Wanted: Operations Manager: SAFCEI

Wanted: Operations Manager: SAFCEI

SAFCEI is looking for an Operations Manager to join its head office team at Westlake, Cape Town. The Operations Manager will report to the Executive Director. Please download the job description for an outline of the roles and responsibilities of this new post.

The main purpose of this position is to build and run SAFCEI as an organisation that provides maximum support to its programmatic work and achieves its objectives.

Key performance areas include financial management, HR, logistics and operations, administration, fundraising, membership, and monitoring and evaluation.

A broad range of competencies is required, including:

· knowledge and experience of people management, administration, resource management, managing an organisation’s finances, budgeting and strategic planning;

· knowledge of relevant legislation and HR processes;

· people skills, report-writing and communication skills and basic OD skills;

· ability to grow people and support their development.

Experience of fundraising and M&E will be advantageous.

The person appointed to this post should have a university degree, a post-matric financial qualification, and 5 years’ middle-senior management experience. S/he will need to be a strategic thinker, innovative, a team player and willing to do whatever needs to be done!

SAFCEI is a multi-faith organisation and operates from the perspective of faith and the principles upheld by all faiths. It would therefore be appropriate if the applicant is a person of faith.

The salary is negotiable depending on experience and qualifications.

To apply, please send an up-to-date CV with a letter of motivation and the names and contact details of three referees to coordinator@safcei.org.za by the end of Sunday 27 March. (No copies of certificates etc are needed at this stage.)

We will acknowledge receipt of all applications, but please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted beyond that.

Message from Melbourne to Copenhagen

Message from members of the religions of the world gathered at the Parliament of the World’s Religions

We, from the major faith communities of the world, meeting at the Parliament of the World’s Religions, Melbourne, Australia, from 3rd to 9th December 2009, send warm greetings to all who are gathering at Copenhagen for your crucially important Conference. We wish to assure you that prayers are being lifted up around the world for this meeting as we recognize that climate change is the single most important issue presently confronting us and the entire Earth community.

Climate change and other critical environmental crises are intricately linked with the financial crisis. We call on all nations of the world, particularly the rich, to recognize humanity’s dependency on the natural environment and therefore on the health and well-being of the planet and seek solutions with the utmost urgency for the global environmental and economic systems.

We therefore call for a meaningful agreement that places the well-being of people and planet before profit.

We believe a dramatic reduction of carbon emissions is possible using the natural energy of the planet, which comes from renewable resources such as the sun, wind, waves, biogas. Therefore we call for a commitment to an immediate turning from reliance on fossil fuel energy and a planned and phased decline in its use in order to bring CO₂ emissions down to 350 ppm.

We believe there is a moral imperative for rich countries to reduce carbon emissions and share wealth and skills with developing countries to adapt to climate change and build their economies sustainably

Climate justice is essential for a sustainable future. Either we follow the moral principles of justice, upheld by all faith communities, and share equitably the resources of the world, or we continue to consume excessively, resulting in ever more conflict and environmental destruction.

We, religious leaders of the world, therefore call on the governments of the world to implement the following resolution:

CLIMATE CHANGE RESOLUTION:

• As people of faith, we believe we have a responsibility to the source of life and to future generations to care for this planet – our home. We therefore call on the governments of the world when they meet at the UNFCCC at Copenhagen to take urgent and meaningful action to stem climate change.

• Following the latest scientific evidence we believe we cannot allow temperatures to rise by 2 degrees. We therefore call for a reduction of CO₂ emissions to a target of 350 ppm, ensuring that emissions will have peaked by 2015 in all countries, to then decline to at least 85% below 1990 levels by 2050.

We pray wisdom and courage to do what is right.

Issued by Bishop Geoff Davies on behalf of all who endorsed it at the Parliament of the World’s Religions meeting in Melbourne, 3 – 9 December 2009

Contact: geoff.davies@safcei.org.za (Mobile:++27 83 754 5275)

Message to religious leaders on climate change

frim Bishop Geoff Davies, Director of SAFCEI

To Faith Leaders of Southern Africa

Climate Change

I am sure you are all becoming aware of the impending crisis of climate change and the need to deal with it realistically at Copenhagen when the UN Climate Change Conference meets from 7^th to 18^th December.

