

Christian Aid/Ian MacNicol

PRAYING FOR PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Chris Hegarty, senior policy advisor for Christian Aid Scotland, took our ‘phantom firms’ tax campaign to the Lib Dem conference in Glasgow.

• See story page 18

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Keep up to date with what’s happening across your region online at christianaid.org.uk/oxford • christianaid.org.uk/southeast

Regional news and events in Essex, Surrey, Sussex and Kent

Pray with us this Advent Planning ahead for Advent and Christmas? We have resources, stories and ideas to help your church reflect, pray and act.

In the bleak midwinter…

Our Advent Hope service outline gives you all you need to hold a service focusing on stories of peace and justice. Find the service plan on our regional web page or contact us for a copy.

Use our online Bible studies with your Bible study group to explore Advent themes and prayerfully consider your response.

Hark! The herald angels sing…

Bring your community together in the Big Christmas Sing. Christian Aid supporters in Sevenoaks raised more

Book a speaker for 2014 Our staff and volunteer speakers and preachers are available throughout the year to come and tell inspiring stories from around the world, helping your church to pray, campaign and fundraise.

Holly Sabin is a regional coordinator in the South East team and speaks regularly in churches in West Sussex. Holly says: ‘I speak at events ranging from retreat days and Lent study groups to men’s breakfasts and fundraising dinners. I love having the chance to tell people about our amazing work.’

• To book, contact the South East team on 020 7523 2105 or email LSE@christian-aid.org.uk

than £1,000 last year by singing carols to commuters at Sevenoaks rail station.

Love came down at Christmas… Celebrate the story of Waleed, whose world has been changed by Christian Aid partner Physicians for Human Rights Israel and help bring further transformation with our Christmas appeal.

Get in touch…

To book a speaker or find out more about holding an event, contact the South East team on 020 7523 2105 or email LSE@christian-aid.org • Download resources from christianaid.org.uk/christmas or visit our regional page christianaid.org.uk/ southeast

EVENTS For more information, please contact the South East office on 020 7523 2105 or email LSE@ christian-aid.org. You can also visit our regional web pages: christianaid.org.uk/southeast

advent hope and angola

Advent Hope is Christian Aid’s special candlelit Advent service, and it has become such a popular event that we are now holding three around the region. We are delighted that our speaker this year will be Padre Pio, president of ACC, a Christian Aid partner in Angola. ACC is a Christian human rights group involved in a wide range of advocacy activities, such as campaigning against torture, defending the rights of women, and protecting the land rights of preaching training with Dr Rowan Williams. For details and to register, contact Holly Sabin on 020 7523 2014 or hsabin@ christian-aid.org.

SATURDAY 26 OCTOBER Charity concert 7.30pm, St Paul’s Methodist Church, Ballards Walk, Basildon, Essex SS15 5HL. A concert in aid of Christian Aid and NCH Action for Children with Thurrock Male Voice Choir and special guest artist. Tickets available from Dave Williams on 07767 793745 (please call after 5pm). Tickets are £7 per person or £20 for a family of four.

THURSDAY 7 NOVEMBER Take Action! A training evening for campaigners 6-9pm, Christian Aid head office, 35 Lower Marsh, Waterloo, London SE1 7RL. A look at what’s next for the tax campaign, where we’re going with our work on climate change and what lobbying your MP is really like. Places are free but please book in advance by emailing LSE@christian-aid.org or calling 020 7523 2105.

THURSDAY 7 NOVEMBER Volunteer training 3-5pm, Christian Aid head office, 35 Lower Marsh, Waterloo, London SE1 7RL. If you are signed up as a volunteer teacher, speaker or preacher, then come to this session to hear the latest updates on key Christian Aid projects, as well as feedback from staff who attended

WEDNESDAY 27 NOVEMBER – WEDNESDAY 18 DECEMBER Chichester Advent lunches 12.30-2pm, Christ Church, Old Market Ave, Chichester.

Enjoy lunch at this handy central location when you are doing your Christmas shopping. Each Wednesday during this time, members from different churches in the local Christian Aid group will serve a selection of delicious

nomadic animal herders.

