Aid agencies have to adopt a twin strategy to combat poverty, according to Michael Taylor, the outgoing director of Christian Aid, one of Britain's main church-sponsored development agencies. Mr Taylor believes that aid agencies must work to alleviate poverty and at the same time struggle to change the system.
Mr Taylor, who is leaving Christian Aid to become president, from next January, of the Selly Oak Colleges in Birmingham - a group of mainly church-related colleges, some with a missionary background - has been credited with making the organisation the "preeminent voice of radical Christianity".
In an interview with ENI conducted at Christian Aid's London headquarters, Mr Taylor described Christian Aid's approach to development as "walking on two legs".
"It is not enough simply to try to alleviate poverty on the ground," he said. "But nor is the struggle for system change enough. We have to give equal attention to both."
He referred to the late Mother Teresa's "magnificent contribution" for the destitute and dying in India, but added: "If she was to be criticised, it was for the way she met the immediate needs of the poor and the sick and the dying, but did little and said little about the social and political structures of the world which kept on making them poor and sick. She did not confront the principalities and powers.
"We must not make the opposite mistake, and be so busy with our political campaigns that we neglect to be compassionate here and now."
Christian Aid, which is the official relief and development agency of 40 British and Irish Churches, combines an extensive programme of grants in more than 65 countries with a vigorous campaigning approach to issues like Third World debt, unfair trade practices and reform of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
A 61-year-old Baptist minister, Mr Taylor is depressed at the persistence of poverty, but sees the present as in some ways a time of "fresh hope". The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, he suggested, were showing signs of softening the harshest aspects of structural adjustment programmes - which have been often criticised for leading to cutbacks in social programmes in developing countries - and public and official sentiment was swinging behind a campaign to write off unpayable Third World debt to mark the new millennium - a campaign in which Christian Aid and other church organisations are playing an important part.
Mr Taylor is pleased that Christian Aid is "seen as a front-runner in campaigns". One of the organisation's current campaigns thumps home the message that the UK's top 10 supermarkets make more money in a year than the world's 35 poorest countries combined. Shoppers are encouraged to switch to fair-trade products where the growers and producers have not been exploited.
The churches back Christian Aid with individual subscriptions and through support for the annual Christian Aid week, which raises funds for the agency through street collections and other activities. Christian Aid week alone supplied almost a quarter of the charity's 1995-96 gross income of 39.5 million pounds sterling (US$63.2 million). Overseas spending in 1993-94 included 18.9 million pounds on development projects, 11.4 million pounds on emergencies and 1.5 million pounds to support refugees.