The Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Northern federal state of Schleswig-Holstein together with the environmental and energy policy department have decided to work closely on matters pertaining climate change, energy policy and fair trade in Kenya and Tanzania.
Gerhard Ulrich, the Evangelical Lutheran Church bishop and Robert Habeck, the Minister of energy, agreed to advance projects for sustainable agriculture and water supply in the East African partner churches in Tanzania and Kenya. It has been planned to bring together experts from these African countries and Schleswig-Holstein so as to make concrete plans.
Robert Habeck said that, “Germany has a lot of expertise in renewable energy, water supply and agriculture. And since Schleswig-Holstein has a strong tradition of church development cooperation with Africa, we want to continue working together sharing experiences and expertise. I am pleased to take this step together with the church in tackling the questions about how we should use our resources in a responsible manner.”
Bishop Ulrich also added that, “The church is happy to fulfil this agreement, which will enable a large network in the ecumenical cooperation between Schleswig -Holstein and our partners in East Africa. For the future, we would like to share responsibility for climate protection and managing sustainable development. We are going to commit ourselves to having many projects that will foster global peace for the future generations.”
The bishop Gerhard Ulrich and Minister Robert Habeck went ahead and signed a joint agreement, whose main focus is to be climate, energy and fair trade.
The Lutheran church and the partner countries are to work together through global learning and education for sustainable development (ESD). This agreement will be sustained by the annual working meetings of the partners, mutual information sharing and developing joint projects such as professional meetings or campaigns Other partners in the collaboration are the Social Service Agency of Schleswig-Holstein and the Center for Mission and Ecumenism.
You can check out what the church is already doing in the area at: Nordkirche in Kenia