What can you expect at Advent Hope? This was the experience of a supporter last year who attended the service at Lancing College Chapel: ‘On walking into the stark, high gothic grandeur of the chapel, I couldn’t help but feel a tingle of anticipation, and a sense that something special was about to take place. I was handed an order of service and a candle by a smiling Christian Aid volunteer, and took my seat as the exquisite song of a harp glided around the vaulted roof high above, seeming to make all the tiny candle flames dance.’

We hope you will be able to join us for one of the Advent Hope services in Sussex (2 December), Kent (4 December) and Essex (5 December). homemade soups and fresh bread. All are welcome!

DECEMBER: ADVENT HOPE Come and hear stories of hope, peace and reconciliation, sing some favourite carols and enjoy festive refreshments. This year we have three Advent Hope services taking place across the South East. Tickets are free but must be booked in advance.

Please contact the South East office on 020 7523 2105 to book your place.

Monday 2 December 7.30pm, Advent Hope at Lancing College Chapel, West Sussex BN15 0RW. Please note that this year the service is on Monday, not Tuesday evening.

Wednesday 4 December 7.30pm, Advent Hope at Holy Cross Church, Bearsted, Kent ME14 4EE. Thursday 5 December 7.30pm, Advent Hope at All Saints Springfield, Chelmsford, Essex CM1 7HS.

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Keep up to date with what’s happening across your area online at christianaid.org.uk/southwest • christianaid.org.uk/west

YOUR LOCAL OFFICE

A university challenge We are very pleased to welcome two new volunteers who will be working as part of our West and South West teams until next summer.

Ben Palmer (pictured left) is part of our intern scheme and will be based in our Southampton office. He has already visited Colombia with other interns from across the country to see the work of Christian Aid partners there.

Ben graduated from Exeter University where he studied

philosophy and political economy. He also enjoyed leading a ‘Christians in Sport’ group. He will be helping to inspire young people and students in Hampshire and Dorset to give, act and pray using inspiring stories from Colombia.

Meanwhile in Bristol, Matt Dobson (pictured right) will be volunteering with the West team and working with students and church youth groups in and around the city.

Bristol office (Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Wiltshire) 57 High Street Thornbury Bristol BS35 2AP 01454 415 923 west@christian-aid.org facebook.com/ ChristianAidWest

Matt is a geography graduate specialising in international development and also has experience volunteering as a primary school teacher in Kenya.

If you would like Ben or Matt to speak to your church or student group, please contact the Southampton office for Ben or Bristol office for Matt.

Southampton office (Channel Islands, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Isles of Scilly) Isaac Watts Church Winchester Road Southampton SO16 6TS 023 8070 6969 southwest@christian-aid.org

EVENTS IN THE SOUTH AND WEST

FRIDAY 25 OCTOBER Gillingham abseil 12 noon-6pm, St Mary the Virgin Church, High Street, Gillingham.

Push yourself to the limit! Go over the edge to raise money and help end poverty by registering at christianaid.org. uk/getinvolved/events/abseiling. aspx Age 14 upwards only.

Contact the Southampton office southwest@christian-aid.org or 023 8070 6969.

SATURDAY 26 OCTOBER North Petherton abseil 10am-4pm, St Mary’s Church, Church Walk, North Petherton.

Push yourself to the limit!

Go over the edge to raise money and help end poverty by registering at christianaid. org.uk/getinvolved/events/ abseiling.aspx Contact the Bristol office west@christian-aid.org or 01454 415 923.

SATURDAY 26 OCTOBER Mere One World Fair 11am-3pm, Grove Building,

Church Street, Mere.

Christian Aid will be there with a stall campaigning for ‘No More Secrets’, as part of our current tax justice campaign.

Contact Katrine Musgrave kmusgrave@christian-aid.org or 01454 415 923.

TUESDAY 5 NOVEMBER Isle of Wight abseil St Mary’s Church, High Street, Carisbrooke.

Go over the edge to raise funds and help eradicate poverty.

Contact the Southampton office 023 8070 6969 or southwest@ christian-aid.org SATURDAY 9 NOVEMBER Chandler’s Ford quiz night 7.30pm, St Martin in the Wood Church, Queen’s Road, Chandler’s Ford SO53 5AG. Contact Southampton office southwest@christian-aid.org or 023 8070 6969.

SATURDAY 16 NOVEMBER Trowbridge Christian Aid coffee morning 10am-12noon, St James Church Hall, Union Street, Trowbridge.