There is also an increasing acknowledgement that it may only be through the intervention of faith communities that we will be able to bring about the changes needed if we are to leave a sustainable world to our children. Climate change is a moral issue and therefore involves us.

I now write as a matter of urgency to ask you to promote and join in the following:

1. A Call to prayer

I hope we can all join in this. The suggestions are:

1. 23^rd to 25^th October: We ask you to hold prayers and sermons over the week-end of 23^rd to 25^th October in support of the day of symbolic action on Saturday 24^th October.(See paragraph 2 below)

1.2 Preparatory prayers for the build up to Copenhagen. We hope to send weekly prayers with suggested sermon outlines as we approach the Copenhagen Climate Conference.

2. 11^th to 13^th December: Special prayers and worship over the weekend during Copenhagen from 11^th - 13^th December. This is when the WCC will be holding a worship service and the Archbishop of Canterbury will be preaching.

2. A daily mid-day prayer: I believe this to be most important. Some of you will recollect that during the years of the struggle, many people of faith held a daily two-minute time of prayer for justice and peace for South Africa. We now need to pray for justice and peace globally, praying for “Climate Justice Now” for all people and all of creation.

If you have any suggestions for brief prayers, we would welcome them.

A few suggestions are:

1. We pray for Justice for all people and all creation, that peace may reign – throughout the earth.

2.2 Keep 1 minute of silence

• I pray for the courage and love to bring forth a socially just, environmentally sustainable and spiritually fulfilling community and world, and I pray the same for our leaders.
• I pray for justice and peace in my home, community, country and world.
• May we be Earth keepers (Genesis 2:15) to all for whom the earth is ‘home’.

3. Participation in the day of symbolic action – 24^th October.

I attach a request from Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, and Prof. Mary Evelyn Tucker of The Forum on Religion and Ecology, asking us all “to help make this the most widespread day of witness the world has ever seen.” Please offer prayers and bring this to the attention of your congregations over that week-end. If you can’t ring your bells or undertake some other symbolic action on Saturday 24^th October, please do so on Friday 23^rd or Sunday 25^th October as part of your regular worship.

If you would like to participate in any 24^th October action happening in your local area please visit the 350.org website for details or email samantha@350.org

4. Raising awareness

I hope that you will continue to raise awareness among your faith community of the importance of caring for God’s creation. We will attach a list of resources available from SAFCEI which will help you in this important work. There is also a12 minute DVD available, entitled: Religious Leaders for a Sustainable Future.

5. SACC Statement: Climate Change – A challenge to churches in South Africa

This 90 page Christian document provides an excellent theological background to climate change and the challenge it presents to us. It emanates largely from a group of theologians working with Professor Ernst Conradie, following a meeting between SAFCEI and Kerkinactie – of the Protestant Church in Holland. Electronic copies are obtainable from SAFCEI (secretary@safcei.org.za) or the South African Council of Churches (tmm@sacc.org.za). We ask you to consider endorsing this and distributing it among your congregations.

Please let us know if you would like to receive prayers and outline sermons over the next few weeks.

With all good wishes as you seek to care for God’s creation.

Bishop Geoff Davies

Do Religion and Environmentalism Mix? Legal Planet: Environmental Law and Policy

Here's an interesting blog post that touches on the core of what SAFCEI is all about. Do Religion and Environmentalism Mix? Legal Planet: Environmental Law and Policy:

First, it seems to me that many of the crucial issues of modern environmentalism are not amenable to broad-based moral reasoning and intuition that religion can provide. Religious thinking has little to say about, for example, what is the appropriate amount of particulates that should be in the air, or whether climate change should be tackled by cap-and-trade, or a carbon tax, or command-and-control regulation.

Second, it concerns me to sugges that one cannot be a good Jew/Christian/Muslim/anything else and have a particular position on the environment. The environment is a political issue, and it should be. But that begins to move us toward a political test of religious commitment.

It's worth reading the whole thing.

That is a Jewish perspective -- do other perspectives differ? What about Christians? Buddhists? Muslims? Pagans?

