On 4 and 5 March, CESE was visited by two representatives of the Bread for the World/ Brot für Die Welt agency – Martina Winkler, Coordinator of the Brazil Country Programme and Christof Wünsch, Head of the Department for Latin America and the Caribbean. The aim of the meeting was to evaluate and reflect on the work of CESE and the Process of International Networking and Dialogue (Processo de Articulação e Diálogo Internacional: PAD) over the last three years, to discuss the partnership’s main highlights and challenges, and the prospects for the next three-year period.
The Bread for the World international cooperation agency has supported CESE for a long time. It has sensitively raised and made critical readings of Brazilian politics and been a constant presence in our prophetic ecumenical journey in solidarity for democracy, justice and the dignity of the human person. “I was very honoured to work with Martina and Christof over the two days they were here. Bread for the World has been one of CESE’s main partners for many years, and it was a pleasure to receive them in our offices,” said Dimas Galvão, CESE’s Projects and Training Advisor.
This relationship is no different for the other partner organization at the meeting. Julia Esther Castro, PAD’s Executive Secretary, recalled that Bread for the World was one of the organizations that encouraged the establishment of the Process of Networking and Dialogue between European Ecumenical Agencies and Brazilian Partners, alongside other ecumenical agencies that work and have worked in the country. “For the 28 years of PAD’s existence this relationship has been based on solidarity, and a commitment to democracy and the guarantee of human rights. Their transformations have always raised challenges and helped us move forward, valuing this important partnership,” she said.
To demonstrate the reach and effects of our partnership with this agency, we presented our main mobilizing support activities in the field of ecumenism for the defence of rights, including the Ecumenical Tapiri, the ecumenical missions and caravans in partnership with the ACT (Brazil) Ecumenical Forum (Fórum Ecumênico ACT Brasil: FEACT); the results of the most recent grant funding to support projects; the training delivered; supporting the agendas for the struggles of the social movements; and in our communications activities. All to support our 2025-2027 planning and fulfil our mission of continuing to work with the social movements and grassroots organizations.
Representatives of Bread for the World received more detailed information about CESE’s and PAD’s action strategies and shared information about the situation in Germany. Christof Wünsch raised important points about the influence of geopolitics – wars and changes to power relations – on the formulation of cooperation policies, outlined future projections for the new partnership period, and informed us about the agency’s bodies and experiences in Brazil.
As well as the meeting in CESE’s offices, visits were organized to two groups in the state of Bahia. The first in the municipality of Lauro de Freitas, to the São Jorge Filho da Goméia worship house, an organization that works for the rights of the peoples and houses of African-origin worship, based on inter-religious dialogue, the right to culture and with young people. In 2022, the initiative was supported by the agency through the “Young People and Digital Rights,” funding stream.
The other visit was to the Recycling and Services Cooperative of the State of Bahia (Cooperativa de Reciclagem e Serviços do Estado da Bahia: COOPERES) located in Salvador’s Subúrbio Ferroviário district. This organization focuses on generating income from the economic activities of recycled waste pickers, particularly black women.
For CESE’s Training and Projects Advisor, visiting the organizations supported by CESE’s Small Projects Programme provided an opportunity for Bread for the World to dialogue with leaders and learn more about the vulnerabilities of these communities: “They could witness the daily struggle for their rights and see that, despite their difficulties, hope is stamped on every face, on every smile, in every statement.”
In his opinion, this moment also provides a formative space for the agencies, one of in loco experience. “This experience, in which the agencies get to know the organizations, is very important for us at CESE. People experience the reality of the groups beyond what is described in reports. It is a way of helping them to really feel this work and strengthens the fight, not only through funding, but also politically,” he concluded.
Brot für die Welt (Bread for the World) is an international cooperation agency, made up of regional and free protestant churches in Germany and works in 85 countries. Its main objective is to eradicate hunger, inequalities and social injustice.