Caritas SED Galle, the Social and Economic Development Center, is the local Caritas Diocesan center and has been working in the Southern Province for over 30 years. Prior to 1995, The Galle Diocese was joined with Ratnapura. Throughout its history, Caritas SED-Galle has been guided by the following working principles.

• Working with the poorest and most vulnerable groups irrespective of race, caste, and religion.

• Developing and strengthening community organizations.

• Empowering people and communities.

• Building social and technical capacity; and

• Ensuring sustainability through cost sharing and community inputs.

Incorporating these values into its work, the Caritas mission advocates that marginalized and voiceless sectors in the Diocese of Galle will be organized and empowered to make decisions for their own destinies. Caritas SED-Galle's history of work in the country, which began with its peace-building program, has grown to symbolize a diverse people with common values dedicated to uniting together for the development of the nation as a whole. It is this universal purpose that has formed the foundation of Caritas SED-Galle's vision and mission statements.

Since the tsunami, Caritas SED-Galle has reinforced the capacity of its offices in Galle, Matara and Hambantota to respond to emergency, rehabilitation and development needs of the tsunami-affected. Caritas SED-Galle currently employs over 163 staff in its offices. 

Caritas SED Galle, The Social and Economic Development Center, is the Caritas Diocesan center for Southern Province, working in collaboration with Caritas Sri Lanka.  Caritas SED Galle is registered as a charitable organization working under the Catholic Bishop's Conference of Sri Lanka and authorized under a Special Act of Parliament (Act No. 17 of 1983).  Caritas SED Galle has been active in Galle Diocese covering all of Southern Province for over 30 years.  Caritas SED Galle is working throughout Southern Province with offices in Galle, Matara, and Hambantota and employed over 225 persons, mainly in tsunami rehabilitation projects. Rt. Rev. Dr. Harold Anthony Perera was appointed as the Bishop of the Diocese of Galle in March 2005. Rev. Fr. Damian Arsakularatne was appointed as a Assistant Director in April 2005 and succeeded as the director of Caritas SED Galle in March 2006 after Rev. Fr. Herman Fernando.

Caritas SED Galle’s tsunami relief and rehabilitation programs have taken particular prominence since December 26, 2004.  Caritas SED Galle is working closely with Caritas Sri Lanka with the support of Caritas Internationalis (CI), to develop an integrated program which addresses the physical and psychological needs of the people.  Significant components of the program include temporary and permanent housing, the rehabilitation or reconstruction of community infrastructure, education, psychosocial, water and sanitation, and livelihood recovery support.

Other programs include the National Peace Program (NPP), National Animation Program (NAP) and Emergency Relief and Rehabilitation (ERR).  The NPP program focuses on leadership training, awareness raising and peace education.  Formed in 1999, it was created with the intention of amplifying the voices of the more vulnerable groups of Sri Lankan society.  The NAP developed from a desire to promote a more participatory approach to development by incorporating community-level representation in the decision-making process. Key activities included forming community groups among fishermen, farmers, women and other vulnerable groups; identifying community issues; strengthening and empowering groups; and developing economic and social projects such as brick making, savings groups, citizen-legal registration and health education.  The third key program, Emergency Relief and Rehabilitation (ERR), promoted awareness-raising, emergency preparedness education, and housing construction for victims of the 2003 Hiniduma floods, as well as rain water harvesting and well digging for Hambantota drought relief in 2002.

Caritas SED Galle initiated its social and development services in the south in the year 1978, the services of the organization was restricted with its limited human resources, capacity and infrastructure facilities.

The incident that took place on the 26th December, 2004 i.e. tsunami devastation changed the existing systems and was linked SED Galle with other sister Caritas agencies in the island as well as with the international Caritas sister agencies. Since then SED Galle as a service providing organization has reinforced the capacity in working with Caritas Sri Lanka with the support of the Caritas International, to develop an integrated program which addresses the physical and psychosocial needs of the tsunami affected people.

The enhancement of SED Galle’s physical resources as well as the human resources was felt very significant. The necessary measures were taken to build the capacity of SED Galle with the support of Caritas Sri Lanka and the expatriates who were representing the Caritas International soon after the tsunami. The two sub offices for the Districts of Matara and Hambantota under the management of Galle District as well as Provincial office were established to respond to emergency and rehabilitation needs of the tsunami affected people.  Catholic relief service of America was assigned as the facilitating partner of the Diocese of Galle in the District of Galle and Hambantota while Caritas Belgium was assigned to the District of Matara. The necessary need assessments were conducted thus the areas of works were identified and prioritized and new qualified staff was recruited together with the existing seven staff.

The new staff were assigned to various departments and each department was supported by an expert expatriate as an advisor for Shelter, Programming, Finance, Procurement and Logistics and the organization built its capacity by developing into various operational departments. A Base Manager representing expatriates from CRS was working hand-in-hand with the SED Galle Provincial Coordinator who were answerable to the Director and who is answerable to the Bishop of the Diocese.

With the intervention of International Caritas agencies the local names of the Diocesan Centres including Galle was came under the umbrella of Caritas network and started to name SED Galle as Caritas SED Galle.

The Caritas SED Galle developed its operational manuals, policies and set up standards for Finance, Procurement & Logistics, Programming, Construction and Human Resource Management for the better implementation of the programs to achieve organizational objectives.