Caritas Africa Members Urged to Foster Interactions “like the early Christian communities”

Lome, 15 June, 2023 / 10:01 PM

There is need for members of Caritas Africa to foster communion and interactions, drawing inspiration from the communities of early Christians recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, Caritas Africa outgoing Executive Secretary has said.

Speaking at the start of the first Knowledge Management for Change (KM4Change) in Africa Conference in Lomé, Togo, on Tuesday, June 13, Albert Mashika urged Caritas Africa members to “set up living communities of practice (with people interacting) like the early Christian communities.”

Credit: Caritas Africa

Mr. Mashika emphasized the importance of the June 13-15 Lomé meeting for Caritas Africa members, saying, “This conference is intended to be a moment of reflection and exchange between Caritas on knowledge management, which is a theme that was the subject of capacity building for Caritas Africa.”

The conference offers an opportunity for sharing challenges and opportunities, he said, and explained, “Africa's Caritas organizations are doing many good things, but the lessons learned, the success stories and the good practices are not sufficiently shared.”

Credit: Caritas Africa

He continued, “This conference is intended to be a place where Caritas will share all this knowledge, in order to better accomplish their missions, namely: to serve, accompany and defend the poor.”

Some of the challenges to be reflected upon include social, economic, ecological, the emergence of new kinds of crises on which technical and financial partners are focusing, and the shrinking resources, among others, Caritas Africa outgoing Executive Secretary said.

Credit: Caritas Africa

“These challenges, coupled with the emergence of new priority themes such as climate change and biodiversity, are realities that Caritas organizations need to position themselves to meet,” Mr. Mashika said at the start of the three-day conference that brought together Caritas knowledge managers from 17 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, the Indian Ocean, and the Atlantic Ocean.

The conference, according to the declaration availed to ACI Africa, is the culmination of four months of work focused on the training of 25 Caritas people from 17 countries tasked with developing Caritas strategies in their respective countries.

Credit: Caritas Africa

The 17 countries include, Benin, Burkina-Faso, Burundi, Comoros, Congo, Côte d Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Madagascar, Mozambique, Niger, DR Congo, Senegal, Chad, Togo and Zambia.

Also speaking on the first day of the KM4Change conference, the Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Togo, Binta Sanney, commended Caritas Africa for convening the meeting.

Credit: Caritas Africa

The conference, she said, “aimed not only at building the capacities of its members, but also with the aim of strengthening the existing knowledge management strategy and advancing knowledge management practices. knowledge management within its network.”

“By working hand in hand with organizations such as Caritas Africa, we can maximize the impact of our development initiatives and foster a better future for all,” the UN official who previously worked in Guinea Bissau, Burundi and more recently in Chad before she reported in Togo in May 2023 said, and added, “Together, we can create a stronger, more resilient and more prosperous society.”

Credit: Caritas Africa

Caritas Africa's Communications and Knowledge Management Officer, Atsu Sename, who also spoke during the June 13 session underscored the need to understand knowledge management as “an organizational process that enables the acquisition, structuring, integration and dissemination of knowledge from stakeholders throughout the organization, with a view to increasing organizational effectiveness.”

Charles Ayetan contributed to the writing of this story