Dear Members of the Salesian Family!

I am happy to share with you that thanks to the great openness of DBN members, General Council, Salesian Mission Offices and other Don Bosco institutions we are able to move forward with our cooperation for the good of the young people worldwide. Synergy between Salesian Family organizations in the field of Human Rights and Advocacy as well as Development Cooperation are good signs that as Don Bosco organizations we can work together to realize Don Bosco mission for young people in the present World. Our strength is in working together.

Social communication in modern world changes very fast and we need to adapt ourselves quickly. Our new website is a modern tool of safe exchange of information, learning experience, materials and resources; we present it at the service of Don Bosco organizations: NGOs, PDOs, Mission Offices worldwide. We encourage you to use it.Wishing you good rest during the summer months we join our prayers together with young people gathering in Cracow at the World Youth Day with the Holy Father at the end of July. The theme message of showing mercy and being at the service of the needy is very relevant to all of us.

Joanna Stożek

DBN President

Dear Friends,

While I greet you all once again from our Generalate in Rome, let me share with you some good news: Fr. George Menamparampil SDB has just joined our Missions Sector here at our world headquarters. As you know, he has been for the last seven years the Director of Bosconet in New Delhi. And not only: he has been the one initiating and establishing this fund raising arm of Don Bosco in South Asia. He has also played a key role in the Nepal assistance and reconstruction project. His successor in New Delhi now is Fr. Noel Maddhichetty SDB. At the centre of the Salesian Congregation, Fr. George will be the constant reference for everything linked to our Mission Offices all over the world. Certainly, the richness of his skills and experience will be a fruitful contribution for the whole Salesian Mission.

This new appointment is very meaningful for us all. First, because we confirm once again how much the “periphery” is contributing with high quality human resources for the development of the whole body and mission of Don Bosco. On the other side, we learn that when any institutional work is fulfilled with quality and with professionalism, at any time individuals can hand over their responsibilities to others, and the dynamism and efficiency of the institution does not fade at all!

In Don Bosco,

Fr. Guillermo Basañes SDB

Missions’ Councilor

DBN WORKING GROUPS MEETING

On the 7^th and 8^th of April 2016 Don Bosco Network members and G5 Mission Offices’ representatives met in Cracow Province Provincial House to discuss closer cooperation in the support to missionary field work. Common coordinated response to emergency situation expresses great solidarity of the Salesian organizations with population affected by natural disasters worldwide. We are happy to welcome the successful conclusion of the rehabilitation project of FIS province in the Philippines after the Typhoon Yolanda in November 2013; we shared information on the support to AFW province in their post-Ebola response; we exchanged current updates on the reconstruction program of INC province in Nepal after the earthquake in April last year; we discussed updates on the support to AET province providing food and water for people affected by severe drought in Ethiopia. In order to facilitate more efficient worldwide responses of Don Bosco organizations to the natural disasters DBN is working on detailed Emergency Response Protocol which will help affected provinces in potential future emergency reactions. PDO capacity building, DB Tech Africa and Development Education were discussed during the meeting as well.

NEW DBN WEBSITE

Don Bosco Network would like to launch new website www.donbosconetwork.org It combines regular DBN website with news and network information, current emergency reaction updates, advocacy corner, projects and volunteers data base, PDO platform with information on Provincial Development Offices and PDO capacity building tools, materials and resources. We encourage you all to visit our website and stay in-touch with DBN.

3rd ADVOCACY PLANNING MEETING OF THE SALESIAN FAMILY

On the 29^th of January 2016 Don Bosco Network and Don Bosco International hosted in Rome the third annual advocacy planning meeting of the Salesian Family. The meeting gathered 20 representatives of Don Bosco Network organizations (VIS – Italy, SWM – Poland, Via Don Bosco – Belgium, Jovenes y Desarrollo – Spain), representatives of the SDB General Council (Fr Guillermo Basañes and Fr Fabio Attard), Fr Thomas Brennan – SDB representative in the UN, Fr Joy Nedumparambil – the director of PDO in Bangalor province in India, as well as the representatives of the Mission Offices in Bonn and Madrid, Salesian Past Pupils, Salesians Cooperators and Don Bosco Youth-Net. At this planning meeting we worked on the common position of the Salesian Family organizations towards the United Nations 2030 development agenda on the Sustainable Development Goals. We agreed that following Don Bosco mission our focus is on the goal 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. As the meeting outcome selected working group will prepare a brief Salesian Family position document on the SDG for UN and other public institutions and second document helping Salesian communities and organizations to understand the SDG and the UN development agenda. The second theme of the meeting was addressing possible advocacy response in migrant and refugee crises. SDB communities and Salesian Family organizations effectively work with migrants and refugees in many countries worldwide including refugees from war turned Siria. The discussions and materials submitted for the meeting will help to prepare SDB position paper on working with migrants and refugees .

On the 28th of January 2016 Salesian Family organizations representatives had an ooportunity to attend Human Rights Based Approach training session facilitated by Barbara Terenzi from VIS and Fr Thomas Brennan.

DBN OFFICE PERSONNEL CHANGE

We would like to inform you that Kasia Dumanska DBN Secretary finished her work with Don Bosco Network at the end of April 2016. We are grateful to Kasia for her 4 years of hard work and dedication to DBN and we wish her success in her new job. Wojciech Mroczek DBN Coordinator will temporarily take over responsibilities of DBN Secretary, his contact is: mroczek@donbosconetwork.org