Solidarity Annual General Assembly 2020

Bro. Emili Turú, new President of the Association

On 03rd December 2020, Solidarity with South Sudan held its annual Assembly: for the first time, it was an online meeting, due to the pandemic.

Thirty-eight member congregations attended, along with a number of other congregations who are considering various types of engagement in South Sudan, some diplomatic representatives from the USA, UK, Australia and Ireland, and some donor organizations.

The meeting was arranged in two sessions: in the first one, Fr. Paul Smith, as the President of the Association, and Sr. Maria Carmen Ocon, the Vice-President, considered the impact of COVID-19 on Solidarity's personnel and and the financial implications of the pandemic on the projects in South Sudan. In addition, they announced some news and the will to contact African based congregations to move towards the transition. Fr. Jim Greene, the Executive Director, showed the achievements of Solidarity and the influence it has on individual lives, thanks to our communities in Juba, Yambio, Wau and Riimenze, and to the spiritual assistance we give in the PoC in Malakal.

The second session was about the Monitoring and Evaluation exercise we started last year. We are now launching a second phase, which involves the listening to the experiences of those who are or have been involved with Solidarity with South Sudan. It aims to understand the status quo of the governance and management systems and procedures, to identify successes and challenges and to strengthen the governance and management system of Solidarity. As last year, this analysis will be conducted by Mrs Nicole Moran.

Moreover, we had the opportunity to show in advance to the participants the new website, thanks to the presentations made by Mr. Seán Patrick Lovett and Mr. Tim Harris, who let possible the launch of this new website (https://www.solidarityssudan.org).

At the end, new Board members have been elected, and Bro. Emili Turú Rofes, fms, has been appointed as new Solidarity President, on behalf of the USG.

Thanks to Fr. Paul Smyth, the outgoing President, for his dedication and passion, and, together with him, to all the board members who finished their mandate few days ago, for having put their talents and time at Solidarity service.

(Solidarity South Sudan, Rome office)