NGO Activities

WCRP Participates in Micro-credit Summit

WCRP will participate in the first global Microcredit Summit to be held February 2-4, 1997 in Washington, DC. The summit is the first step in a 10-year initiative to ensure that 100 million of the world’s poor, especially women, will receive credit for self-employment and other financial and business services by the year 2005.

Organisers of the Microcredit Summit have asked WCRP President Dr. M. Aram and Secretary General Dr. William F. Vendley to serve as Co-Chairs of the Microcredit Summit Council. They expect approximately 2,000 people to participate from around the world. Other speakers will include the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, the Queen of Spain, Hilary Rodham Clinton, and Mr. James D. Wolfensohn, President of the World Bank. Dr. Aram and Dr. Vendley will give brief addresses during one of the plenary sessions and lead a "Meet the Challenge Session," a small group meeting designed to provide participants with skills, resources, and contacts.

WCRP/Europe Represented at OSCE Review Conference

Dr. Peter Prijapratama, an active member of WCRP/Austria and an expert in international affairs, represented WCRP at the Review Conference of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), held in Vienna, 4-22 November 1996. He reported that OSCE was strengthening its co-operation with NGOs, especially in the areas of conflict prevention, civilian confidence building and human rights.

Other representatives of WCRP/Europe have attended past seminars organised by the OSCE Human Dimension Office in Warsaw focusing on human rights issues such as tolerance and religious freedom.

WCRP at IFOR International Council

In mid-August, Rev. Anna Karin Hammer of Sweden officially represented WCRP at the quadrennial International Council (-- General Assembly) of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR), which was held in Helsingborg, Sweden. Rev. Hammer is the founder-chairperson of the local WCRP chapter in Malmo, Sweden, a member of the Executive Committee of WCRP/Sweden, and an IFOR member. Founded in 1919, IFOR is an international interfaith peace movement, whose work is based on strict principles of non-violence. IFOR is headquartered in Alkmaar, Netherlands, which has branches in many countries. WCRP maintains good working relations with IFOR and has collaborated with it on many occasions.

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