Interview with Rev. Dr. Karin Achtelstetter, Executive Director of CLWR

As we commemorated World Humanitarian Day just a few days ago, we wanted to profile one of our members who has had a long experience working in humanitarian assistance around the world. In this edition of Spotlight on our Members, we spoke with Rev. Dr. Karin Achtelstetter to learn more about the work of Canadian Lutheran World Relief.

CCIC: What do you think other organizations can learn from CLWR’s work?

Karin Achtelstetter: Next year is our 75^th year responding to disaster, conflict and injustice around the world, and we’ve learned a lot in that time. But I think the most important thing isn’t what we’ve already learned—it’s that we’re still learning. That posture is critically important in our sector.

I’m proud that we’re continuing to grow as we learn from the local organizations we partner with around the world, as we learn from the people our projects serve, and as we learn from our colleagues in this work through networks like CCIC. One of the ways that learning has shaped us the most is in the way we respond to the global refugee crisis – everything from emergency humanitarian assistance to long-term development support to refugee resettlement in Canada.

CCIC: Since World Humanitarian Day was only a few days ago, could you share how CLWR works to address the humanitarian-development nexus and to address both short-term needs as well as long-term sustainable development?

KA: Our story as an organization begins with displacement, with help given to refugees of war back in 1946, and we’ve grown to an organization that focuses on a holistic response to displacement, forced migration, and food insecurity.

Much of our humanitarian assistance work around the world continues to focus on internally displaced people (IDPs) and refugees in places like Ethiopia, Uganda, DRC, South Sudan, Jordan, and Myanmar. Approaching this work from a human rights-based perspective means that we must not only pay attention to meeting short-term needs, but also address the ongoing barriers to advancing human rights and improving quality of life.

So, in a place like Myanmar where so many Rohingya have been displaced, we’re working with women and girls in IDP camps to provide basic language, literacy and leadership skills so that they can take a more active role in community decision-making processes and accessing services. With a view to the future, these skills will also prepare them for future resettlement as it will allow for increased interactions with their ethnic Rakhine neighbours.

CCIC: CLWR have designated young adult board members. How do you perceive the role of young people in your work and how has your board been influenced by those young adult members?

KA: Young people aren’t just the future of our work – they’re our present. We’re so proud that as our founding generation passes the torch, there are so many young Canadians who are so committed to challenging injustice.

Youth engagement can’t just be a way to try to convince young people to donate, because they want and deserve more than that. We need their perspectives and we need them to challenge us as an organization to be the best we can. Their voice is so valuable, so a board without young adult board members is unthinkable for CLWR. Young adult board members very often bring new perspectives to critical discussions about our work and future, and they make sure we’re linked to their communities and hearing those voices we need.

CCIC: We are proud to have CLWR among our membership. What does CLWR value about its membership with CCIC and how would you like to see this relationship grow in the future?

KA: CLWR really values its engagement in various CCIC working groups including the Food Security Policy Group, the Humanitarian Response Network, and the Humanitarian Policy and Advocacy Group. Having the chance to network, learn, and advocate with other CCIC members on relevant issues strengthens our ability to carry out our mission and provide quality programming. As a primarily Winnipeg based organization, we are excited by CCIC’s recent efforts to provide more opportunities to members outside of Ottawa/Toronto and would like to see this continue to grow.

For this edition of Spotlight on our Members, we met with the Heather Shapter who was just recently named Executive Director of Crossroads international, a leading Canadian volunteer cooperation agency advancing equality for women and girls and eradicating poverty in some of the world’s poorest countries in Africa and South America.

CCIC: Congratulations on your new role as the Executive Director of Crossroads international!  What are you most looking forward to working on in your new position with Crossroads International?

Heather Shapter: I am looking forward to so much! It is such an honour to be joining an organization that has been fighting inequality in some of the world’s poorest countries for 60 years! I am excited to be joining arm and arm with an extraordinary cadre of professional and passionate staff, volunteers, partner organizations and funders to create decent jobs and to empower women to become leaders and live free from violence.

CCIC: What are some of your biggest takeaways from Women Deliver and how do you see those inspiring and informing the work of Crossroads International?

HS:  I was so moved by demonstration after demonstration of outstanding leadership of young women from around the world. One young Zambian woman named Natasha Kaoma, for example, talked of how when she was a teenager, she really wanted to empower other young girls to address the barriers around menstruation and going to school. In college, she said that she asked her friends to give her any amount of money they could so she could start to make a difference. They gave her 30 cents, 50 cents – until she had collected $300. She used that money to bring together adolescent girls, to listen to their concerns and to let them know something different was possible.

A few years later Natasha and her team were reaching 30,000 girls with menstruation hygiene management awareness and training. 30,000!  This really had me look to see the limits of my own thinking around what it takes to scale programs. I will be bringing ongoing inquiry to Crossroads so together, with our partners, we can look newly at a bold pathway forward to realize the organization’s vision of ONE WORLD where poverty is eliminated, equality prevails, and the rights of women and girls are fulfilled.

 CCIC: Crossroads is a proud signatory of CCIC’s Leader’s Pledge on Preventing and Addressing Sexual Misconduct with a webpage dedicated to the organization’s ethics.  What advice do you have for other NGOs as the sector seeks to better address power imbalances and sexual misconduct, abuse and exploitation? What is Crossroads doing in this regard?

HS: Crossroads has committed to addressing the risks and realities of sexual violence by engaging its stakeholders, including personnel, partners, volunteers, and beneficiaries in strategies which support active bystander response, are survivor-focused and reinforce the message that sexual violence prevention is everyone’s responsibility.  Crossroads’ believes that the societal power imbalances which foster sexual misconduct, abuse and exploitation are best addressed through collaborative, multi-stakeholder approaches which aim to recognize, address and transform power imbalances, across the NGO sector and beyond.

CCIC: Crossroads International is a valued member of CCIC.  Could you comment on what your CCIC membership has meant to Crossroads and share how you would like to see this relationship grow in the future?

HS: Crossroads is proud to have been a long-standing member of CCIC and I am very excited to be leading our organization into the next chapter of collaboration with CCIC’s members.  At Women Deliver, Minister Monsef acknowledged the Canadian INGO sector for breaking down the silos between our organizations to come together with a compelling case to the Canadian government that resulted in the historic funding announcements made for women and girls’ empowerment. Clearly, the future that the Feminist International Assistance Policy and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) represent is not going to be accomplished by any single entity. CCIC is a critical collective agent through which Crossroads is very excited about expanding its engagement with its respected NGO colleagues.