| THE Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are realistic, achievable, and time-bound, said the Anglican observer at the UN, Helen Wangusa. Speaking from the Lambeth Conference, she warned that governments would have to redouble their efforts to do better than the eight-per-cent reduction in poverty that has been realised so far.
The Lambeth bishops’ walk of faith, which was scheduled to take place yesterday, would be “a statement of solidarity with governments”, designed to show that Churches and the Anglican Communion recognised the progress made so far, but acknowledged the daunting task until 2015. It would also be “a statement of our contribution as people of faith who understand what promise-keeping means”, Mrs Wangusa said.
The Bishop of Highveld, the Rt Revd David Beetge, said of the walk: “There is a huge significance in symbolic acts, and I think this is a symbolic act by the Anglican Communion for whoever sees it. Even if someone who is hungry sees it, they know the Anglican Communion cares about them. The fact that we can come from all over the globe and walk together is saying that we are taking the MDGs seriously.”
Progress had been made, said Mrs Wangusa. “But we cannot be complacent at the eight-per-cent fall there has been. It’s too modest for us to be comfortable with. We have not made progress enough for us to begin to celebrate. What we have ahead of us is probably twice what we have achieved so far.”
Safe water was described by Mrs Wangusa as “the mother of all MDGs”. Governments and civil servants had little chance of achieving this and the other goals without the empowerment of women, she warned.
Bishop Beetge, who has been involved in work on HIV/AIDS for 18 years, said the MDGs had helped to focus the ministry of the Church among the poor and the most vulnerable. “It says to governments that people matter. It says that people matter more than arms, more than huge bureaucracies.”
The Bishop had detected “a greater partnership between faith-based communities and governments”, where governments now recognised that religious groups were able to “produce and deliver, and meet people at the point of need”. |
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