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)
Our Mission
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 pover ty 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.
Our Network
The actions of Secours Catholique are implemented by a network of local teams of volunteers integrated into the diocesan delegations and suppor ted by the volunteers and employees of the national headquar ters. On an international level Secours Catholique acts in cooperation with its par tners of the Caritas Internationalis network. Key figures of Secours Catholique:
OUR INTERNATIONAL WORK
As a member of Caritas Internationalis, every year at the request of local Caritas groups, it supports more than 500 international aid operations for underprivileged countries and populations. The emergency or development actions deployed in more than 80 countries are conducted by the headquarters’ International Action Department and by the delegations. To contribute to the financing of its projects Secours Catholique/Caritas France benefits from financial aid from the European Union within the framework of a partnership with Echo (European Community Humanitarian aid Office).
Development actions
In collaboration with the local Caritas groups, Secours Catholique/Caritas France finances and suppor ts development projects over the long term: access to education and schooling, strengthening of women’s social status, prevention and care for AIDS sufferers, defence and organisation of civil populations, promoting peace in war zones, suppor ting and assisting refugee camps, etc.
International Emergencies
Secours Catholique/Caritas France supports emergency relief programmes associated with natural disasters, situations of conflict and displacement of populations. In liaison with local par tners it supplies in situ, human means (trained volunteers) and materials (food, medicine, etc). The emergency relief programmes are elaborated with a view to sustainable development (e.g. Tsunami in South-East Asia, Kosovo).
Caritas Internationalis: an organised global network
Leading global solidarity network, Caritas Internationalis groups together 162 national Caritas agencies. A charity of the Universal Church, this international confederation, present on ever y continent, constitutes both an organised force capable of inter vening at any given moment in most countries of the world and a privileged source of information. Run and coordinated by the confederation authorities, the Caritas groups act in close co-operation to bring suitable responses to emergency relief and development problems. Caritas Internationalis benefits from the status of UN obser ver member.
International advocacy: fostering globalisation
Because the answer to many problems can only be global Secours Catholique/Caritas France actively takes part in action groups and international networks for pressing on political, economical and financial decision-makers, and promoting a fair and humane vision of development.
International advocacy means having an influence on the challenges associated with globalisation. This commitment becomes a reality by taking a stand (fair trade, sustainable development, etc.), special interventions (the conflicts in Sudan, promoting peace in the Middle East, etc.) themed campaigns (transparency of financial revenue, access to natural resources, etc.).
Advocacy actions are elaborated from analysing concrete situations. They aim not only at alerting politicians and international authorities, but also to raise awareness and mobilise public opinion via operations involving collecting signatures and sending cards.
By this process Secours Catholique/Caritas France and its international partners seek to strengthen the positions of civil society, for contributing to reducing the gap between rich and poor countries and correct malfunctioning and injustices which hinder development efforts.
