KENYA: AMECEA Secretariat holds a Planning Retreat in View of the Upcoming 19th Plenary Assembly
Rev. Fr. Ferdinand Lugonzo, Secretary General AMECEA
AMECEA Secretariat staff this week held an evaluation and planning retreat as part of the preparation endeavors for the upcoming 19th Plenary Assembly in July to be held from 13-23 July 2018 in Addis, Ababa Ethiopia.
Speaking in an interview with AMECEA Online News at St. Mary’s Pastoral Center of Nakuru Diocese where evaluation and planning retreat took place, AMECEA Secretary General, Very Rev Fr. Ferdinand Lugonzo said that all pending resolutions of the 18th AMECEA Plenary Assembly that fall under the mandate of the secretariat are implemented ahead of the next Plenary Assembly.
“Looking at the context within which we were having this meeting, our focus was actually to see whether we have accomplished the mandate we received from the Bishops during the last Plenary Assembly and also in the Pastoral Strategic Plan that we have which runs from 2014 to 2024. It is therefore important to note that having gone through the resolutions of the last Plenary Assembly as well as the Pastoral Strategic Plan, the reporting of the activities of the last year indicated that there has been a lot of activities within the departments of the secretariat and therefore we covered quite a lot in regards to the resolutions as well as the strategic plan,” Fr. Lugonzo explained.
Fr. Lugonzo also noted that the greatest challenge that cuts across all the departments at the Secretariat is the issue of funding of the activities. As a solution, he said that each department has been asked to firm up its fundraising plans without forgetting putting some strategies on the sustainability of their departmental activities.
“During the planning we have tried to see that each department focuses on resource mobilization and also try to address the question of sustainability of the programs. We also encouraged the departments to open up to new networks and not just relying on what we call traditional partners,” he said.
Additionally Fr. Lugonzo said that the issue of transition and succession within the departments is another huddle the secretariat is facing because when transitions occur, they do interfere with smooth running of the programs of the department. He however said that as a mitigative measure, AMECEA is currently working on moderlities to ensure that there is smooth running of the programs despite any ocurence of a transition.
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By Pamela Adinda, AMECEA Online News
