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On 16 June 2017, the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance in partnership with the Kenya chapter of the International Network of Religious Leaders Living with or personally affected by HIV and AIDS (INERELA+ Kenya), along with many other organizations, is coordinating an event to highlight country-led action backed by global support. Religious leaders and leaders of faith-based organizations will remind governments of their commitments agreed in the June 2016 United Nations’ Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS that there should be “special emphasis on providing 1.6 million children (0-14 years of age) with antiretroviral therapy by 2018.”

More than 100'000 participants are expected at the Kirchentag festival organized by a Protestant lay movement in Germany. Among the 2500 events on the Kirchentag programme, many involve representatives of the WCC member churches and its leadership, including the moderator of the WCC Central Committee, Dr Agnes Abuom; WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit; the WCC president for Africa, Rev. Dr Mary-Anne Plaatjies van Huffel; and various members of the WCC Central Committee.

At its first Eco-School on Water, Food and Climate Justice, the WCC's Ecumenical Water Network (EWN) along with its Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance will bring together about 20 young people from the Africa region. Over a period of 10 days, in an ecumenical setting, participants will have the opportunity to study the local, regional, and international manifestations and causes of the water crisis and food security affected by climate change. They will examine the situation and challenges from a perspective of faith and ethics, and search together for possible ecumenical responses to these challenges.

As more people face famine today than any time in modern history, the WCC together with the All Africa Conference of Churches and a range of faith-based partners and networks invite a Global Day of Prayer to End Famine on 21 May 2017, in response to the hunger crisis.

The WCC held the 1st consultative meeting on ecumenical global health strategy in Maseru, Lesotho on 27 February 2017. A second consultation takes place in Geneva on 24 May, to reinforce the unique contribution of the ecumenical movement to global health issues, and to strengthen the coherence of the ecumenical global health strategy being developed.

Religious actors representing different faiths from a broad range of countries participate in the meeting, including Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, Cote d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. They will work together over two days to develop a strategy to prevent and counter incitement to discrimination, hostility and violence in the region.

The event is co-organized by the United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect, the International Dialogue Centre (KAICIID), the World Council of Churches, and the Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers.

This event will feature discussion based on practical examples of peace and reconciliation, healing of memories, and transitional justice. It is promoted by the Permanent Mission of the Republic of South Africa to the United Nations, the World Council of Churches and the United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect.

In Southern Africa, around 28 million people are facing food insecurity due to drought conditions brought on by the strength of El Niño in 2015/2016. The World Council of Churches – Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance is holding a regional consultation, hosted by World Vision International, to plan coordinated faith-based action in support of sustainable agriculture, agro-ecology and other climate-resilient methods, particularly targeting the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) discussion on the response to El Niño.