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As a document on ecumenical diakonia is set to be released in June, partners of the World Council of Churches (WCC) specialized ministries gathered to celebrate on 4 May at the Bossey Ecumenical Institute their years of work in creating a publication that shows how carefully crafted fruits are well worth the wait.

On 24 March, the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs of the World Council of Churches (WCC) hosted a webinar conversation which tried to answer the following question: “Statelessness, A Product of  Racialized Nationality?”

A webinar on 1 March—Zero Discrimination Day— explored the theme “COVID-19, Casteism and Caste discrimination: How to mitigate pandemic-reinforced inequality and discrimination.”

A five-day online training workshop, “Achieving Racial Justice Through Human Rights Mechanisms,” from 21-25 February, drew over 30 participants from 13 different countries.

As preparations continue for the World Council of Churches (WCC) 11th Assembly in Karlsruhe, Germany in 2022, pre-assemblies are taking shape as well. Planners are working to create an experience in which people can work together in transformational ways.

Women of faith who are African or of African descent held a powerful recent gathering, “Ubuntu: Remembrance, Diversity, and Advocacy in Unity Now!” in which they shared their call to action with a sense of Sankofa, or a season of now while looking back and forward. The event was organized by the Pan African Women’s Ecumenical Empowerment Network (PAWEEN) and Pan African Women of Faith (PAW).

A webinar on 8 December, entitled “From Combatting Racism to Overcoming Racism, Racial Discrimination and Xenophobia: the Old and the New for the Present and the Future of Racial Justice,” publicly launched a new World Council of Churches (WCC) programme while commemorating the 50th anniversary of the WCC Progamme to Combat Racism.

A webinar on 6 December—last in an ongoing series— remembered past massacres in Europe. Panellists explored questions such as: How do we recognise these tragedies, and celebrate the survival, resistance, resilience, and heroes of these communities? How do we honour their martyrdom? What is done to prevent these victims from falling into amnesia or denial?

When Rev. Lamont Anthony Wells, African Descent Lutheran Association national president, reflects on his experience as one of 18 participants from around the world to participate in the United Nations' Fellowship Programme for People of African Descent, he thinks of it as a unique opportunity to advocate for racial justice.

A recent webinar, “Debt Cancellation as Anti-Racism in times of Black Lives Matter protests,” explored how debt cancellation for African and other developing countries can be an instrument for overcoming racism.

A recent webinar remembered past massacres that took place in the Middle East, and speakers underscored the importance of telling the stories so that that past is not forgotten.

A symposium exploring the complex question of misleading theologies in Africa ended here on 24 November, amid concerns that the phenomenon was harming the efforts to combat coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and other diseases.

Although it is unfolding in a mixed context of political and economic upheavals, tragic conflicts, exploitation, and enormous opportunities, growth, and successes, the African experience of diakonia and development has a lot to teach the world, a workshop for senior African church leaders heard.