The ECLOF Slovakia National Credit Workshop, held this past January 27-31, has familiarised the new National ECLOF Committees in the region with the practices and policies of the ECLOF family.

Participants came from the recently recog-nised committees of ECLOF North West Russia and ECLOF Armenia, as well as ecu-menical partner agencies, the ECLOF Geneva Secretariat and, of course, ECLOF Slovakia.

It is especially noteworthy that an Apostolic bishop, Orthodox archpriest, Orthodox priest, Lutheran pastor and the General Secretary of the Ecumenical Council of Churches of the Slovak Republic, all National ECLOF Committees members, dedicated almost a week out of their busy schedules to familiarise themselves with how NECs can become agents of church and community development in their home communities.

Bishop Julius Filo, Chairperson of the Ecumenical Council of Churches in the Slovak Republic and General Bishop of the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Slovakia opened the work-shop. Bishop Filo pointed out how the previous government’s involvement in all aspects of people’s lives has created a sense of dependency among the population so that many now lack personal initiative. This has made many people shy away from taking the responsibility implicit in a loan and is reflected in the comparatively few loan applications ECLOF Slovakia has received.

As is often the case with ECLOF workshops, a project visit was a particularly memo-rable event. The Betania Association is an organisation of the Brethern Church in Slovakia which was formed to serve the dis-abled and marginalised groups of society. In Senec near Bratislava, the association runs a sheltered home for 15 young people with learning difficulties.

In 1997 it took out a loan of US$ 23,100 to build a workshop where the residents pro-duce different goods and souvenirs from leather, paper, wood and textiles. While seeking the loan, the association was forced to consider new sources of income to repay the loan. This process made them realise that they had resources they were not fully using.

As a result, the association began to take advantage of its location on a lake close to Bratislava to rent rooms to weekend visitors and also began to sell goods made in the workshop to the public. The loan is repay-ing well. However, the Betania Association believes changes in financial policies in Slovakia mean they will not be able to afford any further loans. Instead, they are sending a general appeal to friends and well wishers for financial support. During other project visits and from the first presentation of the workshop, the dif-ferences in living standards and ways in which the state assists church-es in the various participating countries quickly became apparent. The Slovak representatives pointed out that government payments to churches in their country total about US$10 million p.a. and cover the salaries of clergy and operational costs of the churches’ headquarters. The govern-ment has also returned church property, citizens enjoy full health care and home-lessness is almost non-existent.

This situation contrasts dramatically with North West Russia where massive unem-ployment has forced families to live on the streets and churches still do not legally own property. Armenia is yet another different situation where the heavy emphasis on sci-ence under Soviet times has collapsed and now scientists are having to learn how to farm to feed their families. This return to the land is also seen in the development of rural micro finance programmes in the country.

Representatives from the five ecumenical partner agencies also pointed out that half the population in Russia is living on US$1 per day. Because of these overwhelming needs, they asked that ECLOF cease its practice of requesting selective funding for Eastern Europe and, instead, integrate funding needs for this region with global General and Development Capital funds. As of now, the Eastern Europe Fund is pro-jected to receive approximately US$ 50,000 in 1999 and 2000. However, needs in North West Russia and Armenia alone are pro-jected to be US$400,000 and US$600,000 in those same years. Unless contributions increase dramatically, ECLOF will not be able to meet the capital requirements of the new NECs who need funds in order to respond to the dire economic conditions in their countries.

The presence of ecumenical partner agen-cies at the Slovakia workshop was an important opportunity for ECLOF to share with them details of its work in Eastern Europe, and highlighted the close working relationship ECLOF has with its partners and the willingness of both parties to work together in many ways. Both ECLOF Slovakia and ECLOF Armenia, for exam-ple, were born out of the partner agency and the WCC-funded Roundtable activities in their respective countries. There was gen-eral agreement that all parties benefited from working together and that there was a need to raise the awareness of people around the world to the deep poverty many in Eastern Europe are facing.

Many members of the ECLOF family expressed special wishes during the work-shop for the success of the new ECLOF com-mittees in Slovakia, Armenia and North West Russia. Bishop Hayk Churjian of Armenia said he hoped ECLOF Armenia would prosper. He felt ECLOF would be able to help members of his community to grow, and as they grow they will help the church to grow. It seems the Bishop had understood fundamental aspects of ECLOF even before participating in the workshop. The workshop also provided a useful forum for members of the three new NEC boards to review their policies and strategies to help establish effective lending institutions in their respective countries. Indeed, mem-bers of one committee decided to fully review their lending policy before submit-ting new loan applications. All members were asked to share their experiences with committee members not present at the workshop so that the information learned would benefit the whole membership of each NEC.