Tabitha Ross (Christian Aid Communications Team) will be discussing her recent visit to Christian Aid partners in Brazil.

Contact Tom Hill thomashill75@ btinternet.com or 01225 763 312.

SATURDAY 7 DECEMBER Exmouth Christmas Cracker and Santa Dash 11am, The Strand, Exmouth.

A family fun run. Get sponsored or donate £5 to take part.

Contact the Southampton office southwest@christian-aid.org or 023 8070 6969.

SATURDAY 7 DECEMBER Big Christmas Sing Time tbc, Oasis Academy, Lord’s Hill, Romsey Road, Southampton.

Contact the Southampton office southwest@christian-aid.org or 023 8070 6969.

SUNDAY 8 DECEMBER Romsey Advent Hope service 6.30pm, Romsey Abbey, Church Lane, Romsey.

Contact Southampton office southwest@christian-aid.org or 023 8070 6969.

WEDNESDAY 11 DECEMBER Lunch with Padre Pio Time and venue tbc, Winchester.

Come and hear the story of Padre Pio, president of Association for Building Communities (ACC), a Christian human rights group and Christian Aid partner from Angola.

Contact Charlotte Page cpage@christian-aid.org or 023 8070 6969.

Contact the Southampton office southwest@christian-aid.org or 023 8070 6969.

FRIDAY 13 DECEMBER Night of a Thousand Voices 7pm for 7.30pm start, Exeter Cathedral, Cathedral Yard, Exeter.

Free entry, donations appreciated.

Contact Southampton office southwest@christian-aid.org or 023 8070 6969.

FRIDAY 13 DECEMBER Big Christmas Sing 7.30pm start, Truro Cathedral, Old Bridge Street, Truro.

Speaker: Padre Pio, president of ACC, a Christian Aid partner from Angola.

Contact Southampton office southwest@christian-aid.org or 023 8070 6969.

Christian Aid/Lily Peel

TUESDAY 15 – SUNDAY 27 OCTOBER Building a Legacy of Hope exhibition St Peter’s Church, Church Road South, Portishead.

Photography exhibition featuring the work of Christian Aid with children and young people living in the Gaza Strip. Opens with prayer and reflection at 7.30pm on 15 October and can be viewed each day from 9am until dusk. Special services on 20 October (9.15am and 11.15am).

Contact Bristol office on 01454 415923 or west@christian-aid.org

wedneSDAY 11 DECEMBER An evening with Padre Pio 7.30pm, The Vicarage, Middle Woodford.

Mulled wine and mince pies with Padre Pio. Contact Katrine Musgrave kmusgrave@christian-aid.org or 01454 415 923.

THURSDAY 12 DECEMBER Big Christmas Sing 7.30pm, Exmouth Pavilion, Esplanade, Exmouth.

Speaker: Padre Pio, president of ACC. £7 adults, £5 for 11s and under.

Padre Pio, president of the Association for Building Communities, Angola

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Keep up to date with what’s happening across Wales online at christianaid.org.uk/wales EICH SWYDDFA LEOL – YOUR LOCAL OFFICE BANGOR (gogledd Cymru/north Wales) 106 Stryd Fawr, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 1NS, Tel/Ffôn: 01248 353574 bangor@christianaid.org CAERFYRDDIN/ CARMARTHEN (de orllewin a’r canolbarth/south west and mid Wales) 75 Heol Dwr, Caerfyrddin/ Carmarthen SA31 1PZ, Tel/Ffôn: 01267 237257 carmarthen@ christian-aid.org Christian Aid/Branwen Niclas

Gill Griffiths on a visit to Ethiopia

EVENTS IN WALES FRIDAY 25 OCTOBER Fun quiz 7pm, Ynysybwl Community Centre, Windsor Place, Ynysybwl CF37 3HR. Come along and put your brains to the test! Admission: £2 (including refreshments). For further details contact Anne Arnold on 01443 790393.

