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A two-day capacity building in India held at the Jeypore Evangelical Lutheran Church (JELC) focused on water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH). Held 4-5 January, the event drew about 400 pastors and lay people.

Gathering for a World AIDS Day prayer, the World Council of Churches (WCC) reflected on the latest UNAIDS report, and prayed that churches will renew their commitment to become agents of life for those suffering from HIV and AIDS.

As a crowd of more than 300 gathered, the St Paul’s University School of Theology officially launched Thursdays in Black, pledging to build an Africa without violence and to join together on a pilgrimage of justice, peace, and reconciliation.

Dr Agnes Abuom, moderator of the World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee, shared a message with the Conference of the World Council of Religious Leaders on Faith and Diplomacy: Generations in Dialogue, being held 4-7 October in Lindau, Germany.

Religious and traditional leaders in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) participated in online consultations on the SADC Model Law on gender-based violence.

In an ecumenical meeting for North American church leaders on 24 June, prayers and discussion centered on issues that are both deeply painful and seemingly insurmountable: racism, division, vaccine hesitancy, genocide, war. But hope found a way into the virtual gathering as participants supported each other to find ways forward.

In a video message, moderator of the World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee Dr Agnes Abuom bid goodbye and expressed deep appreciation to Rev. Prof. Dr h.c. Cornelia Füllkrug-Weitzel, who is retiring as president of "Brot für die Welt" and "Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe" after leading the German charity for 20 years. Füllkrug-Weitzel is also a WCC Thursdays in Black ambassador.

The Thursdays in Black campaign for a world free from rape and violence has been intensified in Namibia, bringing awareness of the heightened risk of violence against women and children during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Hillary Nuwamanya, 24, was born HIV-positive, and has chosen to live his life setting an example for other young people who are struggling to find hope.

As an important part of the World Council of Churches Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiatives and Advocacy programme, the Ugandan has trained people in how to lead their communities in gender equality, gender justice and zero tolerance for sexual and gender-based violence. He often participates in or facilitates intergenerational workshops on HIV and gender justice.

Using lessons learned from building health-competent faith communities and responding to the HIV and AIDS epidemic, African church leaders are doing their best to help their communities cope with the novel coronavirus.

In a statement published 23 April, the group “Faith in Beijing,” a collective of religious ac-tors and faith-based networks, called for the world to advocate governments and civil so-ciety for urgent COVID-19-related responses that protect women’s rights and achieve gender equality.

WCC ambassadors of the Thursdays in Black campaign are standing behind a joint statement that urges both awareness and protection from the “dual pandemics” of COVID-19 and gender-based violence.

More than 40 church leaders and diakonia specialists from 15 Asian countries participated in training in ecumenical diakonia and development organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Chiang Mai, Thailand from 4-7 December.

For World AIDS Day 2019, the World Council of Churches (WCC) embraces the theme "Communities make the difference." World AIDS Day is being commemorated in the context of 16 Days Against Gender-based Violence, an annual international campaign that began on 25 November and ends on 10 December, Human Rights Day. The WCC also helps bring about grassroots awareness and change through the Thursdays in Black campaign for a world free from rape and violence.

Young people in Uganda are on fire for change that will free the world from both HIV and sexual and gender-based violence. Spreading sparks of knowledge and enthusiasm, they have been visiting schools to inform and inspire even more young people.

Moravian women pastors and evangelists have said: “Enough is enough: no more rape and violence against women." Women leaders of the church marched in the streets of Mbeya town in Tanzania wearing black on Thursday to officially launch the Thursdays in Black global campaign to stand against rape and violence.