Return to the M.B.Herald Vol. 38, No. 14 Home Page
A recent Mennonite Central Committee board meeting was prepared with an eye to the future, raising issues such as vigilante volunteers, genetically altered "frankenfood" and the organization's mushrooming material resources response to disasters.
Intense media interest in Hurricane Mitch and the Balkans war helped generate an enthusiastic public response to MCC's relief efforts in the affected regions that has stretched the organization and led to some institutional soul-searching.
"Are material resources out of control?" asked Marv Frey, director of MCC Canada at the meeting held June 18-19 in Winnipeg. About 44,000 refugee kits have been donated to Kosovar refugees so far, surpassing MCC's initial goal by 50 percent. Financial contributions have reached $2.7 million, doubling initial expectations.
MCC is expected to respond to disasters, said Willie Reimer, director of MCC's food and material resources program. "People want us to ship [food and other resources]. However, we need to be mindful of the places that need help and that CNN is not showing."
He cautioned that MCC's response to disasters has resulted in the general public becoming more interested in the work of MCC. Hurricane Mitch resulted in 5,000 new contributors added to MCC Manitoba's list of donors. Response to Hurricane Mitch resulted in 13,000 new donors from across the US.
"Do we know how many of the new donors are non-Mennonite" asked Paul Toews, a board member from California. "It's difficult to determine," said Brenda Wagner who directs MCC's fundraising program.
"What about MCC's peace-building efforts?" asked Dave Cressman, a board member from Ontario. "We should continue to invest in working at the root causes [of conflict]."
"Are we running into peace fatigue?" wondered George Richert, chair of the MCC Canada board.
The growth of MCC's material aid response and the organization's ability to handle it are important long-term concerns, said Cressman, and perhaps staff should be working at the issues more deliberately.
A challenge is to direct some of the energy of collecting and shipping material into longer-term responses, said Vernon Jantzi, a board member from Virginia.
Relief was also discussed in the context of MCC building "capacity" with its partners overseas. MCC is currently assessing the extent to which its work overseas enables the people and organizations it works with.
Over the years, there has been a shift away from relief work to development work and peace building. "How does the desire for capacity building fit with the growth in relief work?" asked a board member.
"Relief work now is done somewhat differently now than it was in the 1970s," said Reimer. When delivering material resources MCC is often building capacity or building peace, he added. By providing food to both Serbian refugees and Albanian refugees, for example, MCC is working at long-term peace. MCC is helping to build capacity at the church agency it works with in Albania by being sensitive to its desire for autonomy.
MCC board meeting briefs:
* A study on Canadian demographics shows a huge baby boomer population bulge that will result in a surge of donations and volunteers because giving and volunteering tend to increase with age. However, many volunteers will be "vigilante volunteers" who are prepared to move to organizations willing to accommodate them.
"How is the human resources department [at MCC] preparing for this?" asked Donella Clemens, a board member from Pennsylvania. "MCC is expanding its short-term programming and will have to spend more time examining the issue," replied Dwight McFadden, director of MCC's human resources department.
* MCC's Food, Disaster and Material Resources Department is examining the issue of biotechnology and its potential to affect the food industry. Biotechnology refers to the manipulation of genes of plants, animals and humans. Such technology has existed for many years and has resulted in plant varieties like canola, an oilseed-producing crop widely grown on the Canadian prairies, and sensations like Dolly, the sheep cloned by scientists in Great Britain.
"Will the technology provide safe and nutritious food in a culturally appropriate way?" asked Marion Meyer, a program officer with FDMR. "Is it safe for humans? Or is it `frankenfood' as some detractors have called it? What are its effects on the environment? Who owns the technology? What does it mean from a theological perspective?"
A number of board members encouraged MCC to carefully develop a policy on the issue.
Helen Rose Pauls, a board member from British Columbia, said as a farmer she has seen the consequences of genetic altering in chickens and has some serious concerns about biotechnology and how it's done.
* Government grants to the MCCs in Canada totalled more than $110 million during the past 10 years. Much of the money was spent on MCC programs overseas. Although MCC Canada has a policy on accepting funds from government sources, board members were asked whether MCC binational, which deals with overseas programming, should also have such a policy.
"How do you know when too many strings are attached to a grant?" asked Frey. Much of MCC's grant funding for overseas work comes from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), an arm of the federal government. A number of board members expressed discomfort with the extent to which CIDA wants MCC to conform to CIDA's standards.
CIDA carries out periodic reviews of MCC programs to assess whether CIDA's standards are met. "It seems CIDA's noose is getting tighter and tighter." said Jeannette Neufeld of Saskatchewan in response to CIDA's most recent evaluation.
CIDA sometimes articulates problems MCC has—problems that people in MCC may be aware of but are reluctant to act on, said Frey.
"Taking money is vexatious when it is rubbing," said MCC Executive Director Ron Mathies. "But we've often learned something along the way. There has been some useful to-ing and fro-ing."
What about the money from US government sources, asked some board members. "Aren't there times when it may be all right to accept money from US AID?" asked Toews.
The board agreed more work should be done on developing a policy on accepting government funding.
MCC
Return to the M.B.Herald Vol. 38, No. 14 Home Page