Previous research has proved that the burden of care and support for families in contemporary Africa is often very taxing, and this might also be one reason for the insufficient social support from the family (Dilger 2008, 216). Faith based organizations and other faith communities in Africa form an important part of civil society. Therefore they are important channels of social support and communality and thus important actors in promoting wellbeing of members of community and resources in fighting against poverty. Social capital is defined as the community cohesion that results from the positive aspects of community life. Social capital includes the positive community norms of trust and reciprocity between the community members and a positive local identity (Putnam 1993; 1995). The lack of traditional communal support creates a strong need for organised support from faith communities.

Auli Vähäkangas studies the role of volunteers as an aspect of African communality in serving the poor in Selian Hospice and Palliative Care Programme in Arusha, Tanzania. It launched the “Tanzanian model” and is famous for its success and multidisciplinary approach in serving dying patients. This programme uses trained volunteers who make regular home visits and help to provide day care. Vähäkangas has conducted field research on the project in 2005 and in 2009 and these previous studies raised a need to focus more closely on volunteers and poverty.

Preliminary findings in April 2012 during her field research are interesting. Interviewed volunteers are proud of their service and many of them have continued for several years even though they face many challenges, especially various problems connected to poverty in their volunteer work. One interesting aspect among Selian volunteer is that almost half of them are men. Previous research on volunteers in ensuring care and support for people living with HIV/AIDS indicates that most volunteers in Africa are women (Akintola 2006).  Selian volunteers are selected by their local communities, their do not volunteer themselves. The local communities see them as capable of serving the sick in their community and give the names of suitable candidates to the Selian palliative care team which further interviews the candidates in order to see that they will qualify for the task. The strong support from their own communities is repeated in each interview and this feeling of social support from the community seems to give the interviewed volunteers strength to continue their demanding service of taking care of their sick and dying neighbours.

Auli Vähäkangas, University of Helsinki

Literature:

Akintola, Olagoke 2006. Gendered home-based care in South Africa: More trouble for the troubled. African Journal of AIDS Research, 5 (3), 237-247.

Dilger, Hansjörg 2008. “We Are All Going to Die”: Kinship, Belonging, and the Morality of HIV/AIDS-Related Illness and Deaths in Rural Tanzania. Anthropological Quarterly, vol. 81, Issue 1, 207-232.

Mveng, Engelbert 1994 “Impoverishment and Liberation: A Theological Approach for Africa and the Third World,” in Paths of African Theology, ed. R. Gibellini, 154-165. Maryknoll: Orbis Books.

Putnam, R. 1993. Making democracy work. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

Putnam, R. 1995. “Bowling alone: America’s declining social capital”, in Journal of Democracy, 6, 65-79.

In February a new international research project “Social Platform on Innovative Social Services (InnoServ)” started.  The project will take 24 months and has partners in 11 different European countries, led by the Diakoniewissenschaftliches Institut (DWI) of Heidelberg University. It explores the key factors for innovation in social services and develops future scenarios of social services in Europe. To find out about innovations in academic research and on the practical level is the crucial function of the project.

The specific objective is to establish a social platform that brings together key representatives of the research, practice and policy communities in the field of social service planning and delivery. Its objective is to assess mutually recent trends in science, practice and policy, to identify knowledge gaps and to propose research questions and agendas to address them. An important feature of the InnoServ-project is the use of innovative, low-threshold communication means, such as films/podcasts/visual sociology to overcome the communication gaps between research disciplines and practical work and to reach out to a wide audience of scholars, practitioners, policy makers and service users.

Service agencies, policy makers, associations, researchers, user organizations etc. are invited to join the platform once it is established. The discussion of what is innovative in social services in Europe and what kind of future scenarios for social services in the fields of health, education, and welfare are to be envisaged, are two key questions of the project.

If you are interested in details or if you have information about innovative service approaches, you are welcome to contact Ms Anika Strifler at anika.strifler@dwi.uni-heidelberg.de (phone: + 49-6221-543337). The reports and results of the project will be accessible under open access to any interested person/organization.

Conference

In March the conference „Science meets Practice: Disability – Theology – Church” took place in Heidelberg. More than 200 people from different contexts discussed recent developments in an ecumenical perspective. Especially the meaning of inclusion was reflected in interdisciplinary ways with the focus of giving new implications for theory and practice.  The results of the conference will be published next year.

Publications

A new book series “Disability – Theology – Church” is published by Kohlhammer, Stuttgart.  It focuses on the fact that disability is not a disease, but the result of complex social interactions between handicapped and non-handicapped persons. Therefore the dialogue between social science, theology and diaconal practice has to find a renewed common basis which also refers to the concrete experiences of people affected with disabilities. The first edition by Johannes Eurich and Andreas Lob-Hüdepohl, who also serve as the editors of this series, has the title “Inclusive Church” and offers many different contributions of notable authors.

