Youth Recommendations for UEM General Assembly

Borkum Island, 9th - 11th June 2008

Recommendations of the Youth Pre-Assembly

“Brought into the Glorious Freedom of the Children of God (Romans 8:21)”

We, 18 youth from the UEM members, gathered in the Youth Pre-Assembly (YPA) on the Island of Borkum from 9th - 11th June 2008.

During the Assembly we assessed the proposed changes to the UEM constitution, the working structure and their impact on the youth. We support the ongoing restructuring process to enable UEM to address future challenges and agree to the main ideas presented so far.

For the future, our concern is to well-integrate the ideas of the youth in UEM`s decision-making processes as well as its involvement in UEM programs. We appreciate to see that some of the recommendations of the 2004 Youth Pre-Assembly in Manila have been effectively implemented and that we are now benefiting from these improvements and initiatives (e.g. conduct of the Inter-religious Dialogue, preparation of youth delegates for the YPA, etc.)

Recognizing that carrying out programmes is a main priority, we should not forget the necessity of experiencing fellowship, sharing and worship and giving room for spirituality within our work. Unfortunately, due to the lack of time, these aspects came too short in this Assembly.

We therefore regret that GA Decision 54/2004 (c), which stated to hold the next YPA for a duration of at least five days, was not implemented. Accordingly, with the following recommended programs, we strive not only to achieve their main goals but also to foster fellowship in our community.

I. Recommendation on constitutional matters

The youth, representing a large number of church members within UEM, are an important target group whose diverse points of view should be well integrated into the decision making processes.

1/2008: The Youth Pre-Assembly recommends to the GA to change Art. 6 of the constitution, paragraph 3 d) to read as follows:

Current Recommendation

d) The person delegated under
(b) and
(c) should comprise of men and women, and, preferably one non-theologian.
d) The persons delegated under b) should comprise of man, woman, and preferably one non-theologian.
e) the persons delegated under
c) should comprise of man, woman and youth, and, preferably one non-theologian.

2/ 2008: The Youth Pre-Assembly recommends that the new council of the UEM consists of a total of 16 delegates from the General Assembly: a) the moderator as chairperson, b) four persons from each of the three regions and c) one youth from each region.

II. Recommendation on administrative matters:

According to the proposal for the new working structure a staff reduction is planned in all regional offices. So far in all three regions youth work has effectively been done. Youth were active on many fields. They e.g. got experts in Ecumenical Leadership, they specialised in Interreligious dialogue, approached JPIC-Issues and became ambassadors of intercultural exchange. They also were multipliers on UEM itself.

Therefore we recommend to the UEM to maintain the work and ensure that the Assistants in all regions can keep up this work.

3/2008: The YPA asks the GA to request the Management Team to ensure that youth work is a main priority to the Programme Officers in the African and Asian Region as well as the Assistant to the German Area Secretary. This should be stated in their job descriptions.

According to the proposed structures the desk responsible for scholarships, volunteers as well as interregional youth programs under the MTE-Department is supposed to be handled by one personal only. Based on our knowledge, these tasks so far include the work of a half-time position for scholarships, the work of the Executive Secretary for Personnel, his Assistant, and the German Youth Officer for the volunteer programme (which amounted up to approximately one full-time position).

The new position is supposed to additionally include the preparation of the international youth programmes, which was until now carried out by the Executive Secretary for Women, Youth and Children, her two Assistants and the Youth Officers (adding up to about another full-time position). All together this sums up to 250 %. In this calculation the work of additional administrative staff (secretarial work) is not even included.

Furthermore, oral reports informed us about plans to expand the scholarship as well as the volunteer programme. At the same time UEM now receives funds from the German Government for the volunteer programme which requires additional processes (e.g. seminars, accounting and evaluation) during the volunteers’ year abroad.

04/2008: The YPA asks the GA to request the Management Team to assign an additional fulltime position to the Desk for Scholarships, Volunteers and Interregional Youth Programmes. As the management structure will be redefined and new titles for the Departments need to be found, we believe, programmatic work should be emphasized and cover all target groups.

05/2008: The YPA asks the GA to refrain from mentioning any target groups in the titles of Departments. The YPA aims to strengthen the youths effective participation in the decision making process of the GA. It provides a platform for youth to express and exchange points of view, empowering the delegates to actively participate in the General Assembly. 06/2008: We recommend that the YPA prior to every GA will continue to take place.

