17th World Council of YMCAs - Daily Bulletin - 4

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Photo by Simon Williams

FRIDAY, JULY 23rd, 2010

Dr. Bart Shaha speaking at the Investor’s Circle Meeting (left), Maria José Volpe Arouca from Brazil (right)

YMCA Leaders Invest in the Future of the YMCA

By Rebecca Morton Doherty, World Alliance of YMCAs

This morning, 100 YMCA leaders were presented with a “million dollar investment opportunity”; the chance to invest in the future of the global YMCA Movement and change the lives of thousands more young people around the world. US $78,550 was pledged on the spot from YMCAs, as well as individual staff, volunteers and youth.

As part of the 17th World Council of YMCAs, taking place from 19-24th July in Hong Kong, a group of YMCA leaders from across the world was invited to participate in an Investor’s Circle meeting. Dr Bart Shaha, Secretary General of the World Alliance of YMCAs, and Johan Vilhelm Eltwik, General Secretary of YMCA Europe, shared information on a resource mobilisation process that was initiated in 2008, and that is already reaping significant rewards. Work has been done at national, regional and world level to improve the YMCA’s capacity to raise funds. In particular, work has been done with YMCAs in the areas of governance, financial management, communications, programme development, and proposal writing. This work, financed by an initial seed fund of US $500,000, has already generated over US $1million.

During the Investors Circle meeting, YMCA Area leaders from Africa, Asia and Pacific, Europe, and Latin America presented

plans for phase two of this work (2010-2014), which aims to raise a further US $3 million from external sources to strengthen YMCAs worldwide and increase their impact on youth and communities.

Impressed and inspired by the success of phase one of this work, in less than 15 minutes, 34 individuals, and 15 YMCAs, representing all the regions, had pledged financial support to continue work to increase the visibility, social relevance, and organizational capacity of YMCAs so that they are better placed to raise, manage and report on funds from external donors.

YMCA England sent a powerful message to other National Movements, by making the first pledge of US $50,000 to support this process. John Lilley of YMCA Canada was the first to make a personal commitment to be an individual donor to this process with US $1,000.

Phase two of this process“is for those who hold a vision for the YMCA that is without boundaries. It is for those who are inspired by the collective power and untapped potential of the full YMCA family. It is for those who are proud to stand for global youth by standing for the global movement” said Dr. Bart Shaha.

Photo by Simon Williams

Innovative community-based micro-financing Anjan Mukherjee, YMCA of India

In a place as economically successful and growth-oriented as Hong Kong, it may seem rather anachronous to be learning lessons on micro-financing from Bangladesh and Ecuador YMCAs. But this sharing of ideas is under the spotlight on Hong Kong shores at the 17th World Council of YMCAs, themed ‘Striving for global citizenship for all.’

On an otherwise soggy morning with the impending threat of a developing typhoon, a silent revolution in micro-financing for growth and sustainability in places as disparate as Bangladesh and Ecuador, was discussed and debated. This was done in workshop-format at the Council, which is being held from 19-24 July 2010, attended by almost 1 200 YMCA delegates from 85 countries.

Current economic buzzwords are impetus, imagination and initiative, and these certainly apply to how the lives of the indigent population in their respective countries have been changed through YMCA micro-financing initiatives.

Largely agrarian, 60% of Bangladesh’s population lives below the poverty line (on less than USD 1 a day). Twelve YMCAs in Bangladesh, with just 2,000 Christian members support and develop 447 small self-help groups, each with around 20-25 members. Of these, 427 groups are comprised of women.

Since 1998, through community-based micro-financing, these groups have increased their initial net worth of USD 106 000 by 50%. “In six years, we have advanced small loans to over 6,000 people. Many of these are agro-economic, which benefits the poorest of the poor. The entire co-op group stands as guarantee for a single borrower and in this way, we have ensured that our repayment rate is 100%,” said Duncan Chowdhury, National Secretary, YMCA Bangladesh.