Extraordinary Professorship

Johannes Eurich received an Appointment as Extraordinary Professor for Practical Theology at Stellenbosch University, South Africa in October 2011. During winter semester 2011/12 he taught seminars and delivered public lectures at Stellenbosch and Pretoria. An ongoing research project will be part of this collaboration.

The conference will also be an opportunity to discuss the formation and launch of an international society for the Study and Research of Diaconia.

The extended deadline for paper proposals expired on 1st May. Notification of the acceptance of paper proposals will be made in the near future.

Please note that the deadline for registration is 31th May. Updated information and registration forms are available at: http://web.etf.cuni.cz/ETFENG-38.html

By Teemu Pauha

“Seeking Conviviality” is a three-year process that aims to develop holistic diaconal responses by European member churches of the Lutheran World Federation LWF, to growing poverty and marginalization in the region.

A group of diaconal actors from the Nordic countries, Central Eastern Europe and Central Western Europe is convening to share good practices and establish participatory, grassroots approaches to diakonia that can inform work in other areas of the LWF communion.

The LWF Department for Mission of Development programme builds on ecumenical networking by church actors wrestling with the fallout of economic and political change in Central Eastern Europe and the global economic crisis.

Contextual Approach

A series of workshops will identify European social realities from the inside – through the eyes of those who live and work in situations of marginalization.

The aims

• Create solidarity among people doing diaconal work in Europe
• Explore different ways of working to find those that empower and transform
• Develop advocacy strategies
• Create synergy between diaconal practices in the seven LWF regions and the LWF global context
• Strengthen the churches’ commitment to transform daily realities of poverty and marginalization

The partner

Interdiac – The international academy for Diaconia and Social Action based in the Czech Republic (www.interdiac.eu)

The process

• 7 – 10 December 2011, Järvenpää, Finland – Workshop – sharing stories, learning about participants’ diaconal contexts, looking at goals and strategies, planning next steps
• 12 May 2012 Ostrava, Czech Republic – Thematic workshops at LWF European Church Leadership Consultation – presenting and discussing first findings
• 5 – 8 December 2012, Odessa, Ukraine, Workshop – looking at the broader European picture
• 2013 – Informing other LWF programmes (Poverty in Africa, global diakonia 2013-2017)

More details

See the web site

http://www.lutheranworld.org/lwf/index.php/tag/seeking-conviviality

And the blog

http://www.interdiac.eu/categories/diaconia-in-community/seeking-conviviality

Contact the Europe Secretary of the LWF:

Eva Vogel-Mfato Eva.Vogel-Mfato@lutheranworld.org

The Ecumenical Social Community Action (ESCA) is a new programme to strengthen the Churches’ social responsibility in the Namibian society. It is a fruit of collaboration of the Council of Churches in Namibia (CCN) and the Helsinki Deaconess Institute. It is a three-year programme funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.

The project aims to effectively mobilise Namibian domestic resources for more equal development and uses rights-based approach by applying participatory methods in vulnerable communities. As a result of the project CCN’s member and affiliate churches’ awareness and capacity is strengthened to address the plight of the poor and marginalized. The programme will establish an effective public platform of advocacy to promote all inclusive development. As CCN and its members need strengthening their capacity in planning and implementing community empowerment projects and public advocacy, HDI was invited to facilitate a process of competence and capacity building.

Antti Elenius

Abstract: The object of the study is the jurisdiction of parish diaconal workers, which is observed in the light of the conceptions of organised actors, at the level of the church decision-making system. The methodological context is social constructionism, that is, the idea of how the reality is built, and how it is negotiated in social interaction. The sphere of operation of diaconal workers is seen as a civil and contextual phenomenon, which is maintained and modified socially and also culturally.

The jurisdiction of diaconal workers is studied from the viewpoint of the system of professions. In the theoretical approach developed by Andrew Abbott, a sociologist who is part of the Interaction tradition, the jurisdiction contains both a social and cultural dimension. In this study the primary object of interest is the territorial struggles and negotiations between the professions, through which the jurisdiction of parish diaconal workers is defined. The analytic approach used in the boundary negotiation was the concept of Thomas F. Gieryn, a sociologist, boundarywork. Gieryn emphasises that the boundaries are varying definitions of actors who attend to their owns interests, and boundary-work is strategic activity to achieve the goals. Both Abbott and Gieryn underline the significance of a social and cultural operational environment for the profession.

The study questions are the following: 1. Through what kind of professional boundary determination processes is the jurisdiction of parish diaconal workers defined, and how do different actors justify the boundaries? 2. In what kind of social and cultural operational environment is the jurisdiction of the parish diaconal workers’ operating environment determined?

The material of the study consists of (1) material covering the formation of professional parish diaconia and (2) national policy documents handling diaconate. The central basic stance in the analysis of the material is reading the material systematically, guided by the concepts of Abbott and Gieryn, rhetorical mode of reading as a methodical tool. The analysis focuses on the factual content of the arguments, that is, statements and justifications of the cultural and social jurisdiction of diaconal workers.

