On 31 May, Africa Europe Faith and Justice Network (AEFJN) held its first annual general antennae meeting this year on the theme “Repositioning AEFJN for Effective Advocacy Engagement.” Following the Annual General Assembly’s Report last October 2023, the event gave the AEFJN International Secretariat the time to listen to the advocacy initiatives of AEFJN antennae from different African (Algeria, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda,) and European (Spain, Ireland, Germany, and Italy) countries. As an outcome of this meeting, the participants realized that there is the need for its members to reflect on AEFJN’s present aims given the political economic changes since its founding in 1988. While the AEFJN started its advocacy on food sovereignty, many advocacy dossiers were added (e.g. health and access to medicines, weapon trafficking, land grabbing, trade) throughout the years in response to the pressing issues in Africa. Amidst these global changes, AEFJN nonetheless affirms its vision that the future of Africa-Europe partnership should result in a win-win situation.

           The meeting’s significance was the establishment of the communication between the local antennae, the newly-elected executive committee, and newly-staffed international secretariat. The local antennae urged the executive committee to lead in organizing a process of reflection, which has been seen as an opportune moment to reposition the network’s advocacy engagement in view of the Jubilee Year 2025. Given that social transformation is catalyzed as a bottom-up process, the meeting highlighted the role of local antennae in advocating for a just and sustainable Africa-Europe partnership through policies that recognize the complementarity of European capital and African labor.

          Attended by 24 AEFJN members, this meeting contributed to AEFJN’s strategy to strengthen the local antennae by establishing communication channels within their respective continents and intercontinental counterparts. What is aimed is that the local antennae work in collaboration with each other as a responsive network instead of working as separate silos.

 

Dr. Lawrence S. Pedregosa

AEFJN Advocacy and Communication Officer