Berkley Center

Background: As part of the Education and Social Justice Project, in May 2018 undergraduate student Brittany Fried interviewed Geoffrey Chongo, head of programs for the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR). In this interview, Chongo discusses JCTR's primary programs and identity as a faith-based organization. 

JCTR is a faith-based civil society organization owned by Jesuit priests, which was formed in 1988 at the height of serious economic hardships. If you look back at Zambia, we had a time when the decline in our economy was very serious. We had a lot of inflation and our external debt was higher than our GDP. This meant that the government had to allocate a lot of resources away from the social sector. The economy was in serious decline, so Jesuits felt they needed a social center to inform their advocacy in terms of promoting social justice.

So this is how this center was formed. It started in a bedroom of one priest. It was just writing a bulletin which addressed issues that people were struggling with such as cholera or unemployment. The bulletin became very popular and was published until in the early 1990s when the issue of debt cancellation became so hot. Many people felt that Zambia was not going to be able to pay without suffering a lot of costs as a nation. So there was this movement to advocate for debt cancellation. JCTR hosted that movement in Zambia. Eventually the debt was cancelled, so we had to broaden our focus area to include issues like the cost of living. For that program, the focus is monitoring the cost of living using a tool called the Basic Needs Basket. It is very popular—some people just know us for that; they don’t think we do other things.

The Basic Needs Basket is the first thing that comes up when you search JCTR.

Exactly. It’s very popular, even with government. Actually, a number of policies like minimum wage are linked to our basket. Quite a number of social protection programs the government does are linked to the cost of living. But other than that, we also focus on public finance management; we work on the budget. We look at communities’ participation in the budget and identify priority areas where budget resources should go. 

We also analyze the auditor general’s report, a report which reviews how public funds are mismanaged. We analyze it and use it to engage with government and various stakeholders. We also have a small focus on agriculture. As you may be aware, agriculture plays a very big role in our economy. It’s the biggest sector in terms of employment. Most of our people, especially in rural areas, work in agriculture. And yet, there’s just so many things going wrong in the agriculture sector. We work at [the] policy level trying to influence policy so that the resources going to agriculture reach the intended target. So that’s one program, called the Social and Economic Justice. Generally, it looks at economic equity.

Then, we have another program, the program called Faith and Justice. As much as we are a NGO, I think we are different from other NGOs because of our value aspect. We are not just another NGO. We are working shaped by Church social teaching values, the concepts of human dignity, the concept of identifying ourselves with the poor, the concept of social justice in general. We might talk about poverty like anyone else, but our motivation is the fact that we are all made in the image of God. We all deserve a dignified life. The Faith and Justice program promotes those values. They try as much as possible to education our leaders and our communities. The program tries to put human life at the center of any development or governance.

The program also focuses on climate change. As you might be aware, climate change is a topical issue not just in developed countries, but in developing countries like Zambia as well. Recently, we suffered greatly from the effects of global warming. We’ve had floods and in earlier years experienced drought. It has been chaotic. And yet, in terms of mitigating measures, we haven’t been very active. 

The Pope released a letter on climate change. That letter is what has informed our work on climate change. So there we are looking at solid waste management and sensitizing communities to take care of the waste they are generating. We are going to schools, sensitizing people, and also working with the government to ensure that we have legislation that helps us as a country on how we manage waste. Zambia being a growing economy, there is a lot of generation of solid waste. Yet, we don’t have good ways of managing it. So you find our streets are blocked. When the rains come, you have floods and diseases like cholera and malaria. We are trying to help sensitize communities on how we can be responsible. Yes, we need a growing economy. But I think the waste we are generating must be taken are of.

Then, Faith and Justice also focuses on governance issues like the constitution. We Zambians have been in constitution making and constitutional revision for a very long time. You’ll find certain issues that we can’t make headway with because they’re constitutional issues and the constitution hasn’t been concluded. Last year, the constitution was amended. Even after that there are certain pieces of legislation that are not in tandem with the constitution. 

