Ignatian Advocacy & Networks: Building Bridges for Social Justice

1. IGNATIAN ADVOCACY AND NETWORKS GIAN MIGRATION Madrid – September 24, 2012

2. GOALS • BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE FRAMEWORK OF GIAN AND THIS MEETING • CLARIFICATION OF CONCEPTS: ADVOCACY AND NETWORKING • GO IN DEPTH INTO THEIR IGNATIAN DIMENSION • MOTIVATE, STIMULATE ON THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS WORK

3. MAIN IDEAS • THE IMPORTANCE OF ADVOCACY, AS A NEW DIMENSION IN THE JESUIT APOSTOLIC MISSION, AND NETWORKING, AS A RENEWED WAY OF PROCEEDING TO ACCOMPLISH THE MISSION. BOTH ARE, AT THE SAME TIME: • UPDATED TO FACE NEW INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL CHALLENGES AND • DEEPLY ROOTED IN THE JESUIT TRADITION AND GROUNDED IN THE IGNATIAN SPIRITUALITY • A SENSE OF URGENCY AND OPPORTUNITY IN NETWORKING FOR ADVOCACY: • IT IS A STRONG CALL FROM THE SJ, • THERE ARE HUGE CHALLENGES FOR MANY PEOPLE IN OUR WORLD • THERE IS EXPERTISE AND CAPACITY AMONG THE WORKS IN THE JESUIT FAMILY.

4. WHERE ARE WE GOING AND TO WHAT? • IGNATIAN ADVOCACY (CLARIFICATIONS) • NETWORKING IN THE SOCIETY OF JESUS • GIAN

5. WHERE ARE WE GOING AND TO WHAT?

6. SPECIFIC WORKSHOP OF THE MIGRATION NETWORK OF GIAN

7. Stepstobetaken (2011 – 2012) 1. Preliminaryworkshop 2. General Workshop Leaders CoreGroups • Understandourwork • Get training • Decide GW • FormCoreGroups • Get training • Decide mapping & planning 3. Mapping and research 4. SpecificWorkshops LedbyCoreGroups A group of members • Whatisbeing done • Identifyallies • Finalise and agreeonthe planning of the networks • Draftnetwork’smission • Proposeactions Social Justice and EcologySecretariat Secretariado de Justicia Social y Ecología

8. …TO RESPOND TO A CALL “The complexity of the problems we face and the richness of the opportunities offered demand that we engage in building bridges between rich and poor and establishing advocacy links of mutual support between those who hold political power and those who find it difficult to voice their interests.” General Congregation 35 (2008), D.3, n.28 Challenges faced by migrants Unfolded possibilities within the Ignatian family

9. WHERE ARE WE GOING AND TO WHAT? • WHY ARE WE HERE? WHAT IS MOVING EACH OF US? WHERE DO WE PERCEIVE THE CALL? HOW DO WE FEEL THE LORD IS LEADING ME / DRIVING ME TO BE HERE?

10. IGNATIAN ADVOCACY AND NETWORKING. • IGNATIAN ADVOCACY • Approach and definitions • Advocacy in the Jesuit tradition • Ignatian advocacy

11. APPROACH AND DEFINITIONS A broad approach • Goal: Promote political and cultural (pre-political) change • Includes: • changing CULTURE: public opinion, ideas, attitudes, values. • Changing POLICIES: decision makers, laws, programs, … • Changing PRACTICES participation and democracy, institutions and political structures, empowerment, …

12. APPROACH AND DEFINITIONS • Advocacy may include several elements, at least: • Research: generate evidence, elaborate proposals,… • Communication: media work, internet, • Mobilization: demonstrations, public support • Lobbying: engaging with decision makers • Networking: alliances, connections,… ThereisNOToneway of doingadvocacy. Itis a broad concept thatmustbeadaptedtothe concrete context and possibilities.

