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Health and Healing Conference examines role of church related organisations in service provision |
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On the 24-25 April a conference on the role of churches and Christian organisations in health and healing took place in Birmingham, UK, coordinated by the Anglican Health Network. The timing of the meeting was particularly pertinent for those in England as the government has recently opened the market for health services, creating opportunities for Christian organisations to provide more services funded by the public sector. However, this does not come without challenges, and Laura Jones' presentation in a workshop examined the obstacles as well as the opportunities for church-related and christian organisations in partnering financially with local authorities or commissioning bodies.
One key area of discussion was on the importance of articulating the Christian nature of the services well, in order to combat misunderstanding funding authorities might have and in order to communicate the added value of the wholeness and integrated approach to health and health care that Christian providers can offer, and the compassion that is part of their ethos. The local understanding and connections that churches offer should also be highlighted as an asset.
Various projects and services were presented relating to healing ministry and health care. These included Eurodiaconia member Diakonhjemmet's hospital, a church centre for health and healing with community projects including a social enterprise, an integrated Christian doctor's surgery with community projects, a system of hospitals and health outreach programmes in Texas and a project for developing mental health support in churches in Germany.
A challenging speech was made about persons with disabilities; the “disabilities of theology” and the exclusion people may experience in church, but also how persons with disabilities can serve the church as “apostles of brokeness”. The organisation Us., formally USPG, presented their approach to transforming their development health work through bottom-up demand-driven change based on research in local communities on actual and perceived needs.
The Bishop responsible for health issues in the Church of England concluded the meeting with ten proposals to develop the church's role in health, making connections: between faith and medical care, theology and practice, provision and prophecy, ministry and medicine, strategy and ecumenism,the individual and corporate, telling and listening, the religious and spiritual, distinctiveness and pluralism and the local and global level.
Participants are developing further cooperation following the conference. For more information about the meeting and organisations involved please see here or contact
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Are we missing the train for inclusive growth? |
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22 February 2013
On 21 February Caritas Europa organised a conference in the European Economic and Social Committee entitled “The growing crisis in Europe – is the European Union capable of an effective response?”. While presenting two reports, one Europe 2020 shadow report and one study focusing on the effects of the crisis and austerity in Greece, Ireland Italy, Portugal and Spain, very interesting panel discussions took place with Members of Parliament, representatives of the European Commission and people who are working on the ground for Caritas.
One key message of this event was that despite the Europe 2020 target to have at least 20 million fewer people in or at risk of poverty and social exclusion, poverty in the EU is increasing rather than declining. Egbert Holthuis from the European Commission mentioned that there is a growing need for solidarity and fairness to reach the Europe 2020 targets. Veronica Lope Fontagne, Member of the European Parliament, emphasized the importance of civil society involvement in the European Semester. Sian Jones from the European Anti Poverty Network added to this that stakeholder involvement has been weak, although it is the deciding factor, especially on a national level, if Europe 2020 poverty targets want to be achieved.
While Caritas Europa argues that we are missing the train for inclusive growth, it is the European Commission’s view that we are on the right train, it is just not going fast enough. This is because structural reforms need time to develop and will show visible results only later. Dr. Sean Healy from Social Justice Ireland disagreed, saying that we are on the wrong train because people living in poverty and vulnerable groups are the ones paying the price for a crisis they didn’t cause. |
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Round table discussion on Labour Migration and Development |
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15 November 2012
This week, Diakonia Germany together with Bread for the World and the Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe (CCME) launched Guidelines on Labour Migration and Development at a round table discussion in Brussels.
The Guidelines underline the importance of a human rights approach towards migrants who seek employment opportunities in another country and call on the EU to avoid an overly restrictive focus on migration, as this can have an encouraging effect on smuggling networks as well as human trafficking and undermines the right to freedom of movement.
Panellists included experts from Diakonia Germany, Bread for the World, the All Africa Conference of Churches and the European Commission. Whilst the value of remittances was acknowledged, in terms of development, Vivi Akakpo from the All Africa Conference of Churches pointed out that they can risk potentially distorting the national economy of the sending countries and putting pressure on the migrants to provide for their relatives back home. Robertus Rozenburg from Home Affairs in the European Commission, focused in his presentation on the Global Approach to Migration and the importance of working together with third countries to manage migration effectively. Nevertheless, migration management poses one of the biggest challenges of globalisation and the measures taken so far have not been able to combat the exploitation of migrant workers, human trafficking or deaths at sea just to name a few of the issues we need to address in order to allow people to move in a dignified manner.
Download the guidelines here in English. |
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Assessing the impact of austerity measures on people with disabilities |
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7 November 2012
On 6 November 2012 the European Foundation Center held a conference in the European Parliament titled “Assessing the Impact of European government’s austerity plans on the rights of people with disabilities”. During the conference the results of a research study on the impact austerity measures have had on the rights of people with disabilities, carried out by the EFC Consortium on Human Rights and Disability, were presented. The study was carried out in two phases, one reviewing information about all 27 Member States and the second one focusing on six countries, namely Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Spain, Portugal and the United Kingdom.
People with disabilities have already experienced the negative impact of the crisis, such as a decline in the quality of social services and a higher unemployment rate, much more strongly than people without disabilities have. Austerity measures only add to that impact, leaving people with disabilities facing potential re-institutionalisation and social exclusion. Ádám Kósa, Member of the European Parliament, pointed out that if we want to achieve the targets set in the Europe 2020 strategy, we must reintegrate people with disabilities into the workforce.
As governments look toward cutting back, the future looks bleak for those who rely on the government for assistance with their own care or the care of family members. Help given to adults who need full-time care, or to parents who must care full-time for children disabilities, has been cut to nearly half. The focus has shifted from integration and quality of life to survival, and with the shift goes many opportunities to pursue personal fulfillment previously made available to people with disabilities.
This panel highlighted what Eurodiaconia has already seen in the experiences of many of our members and other social-care organisations across Europe: austerity represents a threat to the most vulnerable people in our society. As diaconal actors we must keep the interests of these marginalised people at the centre of our efforts. |
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FEANTSA conference on Homelessness and Research |
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18 October 2012
On 17 October 2012 FEANTSA organised a conference on Homelessness and Research in the European Parliament. Members of Parliament and key experts from relevant organisations got together to discuss the importance of data collection and analysis for policy makers in order to have a clear idea about the number of people affected by homelessness and the services they need.
The Italian research institute Istat carried out in-depth surveys looking at services available for the homeless, service providers as well as interviewing the homeless themselves and presented the results at the conference. The very insightful data showed that about 25% of the homeless population in Italy is working an average of 13 days a month and only 10% have never worked at all. This proves the labour capacity among the homeless. Even more astonishing is the fact that more than 50% of the homeless survive on the streets without any income at all.
Paolo Pezzana from the Italian Federation of Organisations for the Homeless emphasised that there is nothing romantic about being homeless and it is very important to create a public image of homelessness that reflects the reality. The data provided by Istat is very valuable in terms of advocacy, policy making and clearing up stereotypes and prejudices, if communicated effectively. Nevertheless, only a few Member States have carried out research on homelessness on a national level.
Despite the fact that the number of homeless people is increasing evermore in times of the crisis, the EU has not adopted a strategy on homelessness. Eurodiaconia is calling on the EU to stand behind the values that it promotes. We believe that the EU needs to address this issue by adopting a comprehensive and holistic strategy on homelessness that goes beyond the provision of shelter and food.
To see the conference flyer, please click here. |
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Friday, May 24, 2013