For example, there’s a piece of legislation called the Public Order Act which restricts public engagement. So you find that the Public Order Act is applied unfairly, particularly during an election year. For instance, the police use the Public Order Act to stop the opposition from gathering, campaigning, and enjoying their right of association and assembly. And yet, for the ruling party, because they are in power, that piece is legislation that is allowing them to do everything. So we’re working with the police and other stakeholders to see how that piece of legislation can be amended so that the playing field is leveled. 

The program also focuses on access to information. Access to Information is a legislation that allows us to hold our government to account. Without information, we can’t get to know what is going on in government. We have two core programs: the Faith and Justice program and the Social and Economic Development program. One program is dealing with governance issues, and the other program is dealing with economic and social issues. At the community level we mostly do awareness-raising on specific issues. We also audit government projects. Maybe community members might see here is a hospital that has been under construction forever. Money is put in, but the project is not coming to completion. So community members will use a systematic way to engage with leaders to understand why is it the project hasn’t been completed. We have those people at the local level who help us implement those activities. There are also certain national processes like budget formulation. When the government is formulating a budget, they want community members to participate. Thus, our groups will organize people to participate in governance processes like the budget. 

When you outsource the research, is that usually also to Catholic organizations, or Jesuit organizations, or is it to whoever can provide the resource skills?

Generally, it’s whoever can provide the information we are looking for. But of course, we have a bias. If you want to produce a document about Church social teachings, you will have a bias for somebody with a background in Church social teachings. For instance, Faith and Justice will be producing a documentary. It’s a documentary on economic, social, and cultural rights to capture reality in terms of people’s access to health and education. So, we advertised the documentary, and a Jesuit institution called Loyola showed interest. We sat down and asked: "Okay, who are we going to pick here?" Of course, Loyola is quoting us higher than the others. However, we have this bias to engage them further and say “Can you reduce your budget so we are able to meet each other? Because we know you will capture the issues better than others because we have similar backgrounds. You will understand us better.” 

You work with a lot of different government-related institutions, both internationally and domestically. Do you find that it is beneficial or detrimental to be a faith-based organization? Does that impact how you work with these government entities?

No, our identity as a faith-based organization does not impact our work with these government entities. I think that the government entities trust us more than they would trust others. Also, the quality of our work—because of our commitment to the values that we hold—maybe is higher than the quality from other organizations. So, to answer your question, our status as a faith-based organization has not been detrimental to our work.

On a more personal side, have you noticed any way that your own faith has been developed through working for JCTR?

That’s a very interesting question. By the way, I’m not Catholic; I’m Protestant. I’ve really been challenged. My faith has been challenged, particular at the level of dedication to the cause of justice for others. My faith has been challenged in terms of simplicity in the world. 

Probably I’m more conscious to the needs of others than I would have been if I was working in a secular institution. I’ve worked before in a secular institution and the government, where your targets are not directly attached to changing someone’s life. I worked collecting taxes in government. Your goal is to meet the target for collecting a certain amount of money for the quartile or the year. You don’t care how the money is being used or whether it’s ending up in someone’s pocket. That’s none of your business. But here at JCTR, you work on a policy, monitor a project, and the project is implemented. A pregnant mother is able to go to a hospital that you pushed for. You see the smiles on the faces of people. It’s more fulfilling than just making money. So personally, it has been an awesome period.

For this project, I’m especially looking at that intersection of education and social justice. Can you speak more to your main avenues of education?

We normally use workshops where we invite strategic people on the issue that we want to sensitize people on. Sometimes we make them public forums where the invitation is open to everyone. Then we also use radio programs. Mostly when we go to an area, we speak to people in-person and also have a radio program. We normally make it a phone-in program where people can interact. We talk about an issue and then leave space to allow people to ask questions and make contributions. We also use television and publications such as  policy briefs and a quarterly magazine. Sometimes, we have to translate materials to local languages depending on the issue and the audience. In some rural areas, people may not be able to appreciate English. In addition, we have an active Facebook account and social media.