KENYA: “We Have Tried to Implement the Resolutions of ACWECA 17th Plenary Assembly,” Says Association’s President
As the 18th Plenary Assembly of the Association of Consecrated Women in Eastern and Central Africa (ACWECA) draws close, the President of the Association Sr. Cecilia Njeri, LSOSF, is confident that they have implemented most of what was mandated to them during their 17th Plenary Assembly which was held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in August 2017.
According to Sr. Cecilia, the ACWECA 17th Plenary Assembly saw the launch of a Five-Years Strategic Plan (2017-2022) which mandated the Secretariat in collaboration with the National Associations of Sisters from the ACWECA member countries to focus on four thematic areas: Formation and Mission, Family and Youth Ministry, Justice, Peace and Integration for Creation and Organizational Development.
“As ACWECA, we felt that formation in the leadership of Religious Congregations is vital. We have therefore developed modules for leadership empowerment program where we build skills and knowledge of the leaders to enable them work more effectively,” Sr. Cecilia explained, adding that in Religious Life nuns who lack skills and technical knowhow often find themselves appointed into leadership positions, hence the need to build their capacity.
Since the program started, ACWECA Secretariat has been bringing two groups annually for capacity building: one for the newly elected leaders to various offices in their congregations coming for three modules, and the other for those who are leaving office so that they may exit office gracefully. According to Sr. Cecilia, the initiative is quite appreciated by the Congregations.
Still on Formation and Mission, ACWECA Secretariat has also been having a program on preparation for Chapters facilitation. This is a six weeks’ program which according to Sr. Cecilia who is also Superior General of her Congregation, Little Sisters of St. Francis, has also been successful and is much appreciated by the Congregations.
“We have had Sisters coming for three weeks, then they go back and return for another three weeks, in total six weeks. We felt that we need to prepare the Sisters who can facilitate Chapters within the Region in the different Congregations. Somehow, we are encouraging teamwork. Therefore, each year we have Chapter facilitation modules,” she said.
ACWECA Secretariat is also helping the leaders with skills on financial self-sustenance and they have developed a new program dubbed Sister Blended Value Project where they are encouraging the superiors to utilize resources available at their disposals and also to explore innovative ways of doing things in order to become more self-reliant.
“We feel that we need to know how we can sustain Religious life in Africa, using the resources we have. So I think in terms of leadership formation programs, whatever we laid out to do is also on the right track,” Sr. Cecilia said.
In relation to the mandate for Family and Youth Ministry, ACWECA has been working closely with the National Associations and encouraging them to have programs for family and youth.
“We encourage Sisters to visit families in their localities so that they get to know the challenges and problems that families often encounter. We have Sisters who are social workers and our mandate is to empower them so that they can organize seminars and workshops for families. As for the youth, we encourage Sisters to get involved in youth ministry through schools run by the Catholic Church.”
AOSK Chairperson at ACWECA Secretariat in Nairobi
ACWECA has also managed to organize trainings for Sisters on justice, peace and integration for creation, an initiative that Sr. Cecilia said is greatly appreciated.
“Gone are the days when Sisters didn’t get involved with justice and peace issues. We are encouraging Sisters to take the front stage in promoting justice, peace and integration for creation. And for their effectiveness, capacity building is also key. The Holy Father Pope Francis, through his encyclical Laudato Si, asks us to care for our environment. As a result, we are encouraging Sisters to plant trees to take care of Mother Earth. This initiative has also picked well in almost all the Congregations.”
Finally, concerning the fourth mandate of the ACWECA 17th Plenary Assembly which is organizational development, the Association’s president says, “First we had to renovate the whole ACWECA Secretariat in order to maximise the use of the facilities that we have here. Having done that, we are now able to hold all our activities, including some of the trainings here at the Secretariat and this helps us to save on costs,” she explained.
Secondly ACWECA has worked on operational structures and policies which, according to Sr. Cecilia, have helped the Association to grow and develop into an organization that is trustworthy.
“We have our Statutes, an Operational Management Manual, Procurement Manual, Financial Policies and Procedures. All these have helped us to build confidence, create transparency and make ACWECA trustworthy. In a nutshell, we can say that we made some efforts to implement the mandate given to us by the 17th Plenary Assembly and we are happy.”
∽End∽
By Pamela Adinda, AMECEA Online News
