World Vision and Harvard host children’s summit at Vatican

WORLD VISION is joining international leaders in research, humanitarian work, education, philanthropy, and civil society at a summit at the Vatican, Fostering Hope for Children, this week. The event, co-hosted by World Vision International, the Society for Global Flourishing, and Harvard University, is intended to advance a global framework for “child hope and flourishing”. At the summit, World Vision presented its report, Measuring the Experience of God’s Love of Children (the Hope and Love Measure), published last year, which is based on interviews with more than 600 children across seven regions where World Vision operates. The CEO of World Vision, Fola Komolafe, said: “Until now, it has been difficult to translate the childhood experience of God’s love through our work into a tangible measure and so this is an exciting partnership with Harvard University’s Human Flourishing Programme that we can’t wait to further develop.”

WCC and UNHCR sign displacement memorandum

THE World Council of Churches (WCC) and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) signed a memorandum of understanding on Monday. It reaffirmed their shared commitment to raising awareness of forced displacement and statelessness. The memorandum stated that the two bodies support “interfaith and ecumenical dialogue initiatives that promote belonging, dignity, and peaceful coexistence”. It also called for the mobilisation of “faith-based resources and constituencies in support of protection, inclusion, and durable solutions to support access to services, social cohesion, and local integration”.

First rainbow Takatapui network launched in ACANZP

THE Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia has officially recognised the Te Ara Aroha Rainbow Takatapui Allies Network (TAARTAN) as a community within its governing structures. TAARTAN is the first rainbow advocacy network to be recognised within the statutes of any mainline Christian denomination in the region. The Bishop of Auckland, the Rt Revd Ross Bay, will be the group’s Bishop Protector. He said that he hoped TAARTAN would share in the “experience of grace” on the subject of human sexuality. “My hope and prayer as part of this development is that it will be another building block in helping our Church to listen well to one another as we find our way forward into God’s future for us together,” he said.