East and Southern Africa Ministry Team

East and Southern Africa Ministry Team (ESAMT)Justice Education and Service LearningCRWRC realizes that many of the root causes of poverty that we face throughout the world are justice issues. War, international debt, corruption, the colonial history, and a lack of fair economic markets keep people in poverty.While our relief and development programs alleviate suffering and help people achieve positive changes in their lives and communities, we are also committed to work with our partners and communities for peace and justice. Without peace and justice, poverty will continue. Our Justice Priorities The Eastern and Southern Africa Ministry Team (ESAMT) has set 6 justice priorities: International Debt Relief Civic Education Gender Peace-building and Conflict Resolution Land Rights Foreign Direct Investment We are addressing these issues through community-based projects, building the capacity of local organizations to address justice issues, and through education campaigns in Africa and in North America.International Debt Relief In many countries where CRWRC works, governments pay more on debt payments to rich countries than they can afford to spend on health and education for their citizens. As a result, in a time of great prosperity in North America, life expectancy and literacy rates are actually falling for millions of people in the developing world. Current international debt relief programs are still leaving poor countries mired in debt. Through CRWRC church campaigns and networks, we are discussing debt relief with our supporters, and suggesting that they can get involved. CRWRC is a member of Bread for the World, and the Canadian Christian Reformed Church is a member of the Canadian Ecumenical Jubilee Initiative. How you can help drop the debt!Act now! During the current national election campaigns in both the US and Canada, you can make debt relief an election issue. Ask questions about debt relief during All Candidates Meetings in your neighborhood. Ask your representatives how they will bring more meaningful debt relief for impoverished countries! Check out the Bread for the World and Canadian Ecumenical Jubilee websites for more information.Civic EducationParticipants from AICT Human Rights &Gender Training in Musoma, Tanzania,August 2000In Tanzania, Zambia and Kenya, our partners are teaching community members how to exercise their rights and responsibilities to vote in national elections, or to participate in their countrys constitutional reform process. These projects also help us learn about how churches and Christians ought to be engaged in politics. GenderCRWRC and our partners want our programs to bring positive change to both men and women. We are building our own ability to ensure that our programs promote gender equity by analyzing the different work and responsibilities that men and women have, and what resources they are able to use. With this knowledge, we can make sure that our projects dont adversely add to the workloads of women, or cause tensions within families and communities.Within our programs, we also aim to decrease domestic violence, increase womens literacy and decision-making power, decrease womens workload, and harmonize household relationships. Peace-Building & Conflict ResolutionCRWRC often works in areas of violent conflict. People in Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, Sudan, and South Africa are all experiencing not only poverty, but also violence and war. CRWRC is helping our partners to promote non-violent conflict resolution, and to facilitate collaboration in conflict-ridden communities. In relief work in areas like Sudan, we try to ensure that our projects do not exacerbate conflicts, but rather, help people strengthen their own capacities for peace.Land RightsTenant farmers must struggle for their rights to own land throughout Southern Africa, but especially in South Africa where society is dealing with the legacy of decades of apartheid. Our partner organization, the Uniting Reformed Church, has identified this issue as their number one justice concern for South Africa. The URC is helping tenant farmers to understand their rights, and to avoid being illegally evicted from their land.Foreign Direct InvestmentThroughout the world, foreign direct investment in the private sector by far exceeds the amount of money that we donate in humanitarian and development assistance. While investment can bring many benefits to a country better technologies, more jobs, more income the wrong kind of inv