The results of the thesis show how the church as an operational environment has affected the determination of the social and cultural jurisdiction of parish diaconal workers. The material handling the formation of professional parish diaconia illustrated how parish diaconia has been affected by the role of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the creation of welfare services at different times. The church has enabled the survival of professional parish diaconia during various transitional periods, although diaconal workers have lost some of their jurisdictions when municipalities expanded their jurisdiction during the era of building the welfare state. An analysis of the political material handling the diaconate reveals how the church as an institution has also delimited the operation of parish diaconal workers at church by limiting their rights to make decisions. The subordinate status is not only linked to the division of work between men and women, but also to cultural understanding of the nature of ecclesiastic tasks. The analysis shows how the attempt to improve the status of parish diaconal workers was done by strengthening the spiritual nature of professional parish diaconia.

At the level of the system of professions, the boundaries of the diaconal workers’ jurisdiction have been negotiated and struggled over, above all, with the professions of public social and healthcare professions, and the profession of a clergyman. There are plans in the diaconate process to expand the jurisdiction of diaconal workers to tasks related to service and ceremonies at the church, which traditionally and according to legislation have belonged to clergymen. This can be interpreted to be a cultural change process of the work of diaconal workers, where instead of the operational culture emphasising service, the justification for the work is more than before being sought from the doctrine structure of the church.

The diaconate dispute is about the consequences of the redefinition of the cultural jurisdiction of diaconal workers to its social jurisdiction, meaning the division of work. Negotiations are carried out about several different topics at the same time. The actors will choose their argumentation based on what is being negotiated, what against and what for.

Abstract: The main purpose of this study was to provide a full account of the Christian social work carried out at the Tampere City Mission (TCM) as well as the Missions sphere of operations from the Second World War to the early 1970s, comprising a period of significant change. The study consists of charting the processes of change and connections within the activities of the TCM and how examining these were linked to the general tendencies of the period, in lay work, social work, professionalization and the representation of gender. The positioning of the activities is described on the basis of these tendencies.

The main sources for the study were the archives of the Mission, for example the minutes of meetings, correspondences as well as annual reports, and the archives of its partners, such as the City of Tampere, the Evangelical Lutheran parishes of Tampere and the State Welfare Administration. The archives of the Helsinki, Turku and Stockholm Missions supplied comparison reference and other material. In particular, social welfare and Christian social work technical journals of were used as printed sources. The principal method used was the genetic method of historiology. The research subject was also evaluated from the point of view of third sector research in addition to that of professionalization studies and gender studies.

By the beginning of the research period, the TCM had turned more and more dedicatedly into a multipurpose social service organization maintaining social services such as old people s homes and children´s homes. This development continued, even though new areas of activity emerged and older ones fell into disuse.

Social innovations sprang up, marriage counseling being one of them. On the national level, the TCM pioneered the provision of sheltered industrial work for intellectually disabled persons as well as housing services for them.

As new activities were initiated, they overlapped with the established ones, and the TCM handed some of its child protection functions over to the municipality, in accordance with the current adaptation theory. The use of its own property to produce ever-changing social services may be the reason why the association s work continued on with vitality. Functional networks and political aid in the field of social services also bolstered the association. As in other Nordic countries, nonprofit organizations served as partners rather than competitors, with the State establishing institutional welfare arrangements. In the 1960s the municipal takeover of social services impacted the TCM activities. Rules for government subsidies and municipal allowances were not well established; hence these funds were not easily available, making improvements difficult.

The TCM was a community in which women had a relatively strong position and an opportunity to make a difference. Female staff were reasonably equal to men, and women worked as heads of a several institutions. Care work employed a number of men, which went against the traditional segregation of labour between the sexes. The TCM s operations were from early on very professionalized, and were developed with particular care.

Read the whole invitation and call for the papers here.

Conference is organised in the frame of the Network of European Universities Involved in Teaching & Research of Diaconia

“Eurodiaconia members’ experience confirms these figures. They have witnessed a constant increase in the demand for debt-counselling services for three consecutive years and expect the demand for these types of services to keep increasing in the future, as more and more people need to borrow to pay for daily living costs” says Heather Roy, Eurodiaconia’ s Secretary General.

In reaction to this situation, Eurodiaconia has released a policy paper on household over indebtedness in the European Union, presenting twelve recommendations ranging from the need for a stricter monitoring and regulation of advertising, revolving credit and debt collection agencies, to reinforcing social protection through adequate minimum income along with both higher levels and a less complex social security mechanism that offers a higher level of protection.

This policy paper, based on Eurodiaconia’ s members’ experience, suggests that living under the strain of the financial crisis has become too difficult for families and single-parent households and that over indebtedness has become the symptom of a broader social crisis as more and more people are pushed to borrow money to pay for housing and daily living costs. Instead of the current non-inclusive developments, Eurodiaconia proposes an integrated approach questioning current cultural trends, and prioritizing social investment policies to ensure a more inclusive and debt free society.

Read the whole document.