New safeguarding policy for Central Africa Province launched

From 26 to 31 January 2026, the safeguarding delegates of the Central Africa Province (PAC) met at the Lavigerie Missionary Centre (CML) in Kigali, Rwanda. During this meeting, the Vice-Provincial and the Provincial Coordinator for Protection moderated the proceedings. The agenda included: the welcome of participants and their formal introduction; the reading of the minutes of the 2025 meeting held in Bujumbura, Burundi; and the sharing of experiences by the various sector safeguarding delegates.

On this occasion, the Society’s Coordinator on Integrity in Ministry, Lowrent Kamwaza, delivered an online conference recalling the duties and responsibilities of the safeguarding delegates. Furthermore, during this meeting, we officially launched the new safeguarding policy for the province of PAC entitled: “Prevent and Protect: The Policy of the Missionaries of Africa in the Central Africa Province (PAC) for the Prevention of Abuse and the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Persons.” This policy is the fruit of a broad consultation among the confreres of the Province (PAC), a process that reached its culmination during the safeguarding session organized by the General Council for the confreres of the PAC engaged in safeguarding, in February 2025 in Bujumbura, Burundi.

We thank the Provincial of the PAC for the promulgation of this policy, which is so important for the safeguarding ministry within the province. For the dissemination of this policy, responsibility has been entrusted to each sector safeguarding delegate, who must first explain it to the confreres of his sector before its distribution.

The meeting concluded with a ray of hope and the conviction that safeguarding is, and must remain, everyone’s responsibility. Together, we can banish the phenomenon of abuse from within our pastoral places.

By: Arsene Somda, M.Afr.
Coordinateur Provincial à la Protection de la PAC