Caritas Sri Lanka – SEDEC was founded in 1968 by a pioneering and visionary priest, Father Joe Fernando. The acronym SEDEC, as it was initially known, stands for Social and Economic Development Centre and is a variant of the Hebrew word SEDEQ, meaning justice and righteousness.

SEDEC was established to provide a base for disseminating the social teaching of the Church. During this era, against the backdrop of Vatican II, the church was concerned with the economic imbalance that prevailed. In the neo-colonial era, following the colonial period, developing countries were more dependant than ever. Poor countries struggled hard to provide basic needs for their people, dependent on subsidies and handouts. The Church viewed with consternation a situation where integral development of men was a far cry.

In Sri Lanka too the church looked at ways and means of grappling with this new state of affairs and with enthusiasm and energy, Reverend Father Joe Fernando embraced this difficult task. Filled with the spirit of Populorum Progressio , he established the Social and Economic Development Centre and dedicated his entire life to alleviating human misery.

“Freedom from misery, greater assurance of economic sustenance, proper health care and fixed employment, an increased share of responsibility without oppression of any kind, better education and assurance of a fuller human enhancement to claim their rightful place in society.”
Reverend Father Joe Fernando

SEDEC started off under the guidance of late Cardinal Thomas Cooray OMI whose jurisdiction covered the entire island. From its very inception SEDEC worked at the national level

Caritas Internationalis is a confederation of 162 Catholic relief, development and social service organisations working to build a better world, especially for the poor and oppressed, in over 200 countries and territories. Caritas works without regard to creed, race, gender, or ethnicity, and is one of the world's largest humanitarian networks.

Caritas provides a beacon of hope for tens of millions of women, men and children in times of hardship and contributes to the development of social justice in times of peace. Caritas' mandate includes integral development, emergency relief, advocacy, peace building, respect for human rights and support for proper stewardship of the planet's environment and resources.

The Caritas approach is based on the social teaching of the Church, which focuses on the dignity of the human person. Caritas' work on behalf of the poor manifests God's love for all of creation.

Caritas believes that the weak and oppressed are not objects of pity, but agents of change leading the struggle to eradicate dehumanizing poverty, unacceptable living and working conditions, and unjust social, political, economic and cultural structures.

What makes Caritas unique is its ongoing presence in communities, before, during and after crisis situations. Important, too, is that being part of civil society and incorporating the perspective of the poor, Caritas can continuously adapt its strategies to an ever changing environment.

Caritas fights poverty, exclusion, intolerance and discrimination. More importantly, it empowers people to participate fully in all matters affecting their lives, and it advocates on their behalf at national and international forums.

Caritas promotes partnership: local autonomy is paramount in ensuring effective teamwork for the good of all. By pooling expertise and resources, Caritas is able to identify issues at the grassroots, analyse them at national and international levels, and then take action locally, regionally and globally.

Catholic Relief Services was founded in 1943 by the Catholic Bishops of the United States to serve World War II survivors in Europe. Since then, we have expanded in size to reach more than 100 million people in more than 100 countries on five continents.

Our mission is to assist impoverished and disadvantaged people overseas, working in the spirit of Catholic Social Teaching to promote the sacredness of human life and the dignity of the human person. Although our mission is rooted in the Catholic faith, our operations serve people based solely on need, regardless of their race, religion or ethnicity. Within the United States, CRS engages Catholics to live their faith in solidarity with the poor and suffering of the world.

The fundamental motivating force in all activities of CRS is the Gospel of Jesus Christ as it pertains to the alleviation of human suffering, the development of people and the fostering of charity and justice. We are committed to a set of Guiding Principles and hold ourselves accountable to each other for them.

As the official international humanitarian agency of the U.S. Catholic community, CRS is governed by a Board of Directors made up of clergy, most of them bishops, religious and Catholic lay men and women.

CRS maintains strict standards of efficiency, accountability and transparency. Last year, more than 94 percent of revenues we spent went directly to programs that benefit the poor overseas.

Caritas International Belgium was created in 1945 by the Belgium Episcopal Conference and became an independent association in 1948. The first goal was to assist European war victims and to reunite families torn apart by the Second World War.

Through today, assisting refugees and migrants remains one of the main tasks of Caritas international Belgium. Gradually we have been taking up a more active role internationally, assisting our partners from the initial emergency after crisis, over reconstruction, and through development.