Welcome to Rory Short

Welcome to Rory Short, who has kindly agreed to contribute to the SAFCEI blog.

Rory also has his own blog, Sustainable Communities, which is also worth reading.

I (Steve Hayes) started this blog about a year ago to try to demonstrate to SAFCEI members and the SAFCEI committee how blogs could enhance communication among SAFCEI members, and between SAFCEI and the outside world, but to be effective it needs to be a corporate effort. So thanks to Rory who has agreed to contribute -- you can see at the bottom of each post who contributed it, even if they didn't write it all.

My personal blogs Khanya and Notes from underground deal with more general topics, and not only the environment, but some may find something there to interest them.

It would be good to have two or three more contributors to the SAFCEI blog, preferably from different religious backgrounds. Rory is Quaker/Buddhist, and I am Orthodox Christian.

My other proposal to the SAFCEI committee was that we should start an interactive mailing list. Perhaps I can move on to that now that more people are beginning to participate in the blog.

in her own write

It seems as though people in Australia have had a similar idea to SAFCEI:

in her own write:

Four months ago a meeting was held in Melbourne with the purpose of establishing a multi-faith environmental organisation. I have never actually joined an environmental organisation before - but when I heard about this I was moved to action. You see, while I don't deny the science of climate change and I don't wish to ignore technology in finding solutions to problems, I am tired of the never-ending rationalism involved in the science, technology, economics and politics relating to climate change and environmental matters. My view is that human communities and the Creator of the planet need to be more clearly acknowledged in the debate.

From that very first meeting in July, GreenFaith Australia has been established and I have finished up its Secretary.

Call for Papers: Synchroblog on Christianity and the environment

A group of Christians from around the world are planning a "synchroblog" on Christianity and the Environment, which may be of particular interest to Christian members of SAFCEI.

The synchroblog is a monthly synchronised posting by a group of Christian (mostly) bloggers, who blog on the same general theme on the same day, with links to one other’s posts.

Anyone can join in, and if you would like to take part, just let Phil Wyman know a couple of days beforehand. He will need to know (1) Your name, (2) The URL of your blog and (3) the Title of your post. If you can give the URL for your actual synchroblog post, so much the better.

There is also a Synchroblog Mailing List. It is worth subscribing to it if you plan to participate regularly in the synchroblogs, since it is where we discuss what topic to have each month and when to actually post. If you want to see what synchroblog posts look like, click here for a list of previous synchroblog posts.

This post is a “Call for papers”, and not the actual synchroblog posting itself. When it is available, I’ll add the list of links to the posts below.

When you post, people in Australasia and east Asia should post on the evening of the 16th. People in Europe and Africa should post about midday, and people in the Americas should post in the morning. That should get things more or less synchronised.

I'm not sure how many members of SAFCEI have their own blogs (if any do, it would be nice to have links to them here) but I am sure that all will be welcome to participate in this month's synchroblog. Though most of the members of the synchroblog group are Christian, non-Christians have participated in the past, and I'm sure all bloggers who are SAFCEI members would be welcome to participate as well.

SAFCEI - members of management committee 2007

SAFCEI MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE 2007 - 2008

The following are the present members of the SAFCEI Management Committee.

NAME RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION

Bishop Geoff Davies Anglican/ SAFCEI Executive Director

Mr Peter G Just Buddhist

Mr John Clarke Roman Catholic

Rev Tim Gray Jhb Anglican Diocese/Anglican CSA Rep

Ms Grace Makhudu Anglican

Dr Dorie Moodley Hindu

Rev Andrew Warmback Anglican

Dr Mohamed S Karodia Council of Muslim Theologians

Rabbi Hillel Avidan S A Jewish Board of Deputies

Mr Shaun Cozett Anglican

Prof Ernst Conradie Uniting Reformed Church

Ms Kate Davies Anglican

Archbp Seraphim Kykkotis Greek Orthodox

Rev Pierre Naude Methodist Church of South Africa

Ms Tahirih Matthee Baha'i Faith

Rev Rully Notshe Uniting Presbyterian Church

Mr Madoda Mditshwa African Traditional Religion