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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).

First Preference:
General Secretariat (GS)
Second Preference:
Building Peace and Moving Beyond Conflicts (BP) and Prophetic Diakonia and Advocacy (PD)
28 January 2004
christian conference of Asia, Asia christianity

SCMP - Wednesday, January 28, 2004
STAN HENSON

China's victims of HIV/Aids took heart last month when Premier Wen Jiabao shook hands with one of their number. But according to Thomas Cai, founder of AidsCare China in Guangzhou, much more needs to be done. "The government still has no active response to the problem and the figures are still much too conservative," he said. "The problem should be recognised not just on Aids Day, but all the time, like Sars."

According to Mr Cai, Beijing is still prepared to deal with the problem only at the most superficial level, despite Mr Wen's handshake. By the time a national campaign filters down to the provincial level, local officials have little idea how to deal with the problem at its roots. HIV/Aids discrimination is chronic. In a recent example, a three-year-old HIV-positive girl was placed in a Guangzhou orphanage after she had witnessed her mother leap to her death from a building and had no family to look after her. "When the orphanage found out that she was HIV positive, they put her in a separate room from the other children and their only contact with her was at meal time when they fed her, even though she needed love, care and contact," said Mr Cai.

Mr Cai himself tested positive for HIV in 2000. After he was told the news, he had no idea what to do. He did not dare tell his family and there was no counselling or follow-up programme at the hospital. "After doing some research, however, I realised that I could survive," he said. He found a doctor on the internet who helped him with leads for anti-retroviral medication that he could buy from India at only 10 per cent of the 8,000 yuan a month which the same drugs cost in China. In 2001, he founded AidsCare China and started a website for Aids patients, called Aids Forum, which now gets about 500 hits a day. He also visits hospitals to boost patients' morale. "An HIV-positive friend can often be the best source of support," he said. "When I found out I had tested positive, I thought a painful death would result."

HIV/Aids education is still rare in China, where the disease may warrant two hours in a six-year medical programme, and there is virtually no Aids education in middle schools or at university level. Recently, after a three-day workshop for hospital staff, held in conjunction with the Guangdong Centre for Disease Control, Mr Cai concluded: "They still want to treat patients as people that should be punished and quarantined."

Last month, AidsCare China held its first Aids Day event at Sun Yat-sen University. After statements of support from the American and British consuls-general in Guangzhou were read to the audience, a panel including Mr Cai, a doctor and a university professor discussed before a university-wide audience the issues of HIV/Aids education and the stigma attached to the disease.

Although AidsCare China is not registered as a non-governmental organisation, it receives tacit support, including office space, from the Guangzhou government. Funding is a constant challenge, although it does receive some money from the United Nations Development Programme and the occasional contribution from expatriate charity organisations.