Postcard from Africa: Cheryl Curtis, Executive Director

After 24 hours of air travel, and a time difference of eight hours, I find myself back in the beautiful land of Kenya with the red soil. Birdsong woke me up at 5:30 just before sunrise. Flowers are in bloom all around and windows are open. I ate breakfast in the garden – fresh mango, banana and pineapple, bread and omelettes.

I am attending the first of five PWRDF partner roundtables that will take place in 2009, during our 50th anniversary year. These sessions with our partners will create a dialogue on development work in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Indigenous communities in Canada.

For the Africa roundtable in Nairobi, we are joined by our partners from Kenya, of course, but we area also meeting with partners from Burundi, Mozambique, South Africa and Tanzania. Together, we will deepen understanding of partnership and strengthen partnership practices for development and relief.

Olinda Magaia, coordinator of the home health care program of Salama in Mozambique, has already shared a critical insight. “I thought I was the only one who experienced that!” she exclaimed, revealing to us how partnership helps us all to see ourselves more clearly and to realize that we are not alone.

Already, our partners have identified many issues. Among them:

• Disengagement/disempowerment of men ("There’s nothing in it for me…")
• Violence including sexual violence against women and girls and children in general
• Marginalisation of youth – considered a time bomb for social unrest and security
• Supports needed for microfinance programs
• Democracy a fragile, poorly understood concept and in free elections, election results are often refused
• Awareness of one’s rights critical before one can exercise one’s rights
• Women motivated to participate in development and create their own solutions
• Need for increased international advocacy by PWRDF to help partners give voice to advocacy agenda at the international level
• Trickle down theory at work in monies to local governments/communities – issues of corruption around devolved funds
• More anti-stigma work needed to address poverty, HIV and AIDS, gender inequality
• Free primary education not supported with necessary infrastructure, creates two tier system as private schools emerge
• Reporting and accountability of MDGs
• Holding governments to account especially for Aid effectiveness
• High HIV and AIDS prevalence rates
• Reporting requirements for CIDA and what is expected, including the balance of time on administration of program
• Ecumenism in Canada not a priority in face of survival issues -- church played significant role in bringing about change but then it relaxed, many churches are inward looking
• Growing number of social movements as alternatives to institutional structures
• Growing number of ecumenical bodies emerging
• Climate change and environment focus changing the way farmers relate to the land