Currently, Caritas International Belgium works in over 30 countries, with more than 100 different partner organizations. Most of our assistance is focusing on Africa.

Apart from own resources through fundraising in Belgium, Caritas International Belgium has funding from different donor agencies and budget lines like ECHO, the European Union, the European Agency for Reconstruction, the Belgian Government, the Belgian Survival fund, Fedasil, World Food Programme, UNHCR, and IOM.

In Asia, we have been actively rebuilding lives after disasters like the tsunami in Sri Lanka and India; floods in India, the Philippines and Bangladesh; and the earthquakes in Pakistan and Indonesia.

In Sri Lanka, Caritas International Belgium supports peace projects in the North and East as well as tsunami projects in the South. In addition, we are developing a project in the tea estates showing our commitment to a long term relationship with Caritas Sri Lanka and to assist the most vulnerable people in improving their livelihood security.

Trócaire is the official overseas development agency of the Catholic Church in Ireland. It was set up by the Irish Catholic Bishops in 1973 to express the concern of the Irish Church for the suffering of the world's poorest and most oppressed people.

Trócaire's partnership approach makes us different. We work through global Catholic networks and with local partners on the ground. When we help people, we work with them, so that they drive the entire process themselves. Solutions are not imposed on the people we help. Instead, they become the authors of their own destiny.

Development and Peace is the official international development organization of the Catholic Church in Canada and the Canadian member of Caritas Internationalis. It is a membership-based organization founded in 1967 by Canada's bishops, laity and clergy to fight poverty in the countries of the South, and to promote greater international justice.

Inspired by Gospel values, particularly "the preferential option for the poor," the goals of Development and Peace are to support initiatives by people in the Global South to take control of their lives and to educate Canadians about North-South issues.

Our education, advocacy and fund-raising work here at home is carried out by Development and Peace members from coast to coast.

The confederation's official charitable institutions and social action of the Catholic Church in Spain, established by Episcopal Conference. Created in 1947, Caritas has legal personality, both ecclesiastical and civil. Among its founding objectives include support for human development and the overall development of the dignity of all persons who are in precarious situations. During his career takes a triple Caritas its social commitment: to inform, expose and sensitize the public about the poverty and vulnerability, its causes, consequences and the possibility of participation in change.

The national network consists of Caritas Caritas 5,000 Parish, 68 Diocesan Caritas and Caritas for Regional or Autonomous. Caritas Spain develops within an important role in promoting social support and social groups in precarious and / or social exclusion. The commitment to these situations is supported by the free labor of more than 65,000 volunteers, representing 90 percent of human resources of the institution in Spain.
The action taken to eradicate poverty also has an extensive international dimension that runs through 154 national Caritas, with presence in 198 countries and territories, integrated into Caritas International, based in Rome. In this context the network of Caritas Internationalis has also been developed where our membership and active participation in Caritas Europa.

Cordaid combines more than 90 years' experience and expertise in emergency aid and structural poverty eradication. We are one of the biggest international development organisations with a network of almost a thousand partner organisations in 36 countries in Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe and Latin America.

The counterpart organisations work on various themes, including health care, quality of urban life, access to markets and peace and conflict. Each year around 170 million euros is spent on initiatives in the South. Of that, over 30 million euros is available for emergency aid. A small part is spent in the Netherlands on lobby, public support and consciousness-raising.

Cordaid has a strong support base in the Dutch community
This is proved not only by some 370,000 contributors who support Cordaid financially, but also by the commitment of volunteers who collect clothing, organise meetings in their towns or parishes and assist in organising festivals.

People and organisations that set up their own projects can also count on Cordaid's support. This large-scale commitment is of vital importance to Cordaid. It expresses the solidarity between people and with that forms the core of our identity Cordaid stands in the long tradition of Mensen in Nood (Caritas Netherlands), Memisa Medicus Mundi, the Dutch Bishop's Lenten Campaign (Vastenaktie) and Cebemo.

Its history goes back to the beginning of the last century when the organisations were active in the area of shelter and (missionary) care for refugees, in providing direct aid in the event of disasters, in medical care and in the direct improvement of the social and economic position of poor people.

