HYDERABAD: 11-11-11 -- Many people, not the least the
key organisers of the Project and Development (PDO) Seminar
held at the Provincial House in Hyderabad, India, have
expressed satisfaction at the proceedings and their outcome.
This was the second such international PDO meeting, the
first having been held in 2005 under the then leadership of
Fr Alencherry.
PDO is something of a neologism
in Salesian terminology, and is to be distinguished
from a Mission office or simple Project office, though with
more than three quarters of Salesian Provinces represented
in Hyderabad this time, just about every version of whatever
is to do with this kind of entity was present. The prime
purpose of the just concluded meeting was to draw up a
roadmap that would take the PDO notion and structure forward
and insert it more solidly into the normal operation of a
Province. Indeed the meeting went as far as to propose that
the upcoming GC27 introduce a new article or at least an
adjusted article into the Regulations to 'formalise' things
more in this regard.
EAO was well represented, not only in
numbers but in contribution. Six of the circumscriptions of
the Region were represented (Bro Michael Lynch from
Australia-Pacific, Fr Gregory Bicomong and MS Rona Palma
from Philippines North, Fr George Militante and Ms Leah
Samson from South Philipinnes, Fr Bodi and Fr Do Carmo from
Indonesia and East Timor, Frs Saw and Mynt Aung from
Myanmar, and Frs Tuan and Pham Ba Hung from Vietnam.
Interestingly enough Leah was the only woman in the group
and was among the six members of the steering group for the
seminar. Fr George Militante and Yohannes Boedi
probably share the distinction of being the only Provincials
or Delegates to be heading up a PDO in their province! In
the case of Indonesia Fr Boedi was previously Provincial
Economer, and so was Fr Militante for that matter, but FIS
had already made a decision to shift responsibility for
overseeing PDO operations to provincial level rather than by
the Economer.
A significant group (27) of
'resource persons' from mission offices, NGOs, and from the
Missions, Finance and Youth Ministry Departments in Rome was
also present.
Given the rocky road that one or two very
well-known 'roadmaps' have had in recent political history,
and given the financial crises afflicting entire nations if
not the world economic structure as a whole, the Hyderabad
PDO Roadmap is a brave move forward, but one which builds on
the recognised evolution of the PDO notion over the six
years since it was launched at the first meeting in Rome.
The Hyderabad meeting has gone out of its way, however, to
stress that PDO is not only nor mainly about money - it is a
structure intended to enhance Salesian education and
evangelisation, of course something that needs money but the
PDO also "serves as a link, a bridge, between the
consecrated Salesians and civil society in the work of
promoting youth development and empowerment, justice, and
holistic human development". That is a much broader task
than just fund-raising!
Also, and as a final comment, this writer
could not but be pleased to note the attention given to an
issue that is now constantly emerging at every level in the
Congregation: "f) We encourage the PDO to understand and use
properly the Salesian terminology as provided in the website
(http://www.sdb.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php)".
