FOCSIV - Federazione Organismi Cristiani Servizio Internazionale Volontario atau Federasi non Governmental (NGO) Organisasi Kristiani untuk Pelayanan Relawan Internasional di Italia sejak 1972 bekerja sama dengan warga belahan bumi utara dan selatan memajukan budaya
universal, dengan semangat untuk menghilangkan sebab2 struktural dari kemiskinan dan keterbelakangan, memperjuangkan pengakuan akan martabat dan hak-hak dasar setiap manusia, dan membangun jembatan solidaritas antara Belahan Selatan dan Utara.
Hingga hari ini Federasi terdiri dari 65 organisasi, dengan 7.624 anggota, 490 kelompok penunjang di Italia dengan lebih dari 60,000 orang, baik anggota mapun pendukung.
Sebanyak lebih dari 1,000 relawan expatriat dan 6,000 pekerja lokal terlibat dalam 660 proyek pembangunan. Dari Italia 5,000 relawan lebih bekerja sama mengembangkan prakarsa di negara-negara sedang berkembang.
Tiga puluh tahun membantu kaum miskin di seluruh dunia, tiga puluh tahun komitmen pada pembangunan dan keadilan sosial, tiga puluh tahun International Voluntary Service, dengan lebih dari 14,000 relawan internasional tersebar di Belahan Selatan, memberikan sumbangan kemanusiaan secara pribadi dan profesional kepada sesama yang miskin, masing2 setidaknya melakukan pelayanan dua tahun.
FOCSIV berstatus special consultative pada ECOSOC (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs) sejak 2004, dan menjadi poros program UNV (United Nation Volunteers) untuk Italia sejak 1997 dan sejak 2010 menjadi pengamat IOM (International Organization for Migration).
Tujuan FOCSIV
- Memajukan kegiatan relawan internasional sebagai sumber khusus untuk pengembangan manusia dalam rangka kemitraan dengan penduduk setempat
- Ikut memajukan pertumbuhan Organisasi Anggota, dan mewakili mereka baik secara nasional maupun internasional
- Memberi kontribusi pada keadilan sosial bagi semua dan melenyapkan sebab-sebab kesenjangan demi dunia yang lebih merata dan memajukan pembangunan yang berkelanjutan melalui lobbying dan diskusi dengan lembaga publik dan swasta
Pada 14 November 2022 FOCSIV merayakan ulang tahun ke-50 dan berkunjung kepada Paus Fransiskus di Vatikan. Dan Paus mengajak mereka meneguhkan ketiga tujuan mereka.
"Thank you for what you do, and
for how you do it! You are a good sign of the Mother-Church that generates hope in a world inured
to the outrages of hunger and wars. Your witness is a concrete response to those who no longer
believe in a possible peace. Indeed, by your commitment you demonstrate that every small daily
fragment can build the great mosaic of brotherhood.
We want a world of solidarity, where everyone feels welcome and is not forced to give up their
dreams. This is not just a simple wish, but a very precise intent, which one of your mottos
expresses as follows: “A world to be built together, with respect for creation, in which every person s fulfilled in full dignity!” It is a very timely message at this historic moment: the shadow of a third
world war looms over the destiny of entire nations, with terrible consequences for people. I am
thinking, in particular, of the elderly, women, and children. What future are we building for the new
generations? This is a question that should always accompany decisions at international level.
Today, therefore, taking up the cry of the many voiceless to whom your organizations are close, I
would like to reflect with you on three objectives that concern us all.
The first has to do with your being volunteers in the world. What does that mean today? It seems
to be a decisive and courageous signal of openness, of availability towards one’s neighbour, be
they near or far. Because the outlook beyond borders becomes a predisposition of the heart to the
encounter with the “neighbour”, a witness of love for humanity. Voluntary work is based on a deeprooted attitude of solidarity, and we all know how much poverty, injustice and violence are present
in every continent. Well, FOCSIV demonstrates that we can be “fratelli tutti”, all brothers and
sisters, embracing every human being that the Lord places on the paths of our lives. Today “we
have a great opportunity to express our innate sense of fraternity, to be Good Samaritans who
bear the pain of other people’s troubles rather than fomenting greater hatred and resentment”
(Fratelli tutti, 77). In this way, Gospel teaching becomes daily life. And it is an invitation without
exclusion; brothers all in humanity and in love.
A second objective regards peace, which we see is wounded, trampled on in Ukraine and in many
other places on the planet. When peace is lacking, when the “reasons” of fore prevail, people
suffer, families are torn apart, and the most fragile are left alone. For months we have been seeing
images of destruction, of death. Peace in justice is a necessary condition for a dignified life, to
build together a better future. You, volunteers of FOCSIV, are required to nurture peace in your
hearts and to share it with everyone you meet in your service. It is the most important gift you can
take with you, wherever you go, because “the world does not need empty words but convinced
witnesses, peacemakers who are open to a dialogue that rejects exclusion or manipulation”
(Message for the 53rd World Day of Peace, 1 January 2020).
Finally, a third objective is development. Every person, every people, needs the basic conditions
for a dignified life; besides peace, shelter, healthcare, education, work, dialogue and mutual
respect between cultures and faiths. Human promotion remains a commitment to which we must
devote ourselves with willingness, vigour, creativity and the appropriate tools. Only an integral
development – of the person and the contest in which he or she lives – enables the fulfilment of a
good life, both personal and social, serene and open to the future. But think of how many young
people are forced today to leave their homeland in search of a dignified existence; of how many
men, women and children face inhuman journeys and violence of every type, in search of a better
future; of how many continue to die on the routes of desperation, while we discuss their destiny or
turn away! Forced migrations – to flee from wars, hunger, persecution or climate changes – are
one of the great evils of this age, we will only be able to tackle at its root by ensuring real
development in every country. And you, volunteers of FOCSIV, are also committed to this.
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Dear friends, in these fifty years you have been weavers of peace and artisans of charity and
development. I encourage you to continue, on the paths of the world, taking care of your brothers
and sisters, like the good Samaritan did, aware that “we cannot be indifferent to suffering; we
cannot allow anyone to go through life as an outcast” (Fratelli tutti, 68). Do not let yourselves be
discouraged by difficulties or by disappointments, but trust in the Lord, who who is both rock and
tenderness. I entrust each of you and all the members of your organizations to the protection of
the Virgin Mary. With all my heart, I bless you. And I ask you to please pray for me. Thank you!"
