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Prof. Ezra Chitando, World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiatives and Advocacy regional coordinator for Southern Africa, presented on behalf of WCC deputy general secretary Prof. Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri, a paper on “Women’s Transformative Leadership and Africa’s Holistic Development: The Role of the Churches” during an international conference on leadership transformation and innovation in Africa.

In a meeting held 9-11 November, the WCC Commission on World Mission and Evangelism evaluated its work and impact on mission and global Christianity. The commission, since the WCC 10th Assembly in Busan in 2013, prepared the WCC Conference on World Mission and Evangelism, which took place in Arusha, Tanzania, in 2018.

At an event called “Ecumenical Continuing Formation: Youth, Transformative Masculinity 

and Femininity,” young people from the Pacific gathered from 15-19 November, both online and in-person, to express their honest feelings about the issues most important to them.

 

Religious leaders in Tanzania, after attending a workshop on HIV, stigma, treatment adherence and faith healing, released a communique that urges further empowering of religious leaders with skills and information to combat HIV.

A UNAIDS-PEPFAR faith-based initiative workshop, “Harnessing the Power of Partnerships,” started on 27 September in Tanzania with a focus on HIV stigma, treatment adherence and faith healing.

Religious leaders in Uganda pledged to renew their commitment to the national struggle to end HIV and AIDS as a public health threat by 2030, end all forms of stigma, promote justice, model transformative masculinities and transformative femininities, and ensure that respect for human rights is at the center of responses to HIV and AIDS.

Seventy-five students and student mentors from over 15 church universities in Eastern Africa  participated in an online training-of-trainers workshop on challenging toxic masculinities and toxic femininities. The event was hosted by the World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiatives and Advocacy (EHAIA) Eastern Africa regional office on 1-2 May. 

Thursdays in Black ambassadors have created a joint message, unifying their voices in support of “16 Days against Gender-Based Violence.”

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is mourning the passing away of Hendrew Lusey-Gekawaku on 13 October 2020. He was a registered nurse, public health practitioner and ecumenist who contributed enormously to ecumenical and interfaith HIV and AIDS responses.

Because of the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic and guidance from the Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC), the decision was taken to postpone the Ecumenical Continuing Formation on Youth Transformative Masculinity and Femininity in the Pacific again to the second half of 2021, and change the location to Fiji.

Taking into consideration the growing global concerns and implications of the current spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus), the World Council of Churches (WCC) will postpone its annual Ecumenical Continuing Formation on Youth seminar in the Pacific to the end of the year 2020, with a date to be announced. The event was scheduled for June 2020 in Tonga.
The WCC is taking steps to prevent the spread of COVID-19, including cancelling or postponing certain meetings and limiting travels.

Applications are open to young people for participation in a June 2020 World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Continuing Formation seminar. To be held in Tonga, the seminar will focus on transformative masculinity and femininity.

The deadline for applications is 20 March.

A recent seminar for adolescents and young people from the Nairobi city slum Schools of Hope Clubs invited participants to address their perceptions of what it means to be a man or a woman.

Young people are trailblazers, pioneers, visionaries and leaders who have the potential to create a positive, sustainable legacy for future generations on a global scale.
On 12 August, International Youth Day, youth led a TED-style talk and discussion in Geneva, with five young speakers from different parts of the world, four virtually and one live. The stories and experiences shared connected them to theme “Transforming Education,” while inspiring the audience for a call to action.

Fifty students from Ugandan universities in Uganda were educated in challenging patriarchy and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) at a training of trainers (TOT) gathering in Kampala, Uganda.

In a colourful ceremony attended by more than one hundred people, new manuals on faith healing and transformative masculinities and femininities were launched at Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, on 29 July 2019.