III. Recommendations on current and future programmes

UNDERSTANDING OF MISSION

In our discussions we realized that the understanding of mission is depending on the specific context in the regions and is even differently experienced by the individual members and people. The understanding of mission is a continuing process and needs constant reflection and exchange in order to maintain its relevance. For a mission organization like the UEM it is especially important to explore more about the meaning of mission.

07/2008: The YPA asks the GA to start a consultation process on the understanding of “mission”. This process should be conducted inter-, intra-regionally and locally, involving youth on all levels.

JPIC

As we shared experiences from Asia, Africa and Germany we again realized how manifold human right violations are (e.g. under the topic of exploitation of natural and human resources by powerful Western countries and international private entities, Climate Change, Armed Conflicts and Civil War, Work Migration and Asylum Policies; food shortage etc.).

Since youth are strongly affected by JPIC issues, we encourage them to take an active part in the strive for improvement.

08/2008: 1. The YPA encourages the youth in all three regions to actively involve themselves in human rights issues both in the local and international context. 2. The YPA further asks the UEM members to facilitate the involvement of youth in JPIC work. 3. In order to build capacity for JPIC work among the youth the YPA asks the UEM to conduct a training for youth representatives of all 34 members by the end of 2010. 4. We further recommend that at the next international UEM JPIC consultation youth from all regions together are represented by at least 30%.

HIV/AIDS

Lacks of knowledge, inadequate education and information have lead to the increase of HIV/AIDS in the society especially among the young people. As we discussed during the YPA, the people depending on HIV/AIDS medication (Anti-Retrovival-Drugs (ARDs) need to be supplied with proper and sufficient food otherwise the medication harms the person taking this medication additionally. Therefore the situation for the people who already face declining health, stigmatization in their respective societies and lack of financial resources will even be worsened by the current food shortage expected to increase as announced by the UN and the G8 summit in Japan.

09/2008: 1. The YPA encourages the UEM members to continue the work of their already existent HIV/AIDS departments respectively establishing such departments where there are none so far. These departments should especially emphasize the dissemination of HIV/AIDS information. In order to empower the Pastors in his/her leadership role to take an active part in the education, counselling and the increase of awareness, trainings should be conducted. 2. We recommend to the UEM members to analyse the cause and assess the impact of the intensifying food shortage for people LIVING WITH with HIV/AIDS and to develop strategies to deal with the problem.

INTER-RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE

We thank the General Assembly 2004 in Manila for realizing the importance of having inter-religious youth dialogue and starting its process. Projects are still continuing in our member churches and foster the mutual understanding in plural society. This is the ground for peaceful conflict resolution. In the course of the dialogue we however learned that our societies, apart from inter-religious conflicts also face intra-religious conflicts.

10/2008: The YPA recommends to the UEM members to continue the dialogue for youth and put it on the agenda of all churches.

11/2008: 1. We recommend to the UEM to continue with its support to the projects which have been started in the frame work of inter-religious youth dialogue. 2. We recommend to the UEM to start an intra-religious dialogue on all levels.

VOLUNTEER PROGRAMME

In line with the recommendation of the YPA 2004 in Manila, we realize that the volunteer programme helps to enhance the mutual understanding between people as well as societies, that it provides the opportunity to learn about different approaches of conflict resolution and the volunteer can become a multiplier in the receiving and the sending community. Compared to the north-to-south programme until today there are still very few south-to-south and south-to-north volunteers. The experiences of the latter are very much needed to ensure that all three regions grow together closer.

12/2008: The YPA recommends to the UEM to increase the number of volunteers participating in the south-to-south and south-to-north exchange. Responding to difficulties encountered in the past and to ensure the success of the programme we recommend the following: 13/2008: The YPA recommends to the UEM to develop and respectively to improve the preparation of the hosting congregations and the local personnel in charge. The evaluation of former volunteers’ experiences should be taken into account.

NETWORKING

We realized that the information about UEM and its regional and interregional youth-projects often do not reach the majority of youth at the grassroot level. As a result these youth do not know about the programmes and therefore have no opportunity to apply and participate.

14/2008: The YPA recommends to the UEM to ensure the flow of information ( for instance through leaflet, emails, cellphone messages etc.) between the regional offices, the youth contact persons of the member churches as well as the youth delegates/participants of programmes reaching the grassroot level. There are many valuable experiences which have been made by youth connected to UEM through different activities and programmes. Yet the connection amongst these youth has been difficult to maintain.

15/2008: The YPA recommends to the UEM to develop a website on youth issues in every region which is connected to the official webpage of the UEM. This website should be established to give room for interaction between youth, to make expertise available and to serve as an information platform on youth programmes and activities. All this shall apply within and between all regions.