MCC cuts programs in developing nations as virus slams budget

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This article was published 01/06/2020 (2311 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Mennonite Central Committee has been forced to cut programs by 25 per cent cut, or $8 million, in developing countries where its services are sorely needed.

“There is no question the cuts are related to the pandemic,” said MCC Canada executive director Rick Cober Bauman.

The cuts will affect programs in Africa, Asia and Europe, and result in some layoffs in Canada and the United States.

The organization, which has its Canadian headquarters in Winnipeg, will end programs in South Africa, Lesotho and Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) effective March 2021.

It will also end its program in Vietnam next year; MCC has been in that country since in 1954, when it provided emergency relief for families displaced during its civil war.

MCC will also end programming in China in 2021; it has been placing English teachers there since 1982.

In addition, MCC will streamline administration positions in Africa, Central America, the Middle East and Europe by reducing the number of area director positions. Altogether, 13 international program positions will be ended.

MCC has also cancelled its international visitor exchange program in Canada for a year. The program brings youth from the developing world for year-long service and learning experiences.

Cober Bauman acknowledged there were some “tough conversations” with local partners in the countries where programs will close, adding he knew the cuts would cause “some pain and hardships.”

He said the two main areas where the virus has hurt the organization most financially has been the closing of thrift shops and the cancellation of fundraising relief sales across the U.S. and Canada.

The thrift shops in Canada, which have been closed about two months, provide the organization with about $800,000 a month on average.

In Manitoba, its 16 thrift shops provide MCC with about $250,000 a month.

In Canada, the decline in revenue is resulting in staff taking a salary cut, reduced travel and staff training, some layoffs, and vacant positions that will go unfilled.

More layoffs could happen, Cober Bauman said, depending on “how deep and long the shortfall might be.”

Darryl Loewen, executive director of MCC’s Manitoba office, said as of yet, there has been no big impact on programs in the province.

One staffer has been laid off due to lack of activity in the area of refugee resettlement because of the pandemic, he said.

Sam’s Place, the organization’s social enterprise that runs a used bookstore and coffee shop on Henderson Highway in Winnipeg, was also temporarily closed. It has reopened for curbside food pickup, he said, noting it has “exceeded the modest goal they set for themselves.”

The cuts in international programs will affect one worker from Manitoba, who will return home from an assignment in China.

Donation levels are “close to normal,” Loewen said, adding MCC’s donors are “very committed.”

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