When we visited our Jesuit partners in Nepal last year, we met several young women who were participating in training and further education at the Nepal Jesuit Social Institute (NJSI). They were full of hope and dreams for their communities.

Shristi, who joined NJSI while she was still pursuing her Master of Social Work degree, said that even as a young child, she wanted to be involved in her community. “I love doing things for people,” she told me. NJSI does much-needed work, Shristi said, citing its support for the underprivileged, especially among Nepal's Indigenous peoples.

Rina, an intern at NJSI who wants to become a social worker, spoke about the need to educate girls, noting that some in her community have been subjected to forced marriages and domestic violence.

I remembered Shristi and Rina when news came out about the 16^th World Social Forum (WSF) in Kathmandu in February. NJSI, a partner of CJI, was represented at WSF, which serves as a counterweight to the World Economic Forum, where the rich and powerful gather annually in the Swiss town of Davos (see page 5).

Shristi and Rina, like the WSF, embody service and action, and they represent the people that the forum stands for. The forum brings together thousands of people from social movements and civil society organizations who dare to imagine and pursue a just world where no one goes hungry, where the dignity of every person is respected, where there is peace, where everyone can enjoy their human rights and shape their own destiny.
The theme of this year’s forum, “Another World is Possible,” resonates strongly today and is what Shristi and Rina believe. As the forum notes in its opening statement, our world is facing “an unprecedented environmental crisis,” along with rising inequality, wars and conflicts, the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and the threat of a future one, and “escalating tensions between major powers,” among others. Two of our stories in this issue highlight how the climate crisis is displacing millions of already marginalized people. A series of devastating cyclones and droughts have forced hundreds of thousands to relocate in Malawi (see page 1), while extreme weather events are contributing to cross-border migration in Latin America (see page 3).

As members of a community of faith, the Gospel call to serve, especially those in need, is more important for us now than ever.