IAU 14 TACHWEDD ‘Tlodi a’i amryw agweddau’ Sgwrs gan Cathrin Daniel, Pennaeth Cymorth Cristnogol, Cymru Capel Bethel, Maes-y-Deri, Rhiwbeina, Cardiff CF14 6JJ am 7.30 yr hwyr Noson wedi ei threfnu gan Cyngor Eglwysi Cymraeg Caerdydd. Manylion pellach gan Menna Brown ar 029 2025 4679 SATURDAY 23 NOVEMBER Christian Aid Christmas fair 10am-12noon, Salem Chapel, Market Road, Canton. Stalls selling Fairtrade goods and Traidcraft Christmas cards, plus tea and coffee. Organised by the Cardiff City Centre Welsh Churches to support the work of Christian Aid. For further details email Nans Couch on nans.couch@talk21.com SADWRN 23 TACHWEDD Ffair Nadolig Cymorth Cristnogol Capel Salem, Stryd y Farchnad, Treganna rhwng 10yb a 12yp Te a choffi – stondinau amrwyliol – nwyddau Masnach Deg a chardiau Nadolig. Trefnir gan Eglwysi Cymraeg Caerdydd er mwyn cefnogi gwaith Cymorth Cristnogol. Manylion pellach gan Nans Couch ar nans.couch@talk21.com

Bags of support for women in Ethiopia This year Christian Aid Wales was chosen as the charity of choice by the Welsh-language women’s organisation, Merched y Wawr.

Following discussions between the two organisations, it was decided that Merched y Wawr would collect bags of all shapes and sizes, which would be sold at the National Eisteddfod in Denbigh during the first week of August, with the proceeds going to support Christian Aid partners working with women and girls in Ethiopia.

As part of the partnership, Gill Griffiths, president of Merched y Wawr, visited Ethiopia last year, and has been promoting the appeal in Merched y Wawr’s 280 branches throughout Wales.

By July, around 14,000 bags had been received at their centre in Aberystwyth.

Volunteers sorted through them, with any not fit for sale being sent for recycling. Other volunteers manned the Christian Aid stand on the Eisteddfod field, helping to sell the bags.

Just over £16,000 has already been raised, with the recycling money to come. There are around 1,000 bags left which will be sold at events and pop-up

shops before the end of the year.

Merched y Wawr has also received bags from a number of celebrities in Wales, which will be sold in a Celebrity Auction next March. Bids are invited for around 60 bags, including a Radley bag which accompanied Connie Fisher on The Sound of Music tour, the camera bag used by actor Matthew Rhys while filming Patagonia, and bags given by some of the actors in the popular Welsh language soap opera Pobl y Cwm. Visit the catalogue online at merchedywawr.co.uk and click on the link ‘Bidio ar y Bagiau’.

Tegwen Morris

CAERDYDD/ CARDIFF (Cenedlaethol/ National office) 5 Station Road, Radyr, Caerdydd/ Cardiff CF15 8AA Tel/Ffôn: 029 2084 4646. cardiff@ christian-aid.org

Gill Griffiths (centre) with Eva Gruffudd Jones (left) and Connie Fisher

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EVENTS

Wheel aid!

Christian Aid/Susan Barry

We work with some of the world’s poorest people.

They face huge challenges every day, so why don’t you challenge yourself? Have fun while fighting poverty: join one of our events or do your own fundraising

2013 has been a stellar year for Christian Aid cycling events, with three very different, but equally exciting, Team Poverty rides Christian Aid fundraisers took to two wheels in greater numbers than ever this year, with both new and muchloved events making the headlines.

• London-Paris Team Poverty cyclists rode 300 miles from London to Paris between 17-21 July. The riders reached the Eiffel Tower finish line after four days, in time to watch cycling’s elite in the Tour de France finale. The challenge is on track to raise £15,000 and it was an exhilarating, challenging and bonding experience for our Christian Aid

Team Poverty riders on the London to Paris cycle ride

supporters. One of the riders, Luke Gledhill, said: ‘I really enjoyed the ride and everyone’s company!’

• Ride London-Surrey 100 More of our fantastic two-wheeled supporters took part in the first Ride London-Surrey 100 on 4 August as part of the Olympic legacy. The smiles on the cyclists’ faces summed up what a great event this was and you could feel the enthusiasm in the air.

Team Poverty cyclist Andrew Stewart said: ‘My sincere thanks go to the team who supported us – it was a real boost to morale.’ Some Christian Aid staff took on the challenge too – including Nick Guttman, head of the Humanitarian Division, who raised more than £1,200.