13. JESUIT TRADITION ADVOCACY IS A: • Tradition in Jesuit history • Novelty in the SJ: GC35 mentions advocacy for the first time in a Jesuit document

14. JESUIT TRADITION • Starting from St Ignatius, the Society has a long tradition in doing advocacy • Ignatius and his first companions understood the importance of reaching out to people on the frontiers and at the centre of society. (GC35 D 3, n 15) • “Now, if we consider the universal good and God's greater service, even greater good will follow from this, as far as I can see in the Lord, because all the members of the body share in the good of the head and all his subjects in the good of their sovereign, so that the spiritual good which is done to the sovereign should be more highly esteemed than if it were done to others” (Letter to Fr. Diego Miró, Provincial of Portugal, February, 1, 1553)

15. JESUIT TRADITION • In recent decades, some provinces, networks, and works are seeking ways to develop this tradition on advocacy • In various provinces/conferences • EUROPA – OCIPE • USA –WASHINGTON JESUIT OFFICE • SOCIAL CENTERS IN LATINAMERICA, AFRICA AND ASIA • ASIA: SAPI (South AsianPeoplesInitiatives) • International networks • JRS • Fe y Alegría

16. JESUIT TRADITION – GC 35 28.- The complexity of the problems we face and the richness of the opportunities offered demand that we build bridges between rich and poor, establishing advocacy links of mutual support between those who hold political power and those who find it difficult to voice their interests. Our intellectual apostolate provides an inestimable help in constructing these bridges, offering us new ways of understanding in depth the mechanisms and links among our present problems. Many Jesuits in educational, social promotion, and research institutions, together with others engaged directly with the poor, are already committed to this work. Still others have helped in the growth of corporate social responsibility, the creation of a more humane business culture, and economic development initiatives with the poor.

17. JESUIT TRADITION – GC 35 29.- Among the defining characteristics of our globalized world are new communications technologies. They have a tremendous impact on all of us, especially the young. They can be powerful instruments for building and supporting international networks, in our advocacy, in our work of education, and in our sharing of our spirituality and our faith. This Congregation urges Jesuit institutions to put these new technologies at the service of those at the margins.

18. JESUIT TRADITION – GC 35 35.- This Congregation urges all Jesuits and all partners engaged in the same mission, particularly the universities and research centres, to promote studies and practices focusing on the causes of poverty and the question of the environment’s improvement. We should find ways in which our experiences with refugees and the displaced on one hand, and people who work for the protection of the environment on the other hand, could interact with those institutions, so that research results and advocacy have effective practical benefits for society and the environment. Advocacy and research should serve the poor and those who work for the protection of the environment. This ought to shed new light on the appeal of the Holy Father that costs should be justly shared “taking due account of the different levels of development”

19. JESUIT TRADITION – GC 35 Advocacy is linked to core elements of GC35: • Confirmation of the mission and search for new ways to develop it further • Reconciliation and bridge building. • International and interprovincial collaboration • Cross-sector collaboration

20. IGNATIAN ADVOCACY • It is a dimension of the apostolic work to carry out the mission. • It is tightly linked with accompaniment and direct service of people. It completes the direct pastoral, educational, social, cultural,… action. • It is a wide concept. There is not only one way of doing advocacy. Importance of context. • Ignatian is central: it profoundly affects the way of proceeding, the criteria used, the meaning. • It requires cross-sector collaboration.

21. IGNATIAN ADVOCACY LEGITIMACY • Preferential option for the poor. Roots based. Authenticity. People centered. Long history of struggles against injustice…and of bridging contraries. • Diversity and unity. People involved (quantity and quality) • Passionate. • Relations and relational capacity. Building networks and partnerships with others • Independence.

22. IGNATIAN ADVOCACY CHARACTERISTICS • Working for the people and in solidarity with the poor. Defending the interests and perspectives of the excluded. Seeking their participation. Promoting positive changes for them. • Loving and affirming the world. Looking for right relationships, building bridges. • Discernment. Contemplation. • Communal. Networking with others. • Intellectual rigor. • Prophecy. Critique and proposal.

