Image from the Ecojesuit Workbook on Effective Collaboration; illustrated by Raiza JavierWe closed 2019 with much energy and gratitude coming from the Annual Ecojesuit Meeting of Conference Coordinators in Mumbai, India that focused on networking and getting a better hold of what it means to be a network, as well as the sense of time and commitment it takes.
Experiences from the South Asian context provided moments of insight on the great value of elevating stories from the local to the global level. It is clear that providing a platform for more voices on the ground to be heard is our focus for 2020.
The sense of emergency is also clear: from the opportunities lost in COP25 to the urgent call of half a million people who gathered in protests in Madrid; from the wildfires in Australia, floods in Jakarta, droughts in South Asia, disruptions in water availability across Latin America, to the locust swarms in East Africa. We are all coming from our own contexts and institutional agenda, but in responding to these realities, we can only make an impact if we work together.
As we go onward through 2020, we are challenged to be more creative and dynamic in fostering points for synergy and ways to collaborate. We continue our one-day-a-week commitment to update one another on the actions of our Conferences, but we must also go beyond meetings online.
There is great opportunity and momentum for us to amplify our engagement in the global climate movement, COP26 in Glasgow, and the Sustainable Development Goals, among other areas of participation globally. There is a need for a strengthened regional connectivity to better consolidate our actions at the Conference level, and in turn, have greater representation of Conferences and diversity of content throughout our platforms such as Ecojesuit Online, Ecojesuit YouTube channel, and Ecostream. We continue to seek assistance in translating our stories to Spanish, French, and in the future, Cantonese, to reach a broader audience.
We encourage everyone to take advantage of the technology and the materials we have developed to deepen participation and collaboration within and beyond the network. We see this happening through strengthening internal communications, highlighting voices from communities, continuing to work with the youth for innovative solutions, and consolidating our response to ecological concerns with clear lines of commitment.
The challenges we face are great, but we move forward grounded on the Universal Apostolic Preferences, guided by the call of Laudato Si’, and energized by one another’s commitment to care for our Common Home. This is the Ecojesuit narrative, and we look forward to developing it together this year and beyond.
