January 2009

Contents

• Micah Network Asia Leadership Workshop: New Delhi, India March 21 – 25, 2009
• Micah Network 4th Triennial Global Consultation: Nairobi, Kenya July 13 – 18, 2009
• Participatory Assessment of Disaster Risk Workshop: Mbarara, Uganda February 23 – 28, 2009
• News: ESAF Micro Finance Programme ranked 14th on MIX Global 100 Composite
• News: Micah Network member Share and Care Nepal celebrates 15th Anniversary
• News: Grading Global Goals
• Article: A Holistic Gospel – Some Biblical, Historical and Ethical Considerations
• January Prayer Points

Open for Registration!

The Micah Network Asia Leadership Workshop is now open for registration. As places are limited, please register early if you have not already done so. 

The brochure and booking form can be downloaded from http://community.micahnetwork.org/en/page/asia-leadership-workshop.

If you need further clarification, please email Sundar Daniel the Asia Co-ordinator at sundar.daniel@micahnetwork.org.

Expressions of Interest for Workshops and Case Studies

Micah Network would like to thank members who have responded to our call to submit workshop and case study proposals last month. If you have not done so and are interested in presenting a case study or facilitating a workshop in one of the following topics or any other relevant areas, please submit your proposals to Anne Liew at Anne.Liew@micahnetwork.org: 

• Climate Adaptation
• Disaster Mitigation
• Alternative Fuel & Energy
• Sustainable Livelihoods
• Food Security
• Water Security
• Internal Migration/Displacement
• Energy Options i.e. main-streaming energy usage and efficiency into community-level development programming)
• Lifestyle i.e. the developing world taking leadership in defining responsible (western and local) lifestyles
• Advocacy i.e. how to influence national policies around issues of sustainability?

Please Note: Unfortunately, Micah Network does not have funding to cover the costs of attendance by presenters of case studies or workshop facilitators.

For more information on the consultation, please download the preliminary brochure from http://community.micahnetwork.org/en/events/upcoming-events/triennial-global-consultation.

Micah Network member Agency for Integrated Development and Training Services (AIDTS) will be organising a workshop on participatory assessment of disaster risk in Mbarara, Uganda from February 23 – 28, 2009.

One of the ways of reducing disaster risk is to work with local people to identify and analyse their vulnerabilities and capacities, and to develop and implement an action plan. With this in mind, the workshop aims to provide a framework for applying good facilitation skills and for understanding the categories of analysis, which form the basis of the vulnerability and capacity assessments followed by action planning to develop existing capacities for risk reduction.

For further workshop information and registration, please go to http://community.micahnetwork.org/en/story/aidts-participatory-assessment-disaster-risk-workshop.

The micro finance programme by Micah Network member, Evangelical Social Action Forum (EASF) has been ranked 14th on the 2008 MIX Global 100 Composite, which is an analysis and ranking of MFI performance based on data from calendar year 2007. The full MIX report can be downloaded at
http://www.mixmbb.org/Publications/001-IND/01-IND.ANLS/MFI%20Analysis/2008%20MIX%20Global%20100%20Composite.pdf (816 KB)

Evangelical Social Action Forum (EASF) was established in 1992 as a Christian response to the social and economic needs of people, and is located in the state of Kerala, India. For more information on ESAF, please visit http://www.esafindia.org/.

Microfinance Information Exchange, Inc (MIX) is a not-for-profit private organization, which aims to promote transparency and information in the microfinance industry. For more information on MIX, please visit http://www.themix.org/.

14th January 2009 marks 15 years of working alongside marginalized communities for Micah Network member Share and Care Nepal in Nepal. Please join us in congratulating Share and Care Nepal and to pray for God’s continued blessings on the staff team as they share the love of Christ to the many communities in Nepal.

To mark this significant milestone, Share and Care Nepal hosted a celebration service on the 14th January 2009 at Lalitpur Bishal Bazar.

For more information on Share and Care Nepal, please go to http://www.share-care.org/.

During the Millennium Summit held in New York in September 2000, all 189 UN Member States adopted the Millennium Declaration, which contained a group of goals and targets that have since become known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). These goals, working together, aim to halve poverty by 2015.

Now more than half-way to the target date of 2015, is the world on track? Listen Up, a weekly television program explored the question. Please visit this link to view the program, which features several interviews from the recent WEA General Assembly in Thailand, October 2008. Guests includes Joel Edward, CB Samuel, Paul Cook and Christine MacMillan: http://www.listenuptv.com/listenup/shows?show_id=133

Listen Up is a weekly television program exploring news and current affairs from a Christian worldview.

This article by Justin Thacker, Head of Theology at Evangelical Alliance, UK addresses the key to integrating evangelism and social action. It was presented to the WEA Theological Commission in Bangkok, Thailand  in October 2008.

For the full article, please go to http://www.eauk.org/theology/wea/loader.cfm?csModule=security/getfile&pageid=33253.

Please join with us in prayer for the following:

World

• Please continue to pray that an effective diplomatic solution will be found between Israel and Palestine, following the escalation of conflict in the Gaza strip. Since the start of Israel's Operation Cast Lead on December 27, at least 890 people have been killed, including 275 children, and another 3,800 wounded, according to Gaza medics. Pray that Israel meets its humanitarian obligations towards the people of Gaza, ensuring that they have access to basic goods, food and humanitarian assistance and medical supplies.
• Pray for those affected by severe weather in Fiji. Heavy rainfall has flooded rivers and roads, and cut power and water supplies to many areas of the nation. Seven people have been killed in the storms and more than 9,000 Fijians are being cared for in emergency shelters.
• Around 250 people remain missing and are feared dead after a ferry has sunk in a heavy storm off Indonesia's Sulawesi Island. Please remember all those affected by this calamity. This disaster comes only a week after a series of powerful earthquakes shook the eastern province of West Papua killing at least three people and collapsing a number of buildings.
• In the last couple of weeks more than 500 people have been killed by the Ugandan rebel group, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).The long running civil conflict driven by the LRA has moved over the border into the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and neighbouring Sudan. The latest attacks in DRC have resulted in the massacre of hundreds of villagers across several communities as well as abductions and the burning of homes. Humanitarian workers and human rights campaigners are increasingly worried by heavy civilian casualties. Pray for those affected by this conflict and for an end to the fighting.

Events

• Micah Network member, Samaritana Transformation Ministries in the Philippines is currently hosting the International Christian Alliance on Prostitution (ICAP) Asia Conference (being held from 10- 17 January. Pray for Samaritana and ICAP during the next week as they run this important event. Pray for good outcomes and a positive learning and networking experience for those attending the conference.
• The Micah Network Asia Coordinating Group is planning a Leadership Workshop to be held in India from 21-25 March 2009. Pray for Micah Network’s Asia Regional Coordinator, Sundar Daniel, and Micah Network board member Dino Touthang as they make arrangements for the event.
• Planning is progressing well for the Micah Network 4th Triennial Global Consultation on Creation Stewardship and Climate Change to be held in Kenya from 13-18 July 2009. Three key committees have been formed to assist Micah Network in the planning of the Consultation: the Local Organising Committee, Climate Change Advisory Group and International Program Team. Please pray for this stage of planning.

People

• Please continue to pray for the recruitment of a Project Assistant to the Micah Network office in Malaysia. We still have not been able to identify someone for the position and are very eager to appoint someone as soon as possible. Please pray that we find the right person for the role. 
  

Thank you very much for your prayers and support.

If you would like to contribute to or be added to Micah Network’s weekly prayer update, please contact Anita Deutschmann (Anita.Deutschmann@micahnetwork.org).