23. IGNATIAN ADVOCACY STRATEGY • Flexibility. Recognizing diversity. Adaptation to specific contexts. Using different techniques and strategies. • Universality. Importance of proper connection between the international and local and national level. • Creativity. Innovation. • Participation of marginalized and excluded groups. • Long-term process. • Cross-sectorial. • Building networks and partnerships with others.

24. IGNATIAN ADVOCACY • Dimension of apostolic mission that promotes change in culture, policies, and practices. It includes a wide range of activities. Complements the direct apostolic service increasing it impact. • Advocacy is at the same time a novelty in the Jesuit apostolic mission and rooted in the Jesuit tradition • Ignatian advocacy is mission-centered and it is developed with some characteristics: communal, discernment, in solidarity with the poor, building bridges, promoting participation.

25. IGNATIAN NETWORKING • Networks in a networked world • Networking in the Jesuit tradition • What is jesuit networking? • Tips

26. A NETWORKED WORLD • Globalization is intensifying - Increasing the importance of being a universal body and challenging the nation-state structures (including Jesuit provinces) • New Information Technologies are reshaping culture, values, ways of learning and communicating (including those of Jesuits and collaborators) • The “network society” is transforming institutions and Society (including the SJ and its works)

27. SJ IS AFFECTED: • Weakened: demographic changes, local-oriented structures, relation with hierarchy, and diminished influence in the intellectual, political, and cultural spheres. • Well prepared to adapt: • globally shared spirituality, • transnational and interdisciplinary apostolic body, • innovative and adaptive tradition, and experience • A Kairos moment. International networking is urgently needed for mission in the twenty-first century. It can be achieved by tapping into the enormous universe of persons and institutions within the Ignatian family and taking advantage of their distinctly universal character

28. NETWORKS • A system of interconnected nodes (Castells M. , 2007). A set of actors or nodes along with a set of ties of specified type that link them (Halgin). • Different types: biological, informational, technological, socio-economic. • Characteristics • Flexibility and adaptability to changes in the environment. • Voluntary association and high individual freedom and initiative • Self-organized or lean coordination bodies. • Horizontality in decision-making process • Use of information technology

29. Modern concept deeply rooted on Jesuit tradition. Throughout history, networking has been a central, albeit implicit, feature of the Jesuit way of proceeding. Its origins can be traced back to the experience of Ignatius and the first companions : • Search of universal good. • Sense of apostolic mission central to Jesuit identity that led to availability and mobility; • The corporate sense, built on a union of minds and hearts, even in dispersion; • Sense of obedience, seeking to discover the will of God, discerned through communal deliberation and then confirmed by authority.

30. FROM GC 32 TO GC 35CORPORATIVE MISSION: PRIORITIES AND STRUCTURESSource: Dani Villanueva sj

31. FROM GC 32 TO GC 35GLOBAL AWARENESS

32. FROM GC 32 TO GC 35

33. GC 35

34. THE ERA OF JESUIT NETWORKS

35. JESUIT NETWORKING: SNAP OF THE CURRENT SITUATION • Many international networking initiatives are taking shape: •  A few of them already present good examples of collaboration, while many others are still trying to articulate goals and resources, or seeking the active commitment of their constituents. • Even where there is a rich complex of institutions, works, and persons that are potential nodes of Jesuit networks, the links have just started to be established. • Most of these networks operate at the regional/conference level, and global initiatives are still very limited. • Networks have been set up among universities, high schools, and especially in the social apostolate. There are few initiatives connecting institutions and persons from different apostolic sectors so far. • Two trends can be seen: •  There is enthusiasm, energy, readiness, and a sense of urgency to intensify this process among Jesuits and their collaborators • At the same time, there is also some “inertia” and a non-collaborative culture, partly from a lack of resources for international initiatives (human, economic, and technological), and partly from inadequate interprovincial structures, resulting in a slowing down of processes that could realize potentials.

