LWF Women in Leadership: Breaking barriers

International Women’s Day is an opportune moment to raise awareness around gender equality and equal participation in the workplace and in society. The LWF has a long-standing commitment to ensure women’s equal and meaningful participation at all levels of decision-making.

This year, we celebrate past and present women leaders who bear witness to that commitment at the communion office, as well as in member churches and country programs around the globe. Women in leadership will share their stories highlighting challenges and successes, while exploring some of the concrete ways the LWF is supporting the next generation of young and upcoming leaders.

This year’s IWD also serves as precursor to the 65th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW65 15-26 March) with its focus on women’s full and effective participation and decision making in public life. 

Register for the Zoom webinar

Event languages: English, Spanish

Practical collaboration based on joint calling and distinct mandates

The joint calling and distinct mandates of LWF’s member churches and World Service programs provide opportunities for collaboration guided by the communion’s vision of working toward a just, peaceful and reconciled world. The new Guidance Note aims to deepen mutual understanding of holistic witness and serving people in need, and inspire meaningful ways of joint engagement in different countries around the world.

The online launch will include opening remarks by LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr Martin Junge, presentation of the document’s purpose, target groups and content, as well as testimonies about joint collaboration from people working at the local level.

Register for the Zoom webinar

Event languages: English (Spanish and French with simultaneous interpretation)

Registration deadline: 2 May 2021

Read the Guidance Note

NIFEA Webinar / UNFPII side-event on “Spirituality, Land, and Self-Determination"

In the context of the UN’s Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) taking place between 19-30 April, the webinar will reflect on how the confluence of the three “Cs” of capitalism, colonialism and Christianity has deepened the experience of exploitation, marginalization, and displacement for many Indigenous communities. Panelists will be asked to share their community understanding of wealth, equality, land, and spirituality while also addressing the importance of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC). In addition, panelists will explore their Indigenous perspectives on and contributions to building an Economy of Life, focusing on concepts of reparation and restoration, land as life, as well as alternative and holistic visions of prosperity and development that embrace all creation.

Opening blessing by:

• The Most Rev. Mark MacDonald, archbishop of the Anglican Church of Canada

Moderator:

• Rev Chebon Kernell, director of the Native American Comprehensive Plan of the United Methodist Church in the USA. He has actively engaged in the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and is a cultural practitioner and member of the Helvpe Ceremonial grounds.

Speakers:

• Marcus Briggs-Cloud, co-director of Ekvn-Yefolecv, an Indigenous ecovillage community in Weogufka, Alabama.
• Elvira Rumkabu, an Indigenous Papuan woman who has been working with Dewan Adat Papua (Papuan Customary Council/DAP), an Indigenous Peoples organization that represents and advocates for indigenous Papuan issues.
• Jocabed Solano, an Indigenous theologian and activist from the Gunadale nation in Panama.
• Rev Mari Valjakka, a Sámi priest in the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Finland.
• Naomi Wolfe, Indigenous Theologies Project Officer at the University of Divinity and board member of NAIITS, an Indigenous Learning community.
• Rev Dr Ferdinand Anno, an indigenous pastor of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines who teaches theology and worship at Union Theological Seminary-Philippines.
• Inatoli Aye, an Indigenous woman from Nagaland in India, belonging to the Sumi tribe. She has degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary in the USA and Protestant Theological Seminary in the Netherlands and her work attempts to engage indigenous liberation with women’s emancipation.
• Evariste Ndikumana, a member of the Batwa community from Burundi. He has engaged with the United Nation Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights to promote the rights of Indigenous Peoples in Burundi.
• Jenne Pieter, pastor and assistant director of research and development at the Protestant Church in Maluku in Indonesia. She works with indigenous communities and is passionate about ecological justice.

Organizers:

• World Council of Churches
• World Communion of Reformed Churches
• Lutheran World Federation
• World Methodist Council
• Council for World Mission

Register for the Zoom webinar

Language: English

Engaging local and national faith-based actors in crisis response

CAFOD, Christian Aid, ACT Alliance, Tearfund, Islamic Relief Worldwide and the Lutheran World Federation have come together to organize this event on the eve of the Grand Bargain Annual Meeting. The even aims to discuss the important role of local and national faith-based actors in crisis response, to hear of existing good practices and to identify ways to strengthen this engagement.

Recent years have brought momentum amongst donors and UN coordination actors in identifying more targeted ways to engage and support specific sections of local civil society in humanitarian action. Across coordination, funding and partnership efforts, both donors and humanitarian agencies are translating their policy commitment to engaging different categories of civil society into a more practical and predictable approach. Yet, although good and promising practices on engaging national and local faith-based organizations (FBOs) exists across different agencies and various contexts, it is not yet systematically shared.

Over the past year, the global COVID-19 pandemic brought once again a recognition of the role of faith actors, and some innovations at a practical level. Yet evaluations and reflections with local FBO partners also point to numerous gaps and challenges. This webinar will take stock of efforts to date and reflect on ways forward; based on insights from national and local FBO partners, UN agencies and donors. A keynote address will also be shared by Archbishop Buti Joseph Tlhagale, O.M.I. of Johannesburg, South Africa.