• Cathedrals to Coast Our Cathedrals to Coast bike ride was another brilliant challenge and marked

a very special occasion for two of our riders. Rachel Jordan and Alex Harper met at the end of the Christian Aid London to Paris bike ride in 2011, and have recently got engaged. They decided to celebrate by taking part in the 140-mile ride from Guildford to Weymouth. Rachel said: ‘Aside from knowing you’re raising money for a good cause, these cycling challenge events are great fun and very sociable.

The chance to meet new people was a definite draw for me and meeting my future husband at the end of one of them was an unbelievable bonus!’

• If you are interested in taking part in any of the 2014 bike rides (and maybe finding love!) or other challenge events, contact the events team at events@ christian-aid.org or visit christianaid. org.uk/getinvolved

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Add some festive flair to your fundraising

Alex Hughes Events.indd 2

Beards and Santa suits are in order, come December

Looking forward to the New Year, the third Christian Aid Birmingham sponsored swim is taking place on 12 January. It’s a great opportunity to burn off excess Christmas calories while raising funds for Christian Aid. You can get a team together with your friends, family, colleagues, church or Christian Aid group, or enter two or more teams and pit them against each other. You can also enter as an individual – we’d love to see you there!

• Find out more and register at christianaid.org.uk/swim or contact the West Midlands team by emailing birmingham@christian-aid.org or calling 0121 200 2283.

Prince Charles meets pilgrimage pair

Events Fundraising Calendar 2013-2014 Santa Dashes December Big Christmas Sing December birmingham sponsored swim 12 January 2014 Burns supper 21-28 January 2014 sponsored Abseils February/March 2014 super soup lunch Spring 2014 Brighton Marathon 6 April 2014 Virgin London Marathon 13 April 2014

Paul Atkinson, Bridlington Free Press

Shine brightly this festive season and celebrate the joy of Christmas with Christian Aid’s Big Christmas Sing. Whether you sing carols at your church; hold a concert with your local school; have a community sing-song around the piano or enjoy karaoke with your work colleagues at the Christmas party, please join us in the Big Christmas Sing. By raising money as well as voices you can help bring joy to people living in some of the world’s most impoverished communities. For your free e-fundraising pack, call 020 7523 2248, or you can register online at christianaid.org.uk/bigsing If you prefer to celebrate Christmas by jogging off those mince pies, why not join in a Santa Dash? Although there is, of course, only one real Santa, you can be one of thousands dressed up as the jolly man and run, jog or walk to raise money to help sleigh poverty this Christmas. You can either take part in Christian Aid’s Liverpool Santa Dash team or find a Santa Dash near you – whichever you choose, we will send you a festive fundraising pack and support you. Register or find out more at christianaid.org.uk/running

Take the plunge to beat poverty

Christian Aid Week 11-17 May 2014 Edinburgh Marathon 25 May 2014 Prince Charles meets Nancy and John Eckersley in Bridlington

When Nancy Eckersley retired as vicar of Heslington, near York, in 2011, she and her husband John decided to celebrate by walking from Land’s End to John O’Groats. They raised more than £15,000 for a Community Partnership project in Sierra Leone, which was match-funded 3:1 by the European Union.

Having since moved to the East Yorkshire coast, you could be forgiven for thinking that the couple might now hang up their boots and take things a little easier. But this summer they walked 250 miles on a pilgrimage from Carlisle to Bridlington, stopping off to pray in churches along the route, and raising money for a Community Partnership in Afghanistan.

The last part of their pilgrimage (from York Minster to Bridlington Priory) was devised especially to celebrate the 900th anniversary of Bridlington Priory. When Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall visited Bridlington Priory, John and Nancy were invited to the service and Prince Charles spoke to them about their walk.

• To learn more about Christian Aid’s Community Partnerships please visit: christianaid.org.uk/partnerships • To find out more about John and Nancy’s pilgrimage, or to buy one of their walking books (proceeds to Christian Aid) please see: johneckersley.wordpress.com/

Great Manchester Run 26 May bespoke bike ride July 2014 London to Paris bike ride 17-21 July bespoke trek August 2014 Ride London 100 4 August 2014 Cathedrals to Coast bike ride September 2014 Quizaid September 2014 Great North Run 7 September 2014 To find out more visit christianaid.org.uk/ events

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INPUT

Inspired? Enraged?