Supported by broad layers of the Dutch population, they were able to support the work of hundreds of Dutch priests, nuns, brothers, and volunteers in their care for the whole of humanity. Conditions have changed over the years. The missionaries have handed over their work to local organisations, which has resulted in a huge expansion in Cordaid's

Founded in 1946, Secours Catholique/ Caritas France is a service of the Catholic Church, a member of Caritas Internationalis Confederation and an approved public utility association. A non profit organisation as defined by the Law of July 1, 1901, it manages an annual budget of 130MEuros and is supported by a network of some 65,000 volunteers for “bringing help either direct or indirect, moral or material aid wherever there is a need for it, with the exception of any distinctive national or confessional religious identity, irrespective of the philosophical or religious opinions of the beneficiaries.” (Extract of the statutes, art. 1)

The mission of Secours Catholique is to spread Christian Charity by creating a solid unity between everyone, whether in France or throughout the world. Secours Catholique considers that men, women and children living in situations of poverty play a major part in their own development. It makes a commitment to fight side by side with them against the causes of poverty and exclusion, and promote the development of the human person in all its aspects. It seeks an active partnership with organisations that share its objectives in order to promote social justice in local, national and international policies. In accordance with Christianity, it invites each person to go and meet the poorest people, listen to them, support them and associate with them so that together we can build a fairer and more fraternal society.

Caritas Mexico works in the areas of justice, peace and reconciliation; faith and politics; work; health; prisons; human mobility; and indigenous people. Programmes focus on economic solidarity, HIV and AIDS, emergencies and citizenship.

Identity of the Episcopal Commission for Social Ministry:

• The Episcopal Commission for Social Pastoral is, above all, a church body that is part of the structure of both the Mexican Bishops Conference and is at your disposal. Therefore, it is a:

• Episcopal Instance CMS to promote the Social Pastoral as the third major aspect of all pastoral activity, across eight dimensions: Pastoral Social-Caritas, Justice, Peace and Reconciliation, Faith and Politics, Pastoral Work, Pastoral Care; Prison Pastoral Care, Pastoral of Human Mobility; Pastoral Indígena.

• Instance promoter of school spirit among the bishops from the theme of the Social Pastoral.

• Instance of pastoral support for the Ecclesiastical Provinces and Dioceses.

• Investigative body, systematizing, deepening and diffusion of the themes from the Commission, according to its eight dimensions.

• Instance provides inputs theological, pastoral and social characteristics of the eight dimensions.

• Instance of national character that brings from there to the CEM, to the Ecclesiastical Provinces, the diocese and the bishops in particular.

• Instance which coordinates and interacts with the seven other CMS Episcopal Commissions and the Provincial Commission for the Pastoral Social. Instance third level that promotes and accompanying processes rather than projects.

Confederation Caritas Romania is a nongovernmental organization that has arisen as a result of Caritas organizations in the country need to have a national and international representation.

It is composed of six Roman Catholic diocesan Caritas organizations: Alba Iulia, Timisoara, Bucharest, Oradea, Iasi, Satu Mare and five organizations Caritas Greek Catholic Diocese: Blaj, Cluj, Oradea, Maramures, Dundalk.

Unification initiatives diocesan organizations on local projects similar operation led to the National Programmes . Thus far, the work of Caritas Confederation is in coordinating the four National Programs: home care services, emergency interventions, support and advice for people with disabilities, Anti-Drug Program. All projects are implemented by local organizations that are supported in developing their own structures through training sessions, dissemination of information, material resources.

Caritas Slovenia (Slovenska karitas) is a charitable organisation of the Roman Catholic Church in Slovenia, and carries out the charitable and social welfare mission of the Church. It was founded by the Slovenian bishops conference of 1 May 1990. >From October 2004 has status of humanitarian organisation under Slovenian Law of Humanitarian Organisations

SK is a full member of Caritas Internationalis (CI) and Caritas Europa (CE), and has adopted its principles of operation, coordination and cooperation, and links Slovenia to international and non-governmental organisations in the charitable and humanitarian field, planning campaigns of international importance, monitoring their progress and verifying their effects, cooperating in eliminating the consequences of natural disasters at home and around the world, and supporting social welfare projects in the third world, while observing the missionary dimension of the Church.