The social impact on the indigent communities is enormous, according to Chowdhury, who has witnessed the income-level of

this section of the population steadily increasing. The far-reaching spin-offs are felt in improved schooling, health, sanitation, safe drinking water, social forestry, poultry, and cattle-rearing.

An innovative success story in Ecuador is that of a partnership between micro-credit institution CESOL and YMCA Ecuador, involving ‘economia solidaria’. This economy of solidarity includes millions of marginalised people who were pushed into poverty by the dominant economic pattern.

YMCA Ecuador has been active in the country for the last 50 years, committed to comprehensive development of young women and men, children, families and the community, mainly in Quito, Portoviejo, and Santo Domingo de Los Tsachilas. CESOL stimulates productive and economic ventures through micro-credit and training.

“We work using a concept of social credit, which involves social groups and promotes responsibility and social commitment among partners and the community through proper training.

Development areas include managing credit, gender relations, self-esteem and computer skills,” said Ms. Silvina Gernaert Williams, National Secretary, YMCA Ecuador.

Some 650 men and 1,950 women are associated with this enterprise, and 13,000 families in the southern region of Quito, the city of Portoviejo, and the province of Santo Domingo de Los Tsachilas have benefited from this programme. Small loans have been granted to around 4,000 beneficiaries so far, with the volume of loans disbursed rising from USD 66,000 to USD 2 million in a couple of years.

These are both scintillating success stories that are certainly emulative and encouraging for the rest of the world where the proverbial drop in the ocean is something to be welcomed.

Photo by John Ainsworth

Three Steps...and a Bow Having been smeared with paint and mud yesterday and having the air taken out of it gradually, Gaia looked battered and forlorn. A simple cross made of two bamboo poles tied together with a piece of red cloth was placed beside her- not much of a companion to an ailing world. And then we were invited to walk around her, the same way Buddhist monks do when they are on a pilgrimage, three steps and then a bow.

Photo by John Ainsworth

Bowing meant going down on our knees, with our arms and hands, until our heads touch the ground. We were invited to listen to the earth, to not think of anything but listen. What could Gaia be telling us? I tried to relax my mind and to focus on listening but the more I tried the more the thoughts kept streaming into consciousness: useless, nonsense, insignificant and mundane thoughts; thoughts about what I needed to do after worship, thoughts about how clumsy I must look and how my knees were starting to hurt … I was starting to feel angry, not so much for my inability to focus but for my inability to do the simple exercise!

By Clarissa Balan, World Alliance of YMCAs

Back in 1977, two American Buddhist monks went on a Three Steps One Bow pilgrimage from Los Angeles to the city of Ten Thousand Buddhas in Talamage, California, USA. The journey, which was done in complete silence, covered 800 miles and took two years and nine months to complete. On reflecting on their pilgrimage, one of the monks said, bowing is “a gesture of grace, where you share the blessings, all the goodness and the merit you have within. You send it out to the world with a wish for wherever you see the need for wholesome change— specific, general, personal or universal. The spirit of giving sends the gift, the prayer for well-being, throughout the world, to all creatures as far as our minds extend.”

When we think of all the tasks that lay before us after World Council, we cannot but feel a sense of urgency, an overwhelming desire to get on our feet and start doing something. But this time before giving in to that surge of adrenalin, and taking the words of the Buddhist monk to heart, take three steps, and with a deep sense of gratitude for everything that touched us in this World Council, just bow.

Today’s Highlights

FRIDAY, JULY 23rd, 2010

- Skills Building Workshops and Dialogues on YMCA Cutting Edge Issues 11:00 - 12:30 Join one of the 25 one and a half hour workshops on issues relating to capacity building and resource mobilisation, advocacy and programmes, and communications and branding. Details of room allocation for each workshop can be found outside Hall 2.

- National General Secretaries Meeting (Plenary Hall) This meeting will be a place to build community, share information and discuss key outcomes of this 17th World Council meeting and their implications at national level.

A Day in Photos...

Photo by Simon Williams