Send your views to: The Editor, Christian Aid News, 35 Lower Marsh, London SE1 7RL or email canews@christian-aid.org Stories published this summer in the Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail on charity chief executive salaries, including the amount paid to Christian Aid’s chief executive, Loretta Minghella OBE, drew a larger than average number of responses from Christian Aid’s supporters. Here, we publish a selection of the comments we’ve received and a response from Carolyn Gray, trustee and chair of Christian Aid’s remuneration committee. Opposite, Dr Rowan Williams, chair of the Board of Trustees, offers a theological reflection for us all

The best solution I’ve heard is for organisations with an ethical dimension to adopt the ‘five to one’ rule – that is that no person should be paid more than five times the wage of the lowliest member of staff.

I have organised the Christian Aid Week collection in my village for the past 30 years and receive a generous response, with more than £1,100 being collected from just over 100 households this year.

I shall probably continue, but have no idea how to justify this massive salary to the people I approach for donations.

Christian Aid is making things very difficult for its collectors. Surely a Christian organisation could find someone with experience and Christian motivation to perform the chief executive’s role for half the salary. The money saved could make a substantial difference to many of those people whose plight you highlight in Christian Aid News.

I will continue to donate, however the arguments put forward like ‘attracting the best people’, ‘challenging role’, ‘broadly in line with remuneration in the sector’ I find distasteful.

While being willing to ask tough questions, I am voicing my continued support for Christian Aid and my disgust with the Daily Telegraph. This is an established practice with the

As someone who has been involved in the running of Christian Aid Week in my area for a long time, the amount of money raised by me and the volunteers who help seems paltry compared with the salaries being paid and I seriously question whether I want to be involved any more. We spend untold hours working voluntarily to raise what seems a pittance compared with the money given in salaries.

mainstream media – drawing attention to supposed inconsistencies in order to distract from bigger issues.

As a charity, all paid staff, including the chief executive, should be accepting a minimum salary or even expenses only, to ensure that as much funding as possible goes where it is needed.

I am so disappointed that Christian Aid has fallen into our nation’s belief that ‘the most talented people’ deserve the ‘most money’. How far is that from our Lord’s gospel? Surely, if someone is called to work for your charity, they will not command a great salary.

I write as a Methodist minister and regular supporter who has just completed a 110-mile bike ride in aid of Christian Aid. I recognise the need to employ skilled staff, but wonder why Christian Aid, with all the denominations it represents, is unable to find someone with those skills who is willing to fulfil the role for reasons other than the highest possible salary.

I have given to Christian Aid every month for more than 35 years and I was very disappointed to read about

Christian Aid's response Carolyn Gray, chair of the remuneration committee, explains our salary policy The salary of the Chief Executive was discussed at length during the September meeting of our Board of Trustees. We recognise that she is charged with leading a large, complex organisation that works in some of the most dangerous and poverty-stricken countries on earth. The level of risk, complexity and diplomacy she’s required to manage is significant.

It is the Board of Trustees who agree

an appropriate salary for her position.

Staff salaries, including that of the chief executive are met from funds we receive from a variety of sources, which includes the government, trusts and foundations. Salaries are not needless bureaucracy, but are essential elements to our work. Through the expertise of our staff we’re able to raise significant levels of additional funds from governments, trusts and foundations on top of the money we raise from our supporters. Through this we significantly increase the value of each pound raised by you.

With regard to the salary level, Christian Aid benchmarks salaries against other international development

and church-based organisations of similar size and complexity to ensure that our pay scales are fair and reasonable for all staff. We have adopted the Hutton Fair Pay Review recommendation on executive pay: the salary of the highest paid employee is no more than four times the median UK salary of the organisation (other country salaries are benchmarked and assessed according to local conditions).

• All trustees, including Dr Williams and Ms Gray, are volunteers.

• Further information about Christian Aid salaries, together with a detailed Q&A, can be found at christianaid.org.uk/salaries

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Christian Aid/Matthew Gonzalez-Noda

the high salary that is paid to your chief executive. I do not intend to stop giving to Christian Aid and I will continue to support and promote its work, but I hope those who are drawing such large salaries will examine their consciences.

