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| Fr. Febian Mulenga |
The Executive Board Members of the Inter-Diocesan Peace & Cross Border Evangelization have endorsed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which was drafted during their 2nd conference last year December at Lodwar Diocese in Kenya.
During their follow up meeting held at AMECEA Secretariat in Nairobi on July 8th, 2014, the Executive Board Members proposed that the MOU be presented to the Bishops concerned for signing in Lilongwe -Malawi during the AMECEA 18th Plenary Assembly.
The Inter-Diocesan Peace and Cross-Border Evangelization is an initiative of seven dioceses from AMECEA Region aimed at enhancing the Gospel way of promoting peace, co-existence and integral human development among the people in the Turkana and Karamajong region.
The seven dioceses which include Kitale, Nakuru, Lodwar (Kenya), Kotido, Moroto (Uganda), Torit (South Sudan) and Jimma-Bonga (Ethiopia) border each other geographically and; despite the fact that the inhabitants share a lot in common in terms of culture, they have not lived peaceful with each other.
The MOU was established as a framework for collaboration and partnership between the Turkana and Karamajong and is guided by binding conditions and principles, among them collective ownership, mutual accountability, mutual trust and Openness, continuity, solidarity and collective action.
The purpose of the MOU is to highlight the different roles and responsibilities the Diocese of Lodwar and other cross border Dioceses will play as partners in the implementation of Sustainable Cross Border Actions for Peace. These include fund raising, implementation, including administration of funds (policies and procedures), reporting to donors, Episcopal Conferences and stakeholders, monitoring and evaluation of the activities implemented.
The Executive board members also managed to identify strategic areas of collaborations. At the same time, they discussed about the allocation of funds from the Italian Bishops’ Conference to support the connector projects and activities for building peace, reconciliation and coexistence among the rival communities.
Mean while, Fr. Febian Pikiti, Coordinator of AMECEA Pastoral Department who hosted the meeting reaffirmed AMECEA’s commitment to the mission of promoting peace and evangelization among the people in the volatile region of Turkana and Karamajong.
SOURCE: Pamela Adinda (AMECEA Social Communications)