In Brief
CJPD is the executive organ of the Homa Bay Diocese for Justice and Peace issues. It fulfils the Diocese’s objectives to promote justice and challenge oppressive structures of governance in Kenya.
Details
The Homa Bay Catholic Justice and Peace Department.
The Catholic Justice and Peace Commission (CJPD) was established on the mandate of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops as promulgated on 1st January 1988 in “Justice and Peace Commission, a Pastoral Letter of the Bishops”, Nairobi 1988. In the Catholic Diocese of Homa Bay CJPD was founded in the year 1993 at time of the inception of the Diocese in Homa Bay. The formal name of the person coordinating the project is the Executive Secretary who covers the diocese comprising Migori and Homa Bay Counties.
CJPD is the executive organ of the Homa Bay Diocese for Justice and Peace issues. It fulfils the Diocese’s objectives to promote justice and challenge oppressive structures of governance in Kenya.
The objectives of the CJPD as set out in the Pastoral Letter are:
1. To approve the contents of formation programmes and Lenten campaign
2. To discuss and make decisions on publications of the social teachings of the Church in order to make them available in simple format and language.
3. To work for the eradication of injustice wherever it is seen to exist, by;
a) Analysing the situation in the in the light of the Gospel.
b) Planning relevant steps and action in order to contribute to their solutions.
c) Issuing official communiqués as to the stand of the Catholic Church in Kenya.
4. Advice, encouragement and support to the diocesan CJPD and other groups involved in justice and peace issues.
5. To cooperate with other institutions, churches and peoples in the spirit of Christian Unity.
The above objectives are actualised currently through four programmatic areas and special projects:
Lenten Campaign.
The Annual Lenten Campaigns broad objective is to sensitize Christians on issues that affect society and how they relate to the social teachings of the church. The Justice and Peace is charged with the development of the Lenten campaign. This year’s theme was “The Dawn of a New Hope: Implementing the New Constitution”.
Paralegal Initiative.
The paralegal initiative programme is tasked with helping the community prepare for closings of their cases, hearings, trials, and corporate meetings. Paralegals also investigate the facts of cases and ensure that all relevant information is considered. They also identify appropriate laws, judicial decisions, legal articles, and other materials that are relevant to assigned cases. After they analyze and organize the information, paralegals may prepare written reports that the court uses in determining how cases should be handled.
In addition to this preparatory work, paralegals perform a number of other vital functions. For example, they help draft contracts, agreements, help acquire title deeds and instruments of trust.
Disaster and Risk Management
In the pursuit of reducing vulnerabilities to these disaster risks, the CJPD has formulated a Diocesan Policy on Disaster Management to institutionalise mechanisms for addressing disasters.
The Diocese has continued to face a rising degree of vulnerability to disaster risks. Communities are predisposed to disasters by a combination of factors such as poverty, aridity, settlement in areas prone to perennial flooding or areas with poor infrastructure and services such as the informal urban settlements or even living in poorly constructed buildings.
The systematic approach to identifying, assessing and reducing the risks of disaster, aims to reduce socio-economic vulnerabilities to disaster as well as dealing with the environmental and other hazards that trigger them.
Peace Building
In this programme much of the work still occurs in places that are recovering from or are on the edge of violence and war. Over time we have learned that the way we do our emergency and development programming helps prevent or transform conflicts. If we ignore conflicts and their underlying causes then our work prolongs the conflict by providing new resources to the warring parties (like food and supplies), or our programs are destroyed in the chaos and violence. If we help our partners address the injustices in their society that cause conflict and facilitate respectful relationships between conflicting parties then our work together builds sustainable peace.
Rebuilding society after conflict is more than the rebuilding of the infrastructure. Peace building is a complex and lengthy process that requires the establishment of a climate of tolerance and respect for the truth. It encompasses a wide range of political, developmental, humanitarian and human rights programs and mechanisms. They include the reintegration of soldiers and refugees, demining and removal of other war debris, emergency relief, the repair of roads and infrastructure and economic and social rehabilitation. This is a lengthy process and the legacy of conflict can remain in communities for generations.
Before engaging in peace building, we analyse the conflict context with our partners and the community to decide how best to focus our activities. In some areas, we proactively prevent conflict through human rights education, advocacy or support for microfinance activities. These programs help address social injustices before people see violence as their only option for change.
In places where violent conflicts are on-going, we try to ensure our emergency relief programming does not exacerbate the conflict, but rather utilizes resources for peaceful change. In areas recovering from violence, we may help people rebuild their homes, re-establish a viable economy that values all members of society, or help create the social space for the long process of recovering from trauma and reconciling relationships.
KEY PROJECTS
- Human Rights/Right Based Approach.
- Paralegal Initiative.
- Peace Building and Reconciliation/Conflict Management and Translation.
- Government and Democracy.
- Gender Mainstreaming and Vocational Training.
- Gender Based Violence.
- Integrated Family Life, Education Programme
- HIV/AIDS as a social/Human Rights issue.
- Disaster Preparedness: Disaster Risk Reduction, Emergency Response and Management.
- Sustained Civic Education
- Human Trafficking.
- Social Communication.
Currently Operational Programmes.
- Governance and Democracy
- Peace Building and Conflict Resolution.
- Lenten Campaign.
- Transformative Civic education
- Voter Education and Election Observation
- Inter-religious Dialogue
The Catholic Justice and Peace Commission has a structure rooted from small Christian Communities to every one of the 47 parishes in the Diocese.
Areas of convergence.
In looking forward to partnership with various CSOs within the counties the justice and peace Commission offers the following services for the child centred programmes and other related activities in the democratic and right based issues:-
i. Capacity building through sensitization on the rights of the child and the citizens at large.
ii. Responsibility of the community towards the civility and political responsibility.
iii. Child protection and a paradigm shift from Gender based violence.
iv. Mitigation on emerging issues of conflict transformation in the community.
v. Addressing emerging social/cultural issues on HIV/AIDS.
vi. Offering re-fresher courses to the paralegals at community level to address the emerging issues.