Ecumenical women’s gathering demands end to gender-based violence in Bangladesh

Programme Review and Programme Direction

Two key deliberative sessions during the 15th CCA General Assembly are the Programme Review and Programme Direction sessions.

The Programme Review and Programme Direction sessions will both be conducted in three groups relating to the CCA’s programme areas, namely, (i) General Secretariat (GS), (ii) Mission in Unity and Contextual Theology (MU) and Ecumenical Leadership Formation and Spirituality (EF); and (iii) Building Peace and Moving Beyond Conflicts (BP) and Prophetic Diakonia (PD).

Assembly participants will have the option to join one of three groups for both the Programme Review and Programme Direction sessions. For the sake of coherence, the assigned group will remain the same for both sessions.

General Secretariat

The General Secretariat oversees the coordination of programmatic, administrative, and financial activities of the organization. The GS comprises various departments such as church and ecumenical relations, relations with ecumenical partners, finance, administration, and communications, which provide crucial support and services for the implementation of programs and contribute to the overall functioning of the CCA.

Programmes: Relations with member churches and councils, ecumenical partners; advocacy at the United Nations; ecumenical responses to emerging issues in solidarity; income development and finance; and communications.

Mission in Unity and Contextual Theology (MU) and Ecumenical Leadership Formation and Spirituality (EF)

Under the MU programme area, the CCA accompanies Asian churches to strengthen their mission and witness in multi-religious contexts, revitalise and nurture church unity and the Asian ecumenical movement, and develop contextual theological foundations.

Programmes: Asian Movement for Christian Unity (AMCU); Congress of Asian Theologians (CATS); Asian women doing theology in the context of wider ecumenism; contextualisation of theology in Asia and ecumenical theological education.

The EF programme area focuses on nurturing and developing ecumenical leaders in Asia. The programme aims to enhance spiritual formation and theological understanding, enabling people to actively engage in ecumenical dialogue and collaboration.

Programmes: Ecumenical Enablers’ Training in Asia (EETA); Asian Ecumenical Institute (AEI); Youth and Women Leadership Development; Ecumenical Spirituality and Nurturing of Contextual Liturgical Traditions; Asia Sunday

Building Peace and Moving Beyond Conflicts (BP) and Prophetic Diakonia and Advocacy (PD)

The BP programme area is dedicated to promoting peace, justice, and reconciliation in Asia’s diverse contexts. Through training, advocacy, and dialogue, the programme addresses the root causes of conflicts, empowers communities, and fosters sustainable peacebuilding initiatives.

Programmes: Pastoral Solidarity Visits; Churches in Action for Moving Beyond Conflict and Resolution; Young Ambassadors of Peace in Asia (YAPA); Ecumenical Women’s Action Against Violence (EWAAV); Eco-Justice for Sustainable Peace in the Oikos.

The PD programme area focuses on promoting justice, human rights, and social transformation in Asia. Through advocacy, capacity-building, and raising awareness, the programme addresses systemic injustice, empowers marginalised communities, and advocates for prophetic actions and meaningful change.

Programmes: Human Rights advocacy; Migration, Statelessness, and Trafficking in Persons; Asian Ecumenical Disability Advocacy Network; Asian Advocacy Network on the Dignity and Rights of Children (AANDRoC); Ecumenical Solidarity Accompaniment and Diakonia in Asia (ESADA); Health and Healing; Good Governance; Action Together to Combat HIV and AIDS in Asia (ATCHAA).

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07 June 2017

IMG_2014Participants of the national ecumenical women’s consultation in Dhaka, Bangladesh. 

“Bangladeshi women are subjected to violence throughout their lives, which prevents them from realising their own dignity and rights as human beings. This subjugation in the day-to-day lives of millions of women in poverty stricken Bangladesh affects their abilities to fully benefit from and participate in schooling and employment, thus constraining their lifespan opportunities,” shared the participants of a Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) Consultation held in Dhaka, Bangladesh on 2-3 June 2017.

“Violence against women in the country is deeply rooted in a historical, social and political context, where governmental structures, social institutions and the law may all contribute to its persistence. The wide range of violence against women in Bangladesh includes intimate partner violence, domestic violence, child abuse, sexual harassment, child marriages, human trafficking, female child mortality, honour killings, and dowry-related violence among others,” the participants observed.

The participants of the consultation demanded strong law enforcement mechanisms to end gender-based violence in the country.

“Many governmental policies and services continue to reflect a gender bias. Despite having legal protection against several forms of violence, legal systems struggle to overcome barriers that obstruct reform. They also have to contend with significant structural deficiencies that prevent women from accessing justice. Religious institutions and norms too, reinforce unequal gender relations and contribute to violence against women,” the group of church women further added.

Organised by the CCA, in collaboration with the National Council of Churches Bangladesh (NCCB), the national ecumenical women’s consultation ‘Combating Violence Against Women’ brought together a group of 56 women from various churches and ecumenical organisations in the country.

The national consultation was part of the new programme initiative of the CCA, ‘Ecumenical Women’s Action against Violence’ (EWAV) which encourages churches to support ecumenical women’s initiatives for empowerment and prevention of violence against women.

Coordinator of CCA’s EWAV programme, Mrs. Sunila Ammar, who facilitated the consultation stated that, “interactions with various church women groups in Bangladesh and the women’s committee of the NCCB, as well as representatives from CCA member churches – Bangladesh Baptist Church Sangha and the Church of Bangladesh were encouraging as they were appreciative of the new ecumenical initiative EWAV and showed a keen interest to work collectively to combat violence against women.”

“There cannot be peace in Asia as long as there is violence against women. Feminism is an ideology and has nothing to do with biology. There are many men around the world who are working for women’s rights,” Mrs. Sunila Ammar added.

The consultation also emphasised upon the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which aim to achieve gender equality and women empowerment, and urged church leaders to be aware of the commitment made by governments to advocate the empowerment of women at all levels.

The participants of the consultation re-read sections on feminist theology in their local contexts. They collectively pledged to create awareness on SDGs, and international and national mechanism for women empowerment and prevention of violence against women.

EWAV, an Asian ecumenical network of women aimed at advocacy on violence against women, was launched in 2016.

The Dhaka consultation was a follow-up to strengthen the ecumenical initiative of church women against violence, with an aim to enhance the capacities of church women engaged in advocacy through grassroots women’s networks.