Organizers:

• CAFOD
• The Lutheran World Federation
• Christian Aid
• ACT Alliance
• Tearfund
• Islamic Relief Worldwide

Registration

Language: English

Poems of dignity and hope by refugees in Kenya: online launch

On World Refugee Day, join us to hear refugees’ inspiring voices of dignity and resilience in this event that will combine the reading of their poems with perspectives from a distinguished panel of speakers.

Often when we collect testimonies from refugees, we focus on the ordeals they went through, their efforts to build a new life, their challenges, and their hopes. Here, we asked refugees something different: defining who they are poetically and celebrating the gifts they offer to their community.

LWF links the KADANA refugee platform to national and international forums to amplify the voices of refugee communities. This vibrant organization aims to promote and protect the human rights and socio-economic development of refugees and asylum seekers and peaceful coexistence with host communities in Kenya.

Panelists:

• Said Abukar (Nairobi), Jackline Irankunda (Kakuma), Mark Okello (Dadaab): refugees from Kenya, authors of the poems and members of KADANA, the platform by refugees for refugees
• Martin Junge, General Secretary, Lutheran World Federation
• Gillian Triggs, Assistant High Commissioner for ProtectionUNHCR
• Françoise Mianda, Chief, East and Southern Africa Section, OHCHR

Moderator:

• Mary Obara, Program Coordinator, LWF Kenya

Registration

Event languages: English, with interpretation into French

Live-streaming

'I am Hope' - Poems by refugees

Celebrating the gifts of reguees

Well over a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, with the impact of the climate emergency continuing to be felt, and with multiple overlapping crises ongoing across the globe, the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) joins the rest of the world in marking World Refugee Day on June 20 with a push for inclusion and a celebration of the gifts refugees offer their local communities.

The global UNHCR theme for World Refugee Day 2021, “Together we heal, learn, and shine”, runs well in line with the LWF’s approach, and comes with a call for greater inclusion of refugees – in health systems, in schools, in sport – spotlighting the importance of standing together, not least as the world continues to face the impact of COVID-19.

World Refugee Day 2021 - Online Press Kit

#ENDviolence and The Lutheran World Federation partnership

Showcasing LWF’s global work towards ending violence against children 

90 minutes of interactive dialogue, children’s testimonies, and presentations of LWF child violence prevention country initiatives from a number of LWF country programs and member churches including Argentina, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Colombia, El Salvador, Jordan, Myanmar, South Sudan, Sweden, Uganda and Uruguay. 

Opening remarks

• Dr Howard Taylor, Executive Director of the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children
• Rev Dr Martin Junge, General Secretary The Lutheran World Federation

Stakeholder interventions

• Dr Najat Maalla M'jid, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Violence against Children
• Archbishop Dr Antje Jackelén, Church of Sweden
• Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca, #ENDViolence Board Member, World Council of Churches, Acting General Secretary

Agenda

• Two videos on LWF World Service Country Operations and LWF Member Churches work to end violence against children;
• Messages from children from LWF operations around the globe;
• Statements by church leaders and LWF World Service Country Representatives;
• Official launch of Pledges

Closing remarks

• Rev Dr Martin Junge, General Secretary The Lutheran World Federation
• Dr Howard Taylor, Executive Director of the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children

Registration Link

Strengthening collaboration of World Service programs and member churches

Published in April this year, the Guidance Note aims to provide inspiration and practical recommendations for meaningful joint engagement between member churches of the LWF and its World Service country and emergency programs. The document is offered as a resource to affirm and deepen mutual understanding of the joint calling and distinct mandates of LWF’s humanitarian and development arm and the churches’ witness. In a wider sense, it also provides some orientation for LWF’s programs that work in collaboration with other faith-based organizations. 

As part of the rollout process, this regional online workshop aims to contextualize the purpose of the resource and discuss how it can be used by churches and World Service programs to further deepen relationships and collaboration in their respective contexts. 

Guidance Note in English, French and Spanish

Strengthening collaboration of World Service programs and member churches

Published in April this year, the Guidance Note aims to provide inspiration and practical recommendations for meaningful joint engagement between member churches of the LWF and its World Service country and emergency programs. The document is offered as a resource to affirm and deepen mutual understanding of the joint calling and distinct mandates of LWF’s humanitarian and development arm and the churches’ witness. In a wider sense, it also provides some orientation for LWF’s programs that work in collaboration with other faith-based organizations. 

As part of the rollout process, this regional online workshop aims to contextualize the purpose of the resource and discuss how it can be used by churches and World Service programs to further deepen relationships and collaboration in their respective contexts. 

Guidance Note in English, French and Spanish

Strengthening collaboration of World Service programs and member churches

Published in April this year, the Guidance Note aims to provide inspiration and practical recommendations for meaningful joint engagement between member churches of the LWF and its World Service country and emergency programs. The document is offered as a resource to affirm and deepen mutual understanding of the joint calling and distinct mandates of LWF’s humanitarian and development arm and the churches’ witness. In a wider sense, it also provides some orientation for LWF’s programs that work in collaboration with other faith-based organizations. 

As part of the rollout process, this regional online workshop aims to contextualize the purpose of the resource and discuss how it can be used by churches and World Service programs to further deepen relationships and collaboration in their respective contexts. 

Languages: Spanish (with simultaneous interpretation into English)

Guidance Note in English, French and Spanish