The management of big budgets, thousands of projects and hundreds of staff in many dangerous and complex places requires excellence, diligence and professional skill. In the same way as schools want to secure great head teachers – for the sake of hundreds of children’s education – I believe charities have a responsibility to secure excellent leadership. The safety and security of staff, the sustainability of projects and the speed at which severe poverty is overcome can be dependent on this.

I have no doubt that your pay decision has been well thought-out and that Loretta is worth her salary. I can only begin to imagine how many hours she works and the stress that she is under leading such a big organisation. I am more than happy for a woman who is championing the rights of others before herself to be rewarded in this way. I pray that Christian Aid goes from strength to strength and shines the light of Jesus in this very sad world.

As a long-term Christian Aid supporter, my thought and prayers are with you. I am a trustee of a middle-income charity and local church-related charities, and understand the factors that go into deciding remuneration.

CALLING CHRISTIAN AID...

• Main switchboard: 020 7620 4444 • Supporter enquiries: 020 7523 2225 • Donations: 020 7523 2269 • Regular giving queries: 020 7523 2046 • Wills and legacies: 020 7523 2173 • National events: 020 7523 2248

LAST WORD A reflection on playing a part in the fight against poverty, and living life in the wider family of Christian Aid

The case for salary justice Dr Rowan Williams, Chair of Christian Aid’s Board of Trustees, argues that there is a sound theological basis for supporting those who work for and on behalf of the rest of us IT’S NOT SURPRISING that the highly-coloured press stories over the summer about the salaries of chief executives of charities should have provoked deep unease and even anger. At a time of financial hardship, there is bound to be questioning of anything that looks like poor or self-serving stewardship, especially among those who oversee work on behalf of the poor and vulnerable. But before we simply endorse the knee-jerk reaction of disapproval, we should take stock a little.

Some responses suggest that people still think of ‘charity’ as essentially a means of getting money from donor to recipient. This doesn’t sound like rocket science; and so it seems incomprehensible that people should be paid substantial salaries for just forwarding what is donated.

Other responses appeal to the fact that a Christian voluntary organisation ought to be run on sacrificial lines: employees should not expect to be remunerated at market rates because this is work for the kingdom of God, and we must not collude with the world’s measures of success or aspiration. We should take simply what we need and even bear with a situation in which we can’t entirely satisfy our needs – because we are

being called to an act of witness and our generosity of giving is an essential aspect of this.

The first of these points is easier to answer: it is simply the case that much ‘charitable’ work now, especially the kind of thing Christian Aid does, is a long way from simply transferring resources – or rather, it is concerned with how available resources are best put to work so as to change the basic conditions under which poverty arises and persists. This requires expertise around political and financial structures, the capacity to analyse structural causes of poverty, political analysis that will help us see where pressure is best applied to decisionmaking processes, and an understanding of good governance so as to help build sustainable patterns of life for those who have hitherto felt passive and excluded. Those skills are acquired by study and work in the field, and involve spending some resources so as to get more and better resources at another level. We are not going to have a helpful discussion of these issues without helping people beyond a simplistic and rather paternalistic picture of ‘direct’ giving to the poorest as the only thing that counts.

But the second point deserves careful thought. In a way, the word ‘voluntary’ doesn’t help us. All those involved at any level with an organisation such as Christian Aid are involved because they want to be; they have chosen to do this and to serve God in this way. Some who are called to serve God in the alleviation of poverty do so by freely giving from their resources to support others who feel called to do the work full-time –

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LAST WORD

Christian Aid/Matthew Gonzalez-Noda

continued from page 29 just as in the New Testament Church, as 1 and 2 Corinthians make clear, all those called to the common life of Christ’s Body share one call, but some make it possible for others to give their entire energy to spreading the scope of the work. St Paul in 1 Corinthians 9 makes it clear that he thinks he has a claim to be supported, but chooses not to take advantage of it. He wants the Corinthian Church to recognise that there is a clear question of justice involved in recompensing those who put themselves completely at the disposal of the gospel, while reserving the right to forego this so that no one can accuse him of exploiting his position.