36. JESUIT NETWORKS DEFINITION • In Jesuit documents network must be understood as a metaphor rather than a theoretical concept • “Networking in the Society of Jesus may be summed up as a style of working apostolically, carrying out our apostolate across many of the lines which, until now, have delimited our Jesuit activities and jurisdictions.” Guidelines for Networking in the Social Area. Rome, 2002 • Jesuit networking could be defined as a way of proceeding apostolically that enables better global and regional cooperation at the service of the universal mission, raising the apostolic structures to a new level of agency with global (or regional) impact, and therefore connecting persons and institutions in such a way that they act as a global and interdisciplinary body, in collaboration with others.

37. TYPES OF NETWORKS • Inter-personal networks. Promote relationships among Jesuits, collaborators, and friends of the Ignatian family. Are very flexible and open, facilitating exchange and communication, and contributing to the strengthening of a sense of unity and community. • Inter-institutional networks. Institutions working together towards a common goal. Different models: • the international networked organization, (JRS), combining elements of networks and international organizations such as a more centralized structure and less autonomy of members; • the institutional alliance network, in which independent members are fully and institutionally committed under a common brand, and common strategic options, (Fe y Alegría or AJAN); • the purpose network, created by autonomous works collaborating to achieve together a common goal or common projects or a concrete event (GIAN, AJCU, AUSJAL,…) • the exchange network, a space for communication of information and exchange of experiences.

38. IGNATIAN CHARACTERISTICS JESUIT NETWORK: • it finds its deepest root in the Trinitarian inspiration, contemplating and being sent to the whole world; • it is initiated by the contemplation of reality, seeking to identify the presence and call of the Lord in a communal way; • it expresses Ignatian hospitality, opening spaces to welcome, meet, share, connect, and generate new possibilities ; • it promotes a sense of union and community going beyond superficial relationships and encouraging communal discernment; • it has depth of analysis, drawn from learned ministry, and including rootedness, values, and principles; • it is not self-centered but focused on the common mission, ultimately seeking the building of the Kingdom of God; • it reflects internal solidarity and provides for a way of sharing ideas, expertise, resources, and creativity; • it respects subsidiarity, by complementing, strengthening and tapping local initiative rather than replacing it.

39. ORGANIZATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS • a sense of shared mission and identity nurtures connections among members; • despite its horizontal decision-making processes, adequate leadership is crucial and a clear link with Jesuit governance is essential; • they have specific and clear purposes that require common planning, sustainability and evaluation; • they employ as much as possible a multi-tracking and cross-sectorial approach; • they promote internal participation and are open to collaboration with others; and • they have sufficient resources to carry out their goals, sharing and tapping the existing resources of their members.

40. TIPS FOR NETWORKING • Networks need goals and purposes to grow and sustain themselves. • Achievements are important and should be celebrated • Keep them close to the local • Each network must find its own specific style, structure, pace of work • Leadership • Use IT • Networks require resources. • Attitudes: Patience, passion, commitment.

41. IGNATIAN NETWORKING • Internal and external challenges demand renewed ways of proceeding, including international networking. There is a untapped universe of institutions and persons in the Ignatian network. • Networking is the modern way of international collaboration (universal body for a common mission). Jesuit networking is profoundly inspired by ignatian tradition and spirituality. • International networking requires a cultural change, an adaptation of structures to carry out the common mission, adequate leadership and proper use of IT.

42. GLOBAL IGNATIAN ADVOCACY NETWORK

43. GIAN

44. GIAN

45. GIAN

46. GIAN

47. GIAN

48. GIAN • To carry out the mission in a renewed and updated way but deeply grounded in the Jesuit tradition and Ignatian spirituality • To improve and increase our apostolic impact by advocating in favor of poor and marginalized people. • This project is in the forefront. It is a risky yet promising initiative. It demands:

49. LORD´S GUIDANCE

50. COURAGE