Jubilee Oregon/Jubilee Zambia

Jubilee Oregon/Jubilee Zambia DVD

Partnership Agreement
 

Almost 10 years ago, 70,000 people gathered in Birmingham to break the chains of debt once and for all. They held hands to make a human chain - representing the millions of people around the world enslaved by the debt burden carried by their countries.

Since then some of this reality has changed - 28 countries have received over $100 billion in debt cancellation and the Jubilee movement has grown to be a presence in over 80 countries. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPC) and five years before the Millennium Development Goals deadline to halve global poverty. It is again time to sound the trumpet of global Jubilee - debt cancellation and right relationships between nations.

By: Moono P. Ndombe, Team Facilitator - Monze

Hello all, allow me to share some of my experiences and encounters in carrying out Jubilee work. 

Well let me start by sharing this funny experience, we once arranged a forum in 1996 where our strategy was to begin by having the women from two Wards in one Chiefdom debate on debt issues before sensitization. These were picked from

the grassroots so that we could assess how much they knew or understood about the debt situation at their level.  This was also to inform us on the impact of the Radio Programs that we were periodically conducting; if at all the targeted

By: Phoebe Moono, Facilitator, Monze Outreach Program, Monze Zambia

Written: November 2008

Sometime in the year 2000, I was approached by one Jubilee Monze member, Emily Ng’andu to sign a petition demanding for total cancellation of Zambia’s external debt.  I was reluctant to do so, more out of lack of understanding than anything else.  Of course I had heard of Jubilee 2000 but that did not mean anything to me.  In the end I signed even though she did not explain to me what it was all about.  At that time for me there was no link between Jubilee and JCTR.   All I knew of “Jesuits” was that they were a congregation at Chikuni running Canicius High School! Well ... enough.

Blog post – Brie Freeman

Throughout my time studying Haiti’s debt history, discussing issues of international debt with our community partners, and attending the “Ending Global Poverty” capstone class, I have come to realize the importance of two things.  

First is the importance of responsible lending from both the lending and borrowing side. This includes, but is certainly not limited to, checks and balances within public finance to ensure that no one government official has too much power in making borrowing decisions independent of the citizen’s wishes. The lending side refers to bilateral lenders, such as individual countries, or international financial institutions. The importance of proper regulations around lending cannot be overstated. There are several countries that have acquired debt under self-interested dictators and the citizens have been the ones left to pay the bill.   

Secondly, governance issues such as transparency and accountability on the side of the borrowing government have surfaced many times during our class discussions. This is closely related to the issue of checks and balances within public finance listed above. Without proper government transparency, accountability is nearly impossible to achieve. In other words, if governments are not making their actions transparent, which then allow citizens the proper knowledge needed to be informed activists, citizens have little possibility of holding their government accountable.