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Akron, Pa.
Capacity building focus of MCC board meeting


Earthquakes. Famine. Hurricanes and floods. Disaster relief is the first thing many people think of when they consider the work of Mennonite Central Committee. But though these emergencies tend to get the most attention, MCC spends nearly twice as much – 53 per cent of its international program budget – on quiet work called capacity building.

An unfamiliar term, capacity building is at the heart of MCC philosophy, noted members of the MCC board during their annual meeting, held at the MCC headquarters in Akron, Pa., for the first time in MCC’s 81-year history. The two-day meeting opened June 15 with video-conveyed greetings from an Indian colleague, who illustrated what capacity building is and why it is critical.

J. K. Michael, the recently retired executive director of Churches Auxiliary for Social Action (CASA) in India, thanked MCC for its support since CASA began more than 24 years ago. In its beginning, CASA was addressing 16 or 17 natural disasters in any given year; CASA now handles 65 to 70 disasters annually. “It’s not that emergencies have increased,” Michael said, “but our ability to respond has increased.”

Capacity building is enhancing people’s ability to address their own needs. It represents “a major shift from the assumption that Western technology and money and good will and Christian compassion can ‘fix’ the problems of the world,” explained international program director Edgar Metzler in his report. “There is a growing recognition that what really matters is not what MCC workers can accomplish on their own, but how we can work alongside others, and often under others, so that the strength in local communities is released and nurtured.”

One of the organizations MCC hopes to continue to help build is Mennonite World Conference. Last year the relationship between the two organizations was reviewed, resulting in a call for increased cooperation in the future, noted MCC executive director Ron Mathies. One possibility would be MWC representation on MCC’s board. MCC has promised $25,000 US in matching grants this year and next to aid MWC as it plans for coming years.

The board took action to legally separate MCC US from MCC, a move intended to simplify decisions about national programs. The incorporation of MCC US as a separate non-profit corporation, which will take effect April 1, 2002, makes MCC US more structurally parallel to MCC Canada, said MCC US board chair Harriet Sider Bicksler.

It is also a step toward building a stronger national identity. “We do work on behalf of MCC’s international programs, but there are significant things going on in the US” – particularly in peace and justice education and the Damascus Road anti-racism training, Bicksler noted. Incorporation will give MCC US the authority to make decisions about its program without going through an extra layer of structure.

Like the 11 other MCC national and provincial/regional bodies, MCC US remains committed to “one MCC” with one common vision and mission.

The year 2000 was a good one, financially, for MCC, even if not at the record-breaking levels of last year, reported controller Ken Langerman. MCC received $20.5 US million in financial contributions with an additional $7.9 million in material resources. Total income exceeded expenses by $3.4 million. The board passed a new budget of $34 million, an increase of 12.5 per cent from last year’s budget.

Mathies observed that income for MCC’s international work has nearly doubled in the last decade, yet personnel are becoming more difficult to find. Currently, 100 service worker positions are unfilled. For the first time, more MCC workers are from Canada (47%) rather than the US (43%). The number of workers from outside North America is gradually increasing.

In other business, the board approved a revised version of the 1998 MCC statement calling on the United Nations to end sanctions against Iraq. This statement serves as the foundation for MCC’s education and advocacy work about Iraq one decade after the Gulf War.

 – Cathleen Hockman–Wert for Meetinghouse

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Last modified October 10, 2001.

© 2001 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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