In other words, there is such a thing as a fair recompense for work done – even when we are talking about ‘voluntary’ work for the Kingdom, freely undertaken for the love of God. Individuals may make all sorts of different decisions about how they use what is due to them, but the community as a whole declares that it values this work and wishes to support and encourage its workers by settling on a just reward. ‘You ought to be more sacrificial’ is not a Christian axiom. ‘Am I being sacrificial enough?’ is a question for all Christians. And so is the question, ‘Are we exploiting the costly skills and dedication of others by failing to think about what is a just return for them?’ If we don’t recognise this, we risk the unpleasant frame of mind – familiar from the way in which people have sometimes talked about the payment of nurses and domestic carers and even teachers – that says, in effect, ‘We needn’t bother to think about how we can fairly reward such persons because they’ll do it anyway.’

So in this context we must ask, as a basic question, ‘What is a fair level of recompense for the responsibility of an executive position in an organisation like Christian Aid?’ There will not be an absolutely plain answer, and it is right that we should re-examine at regular intervals the levels we take for granted.

But what are the ‘metrics’ we do best to use? In spite of what some have claimed, Christian Aid is not using standards derived from the corporate world: anyone coming to the sector from this environment will be facing a dramatic reduction in what they receive.

But we need to factor in both the specific skills of an executive and – in Christian Aid especially – the level of responsibility required in regard to the security and even the lives of employees, the personal risk entailed in travelling in situations of conflict and insecurity, the requirement of clear and persuasive advocacy that can be taken seriously at the highest level of government and NGO hierarchies, and so forth.

Is this comparable to – say – a director of social services? A head teacher? The manager of a medium-sized business?

The spread of salaries in the sector might suggest comparators like these, and perhaps we should be more explicit about how we arrive at such levels. But the point of principle is that we believe certain skills and expectations are worth rewarding at a certain level.

Some have said that we should not assume that we shan’t get the right calibre of person unless we pay at a certain rate. But I don’t think that’s what we are assuming. Rather we are saying we believe the inherent demands of the role are rightly acknowledged as deserving this reward.

Nor does this, as some claim, divert substantial funds from their proper destination. We pay for the best administration of those funds and are happy to be open about how this works. If oversight and administration are gifts of the Holy Spirit (as St Paul

implies when he speaks of the diversity of gifts in Romans, 1 Corinthians and Ephesians), we celebrate and recognise something that is itself a vocation and its associated gifting when we settle on a level of payment for our employees, whether junior or senior. And the fact

‘

‘You ought to be more sacrificial’ is not a Christian axiom. ‘Am I being sacrificial enough?’ is a question for all Christians

’

that we recognise vocation and vocational gifting should not obscure the need for us to ask what a just outcome would be.

It would be odd if an organisation committed to global justice simply sidelined this aspect of how it treats its own employees. It is understandable that the question should be raised; it is essential that we should keep it under the most careful review; but it is not helpful if we accept what can be a sentimental and unrealistic framework for discussing it that fails to declare the value we set on the expertise and professionally embodied generosity of those who choose to work with and for us.

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Item name Client Client team

Half-page AquAid Ad Chris Ward SPD: Private Sector Unit

Proof stage v2 Proof date 04/09/13 Feedback due 09/09/13

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BRIGHTON MARATHON 6 April 2014

Christian Aid/Adrian Arbib

Join Team Poverty for a stunning coastal run and help to eradicate poverty with every step.

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Register now for your place by calling 020 7523 2248 or visiting christianaid.org.uk/running

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03/10/2013 15:38

Client team

SPD IP IPU: Legacies Team

Contact us for your free guide to Wills and legacies

Feedback due 10/09/13

There is a time to love. There is a time to act.

When we think about our Will, we think with love of family, friends and causes we care deeply about. And from that love comes the inspiration to act: it reminds us that we actually need to write or update our Will.

Write your Will with a Will Aid solicitor during November and instead of paying the solicitor’s fee, you will be invited to make a donation to the Will Aid charities, which include Christian Aid. It’s the perfect time to think about whether your Will can reflect your love and desire for a more just world.

By including a gift to Christian Aid in your Will, you can extend your support for the people you are already doing so much to help in your lifetime. Please use Will Aid this November.

It is always time to love. Now is the time to act.

To find out more about Will Aid and the caring power of Wills, complete and return the form below, or contact Kerry McMahon: kmcmahon@christian-aid.org or 020 7523 2173.

Please send me information on legacy giving and the Will Aid scheme Title:

First name:

Surname:

Address: Postcode: Email: Telephone:

Once completed please return to: Christian Aid, PO Box 100, London SE1 7RT

A018020

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