There was a Skype meeting held on 22nd March 2014 for Pax Romana Africa Regional meeting for English Speaking Countries.  In attendance were: Rosemary Sunkutu from Zambia, Homisdas from Rwanda, Fredrick Wamalwa from Pax Romana Africa. Elizabeth Chikomo from Zimbabwe and Jules Zannou from Benin partially followed the meeting due to poor internet connection.The following were discussed:

Agenda 1: Updates from countries:

Zambia: Members meet every month. The main current activity is rolling out the movement to all the dioceses in Zambia. There is good will and support from the local church. Mobilizing resources to support the activities of the movement is still a challenge.

 

Rwanda: The movement is mainly concentrated among older professionals. However, they are currently quite busy in their private and professional life. They maintain an office in Kigali given by the local church. Not much has been done to involve young people in the life of the movement.

Zimbabwe: Elizabeth held a meeting with the AFCAST team and they have proposed two conferences on Catholic Social Teachings. There is an opportunity for Pax Romana to participate. She will provide updates.

Agenda 2: Regional Updates:

  • UPR Madagascar: The UPR for Madagascar is on course.  After a successful training in Antananarivo, a steering committee comprising more than 10 local CSOs was formed to take the UPR initiative forward. The committee has completed drafting the shadow report. They are now involved in both local and international advocacy activities with the support of Pax Romana. A follow up training on Lobbying and Advocacy has been planned for early April in Antananarivo. Laurencia Kwark will be the main Trainer.
  • UPR Kenya: Pax Romana has organized training in Nairobi on UPR. The training targets English speaking countries- Kenya, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda. Representatives from all these countries are scheduled to attend. The training is planned for early April.
  • Country Visits: The V. President has managed to physical visit two countries- namely Madagascar and Uganda. He has managed to hold meeting, either by Skype or phone with almost all federation leaders from Tanzania, Zambia, Rwanda, Benin, Togo, DRC, South Sudan and Cameroon.

 Agenda 3: Open Discussions about the future of the Movement

  1. 1.    Identity of Pax Romana

In some countries, national federation leaders have found it difficult to market the movement partly because it is not clear what the objectives, identity, role and goals are. There is need for a guide document which outlines the objectives, identity, role and goals of Pax Romana. The document should outline how Pax Romana is relevant to Africa today. The document should not be more than ten pages.

Action:  Fredrick to prepare the initial draft and share out with members

  1. 2.    Theological Reflection

There is need to organize a theological reflection on the role of Catholic Professionals in Africa today. The tentative time is December 2014. The suggestion is to host the meeting in Lusaka, Nairobi or Harare or any other central place where it is cheaper to travel to. The costs will be catered by individual participants.

Action:  Fredrick, Rosemary and Dennis  

  1. 3.    Communication

There is a general lack of communication and information exchange across national federations. In some countries, national federation leaders do not reply to communications. In some countries, it is not clear who is responsible for the leadership of the movement. In other countries, the movement is still held hostage by a few individuals. In order to resolve this, the members suggested the need for regular regional meetings via Skype.   

Action: Fredrick will follow up

 Second, the members also suggested that all national federation leaders to compile a list of members. The list should contain if possible the name of the member, professional, telephone number and email of each member. The most urgent information required now is their email address. The list will be send to Homisdas who will develop a group email.

Action: National Federation leaders to compile list of members and their emails and sent to Elvis Mang’unyi

Action: Elvis Mangunyi to compile the overall Africa 

  1. 4.    UPR:

Members agreed that there is need to scale up the UPR to all countries. All national federation members should get in touch with Laurencia Kwark and find out how Pax Romana can be involved in the UPR process of their countries. Laurencia’s email is:. She is happy to provide answers to any questions regarding UPR.

Action: National Federation

Action:  Fredrick and Laurencia