Caritas is organised in Slovenia on the national (state), diocesan (regional) and parish (local) levels. The task of SK with 4, 5 fully employed staff is to cooperate with state institutions in the area of welfare activities, bring to their attention deficiencies in this area in society (advocacy for the poor), and to study and help eliminate poverty and social exclusion (JIM, NAP) in order to implement social programmes on the national level, Caritas Slovenia set up the private social institution Zavod Pelikan Karitas, this includes: mothers? homes, an addicts help centre and a Caritas centre for Home Care help. Together with the Diocesan Caritas, Caritas Slovenia every year organises a summer holidays for families and children in social hardship, grants for children of victims of the war for Slovenia?s independence, and campaigns to collect aid for dealing with hardship in other CE and CI member states. SK links and coordinates the work of the Diocesan Caritas organisations (Ljubljana, Maribor and Koper). It cooperates with appropriate services, charitable institutions and movements at home and abroad. It is also involved in efforts to promote voluntary work. Caritas Slovenia is also full member of FEANTSA.
In Slovenia there are around 350 parish branches of Caritas (PC) with about 5000 regularly or occasionally active volunteers, who work in their location to discover, monitor and respond to hardship, and who work in tandem with other local institutions and organisations in the field of social welfare. Their work involves specifically help for families, which embraces: direct material help, disaster relief, help for the elderly in their homes, have special services for homeless people, for those who are challenged or disabled, help for children, organising charity events and events for children, and setting up home care and homes for the elderly .

1946 Europe - a continent in ruins. Sweden is spared from the ravages of war, and has become a haven for thousands of refugees. Folke Bernadotte white bus rolls down in Europe and the Catholic Church in Sweden overwhelmed with requests from home and abroad for help and support. Then based Bishop Mueller February 23, 1946 "Caritas Sueciae. Swedish Catholic relief work". Divided into five sections Sueciae Caritas sends help to the devastated Europe, especially to Germany, but also to France, Hungary, Poland and Austria.

1950 Caritas opened a clinic in Stockholm for the many refugees who seek help from the Catholic Church. At the same time controlled the international relief effort over to Eastern Europe, where Stalin's religious policy tightening creates great difficulties for Catholics behind the Iron Curtain.

1987 will as the reorganization of Caritas, which leads to the Caritas Sweden we have today. Stockholm pin auxiliary Bishop William Kenney CP, and social worker John Gärde working together presented a new concept, where the focus is the development of the South and social pastoral work in Sweden. Close cooperation with Swedish authorities and other organizations are established, and Caritas Sweden becoming a full member of the international Caritas network, Caritas Internationalized. Over the next decade, growing from a small Caritas organization in a corner of the Catholic episcopate to become a medium sized organization, with projects in fifty countries.

Caritas Taiwan – the Commission for Social Development – was founded 1969 and works to help people at home and abroad. Taiwan has a dynamic economy, from low-technology goods to higher-value manufacturing and exports, mainly in electronics and computers. Caritas Taiwan works with people living in challenging conditions, who do not feel the benefit of this prosperity.

The Italian Caritas is the pastoral organization of the CEI (Italian Episcopal Conference) for the promotion of charity. It aims to promote that "the witness of charity in the ecclesial community Italian in a form adapted to the times and needs, in view of integral human development, social justice and peace, with particular attention to the last and main function teaching "(art. 1 of the Statute).

She was born in 1971 at the behest of Paul VI, in the spirit of renewal begun by Vatican II. Basic connection and comparison with the 220 diocesan Caritas, working in animation in the territory of the ecclesial community and civil, and promotion of pastoral instruments and services: Listening Centers, Observatories of poverty and resources, Caritas parish shelters; etc..

The Italian Caritas was established July 2, 1971 by decree of the CEI, in 1968 after the cessation of Poa (Pontifical assistance). For this new body pastoral then Pope Paul VI stated goals do not care, but pastoral and teaching.

Caritas Poland, which became a public benefit organisation in 2004 and hence eligible for financial support from fiscal sources, supports domestic and overseas projects to meet the needs of the poor and disadvantaged.

It operates in Poland through 44 Caritas diocesan offices, and works on overseas projects in partnership with Caritas Europa and the Caritas Internationalis network. Caritas Poland largely depends on donations from individuals and organizations at home and abroad.