Encouraging self reliance

Contribute to the work of Caritas — You can make change happen

Caritas Australia supports long-term development programs in impoverished communities in Africa, Asia, East Timor, Latin America and the Pacific which help oppressed people to rediscover their dignity by taking greater control over their lives.

Caritas Australia also gives support to community development projects in Indigenous communities in Australia.

Planting crops in East Timor.

A man in Cambodia. Photo credit: Sean Sprague.

Three generations of one family in Tanzania.

These development programs are designed and managed by our local partners, as local agencies are best placed to identify the needs and problems of their own communities.  As an agency, Caritas Australia maintains a commitment to achieving the the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) through its projects.  These eight goals are a global blueprint for breaking the chains of poverty.  Although significant progress has been made on the goals, there are still one billion people living on less than US$1 per day, and more than 820 million people going to bed hungry every single night.  The international community must act now to ensure the MDGs are met by 2015.

Our development programs take many forms including: healthcare and health education, water supply and sanitation, housing, education and literacy, programs for women's rights and women's leadership, the development of community leadership, the teaching of job skills and skills for alternative income, agriculture, ecologically sustainable development and environment education, promotion of traditional cultures and skills, assistance to communities after natural disasters and conflicts and housing support for refugees and displaced people.

Find out where and how Caritas Australia is encouraging self-reliance:

• Africa
• Asia
• East Timor
• Latin America
• Pacific
• Australian Indigenous communities
  
  

Global programs
In 2009–10 Caritas Australia is supporting the following global programs, funding for these programs totals AUD $125,000:

• Climate Change Initiative
• Protection
• Disaster response management; and Staff development & partner capacity building program (Australia, Asia-Pacific and Africa)