Mutual Support, International Transparency

The UEM as an international communion of churches is growing ever closer together. This development does not stop at administration.

 

In September of this year, the UEM introduced the unified financial system "Diamant", reaching an important milestone in internationalising its administration. In the past, all three regions used different systems. With the introduction of Diamant in Wuppertal in 2016, the first step towards global accounting had already been taken. Asia followed in 2018, and now Africa too. What is new is that the three accounting systems are fully synchronised and work together as one large department. "We were still two clients, so each office operated as a separate company, so to speak," explains Martina van Dyken, who planned and supported the transition as team leader. And the Africa region had its own system until recently.

 

Just now, the three UEM regions are actually working as one client in the same system: Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania, Pematangsiantar in Indonesia and Wuppertal in Germany are working together on "Diamant". This has its advantages: "We can now also deputise for each other in the event of illness and support each other when problems arise. This is immensely helpful in keeping things running even in stressful situations and preventing mountains of work being left undone," says van Dyken.

 

The UEM uses this system, for example, to pay wages to its employees, settle invoices and authorise travel expense reimbursements - all to ensure that the UEM's work in the three regions runs as smoothly as possible. The transition means that the expenditure of one regional office is also transparent for the others: this provides a quicker overview and avoids the need for regular enquiries.

 

UEM Executive Secretary Finance and Administration Timo Pauler emphasises: "It is also the case that payment transactions have now been regionalised. This means, for example, that project funding for our member churches is transferred from the accounts that have the best conditions overall, instead of payments always coming from Germany, as was previously the case. This is also important for our self-conception that we are not a German organisation, but an international one."

 

 

 

A lot of work - and a trip at the end

 

Farajika Sendoro (Dar es Salaam), Ira Sitorus (Pematang Siantar) and Martina van Dyken (Wuppertal) meet for a week in Dar es Salaam for this transition. They work late into the night on the new system, because tax law and health insurance are different in every country - so it is complicated to customise the system to the respective situation. But the long working days are not the only thing. On the last day, they go to Zanzibar Island together for a trip: "In hindsight, it was really good to do something different together as accountants," says van Dyken. Because: From now on, they work together internationally. When things get tough, they need a strong community.