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The joint CIMS training was held in Manila from 8-10 April 2024 in the Philippines. This training was participated by both the CIMS Coordinators and CIMS Assessors from 31 Organizations including Caritas Internationalis. In total there were 43 participants with 23 men and 20 women. There were participants from five regions namely: Asia, Mona, Africa, Oceania and North America. Caritas Internationalis staff facilitated the 3-day training.
The Purpose of this training was to encourage all the CIMS coordinators and Assessors to have very good clarity of what CIMS assessment processes entails and to encourage all participating Member Organizations to prepare and start moving ahead with the CIMS assessment starting from the self- assessment process moving to the improvement plan stage and further.
The training had input sessions, group discussions & presentations, role play and action plan. Each participating MO developed plans committing to start and or progress further in their CIMS assessment and compliance work.
Caritas Asia organized sub regional workshops to understand the changing contexts and to collectively explore opportunities for institutional development and growth through capacity development, collaboration and accompaniment for addressing concerns and mend the gaps. | |
Central Asia Sub Regional Meeting (Almaty, 20-21 February 2024) |
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Central Asia sub regional reflection workshop was attended by the Directors and key staff of Caritas Kazakhstan, Caritas Tajikistan, Caritas Kyrgyzstan, Caritas Mongolia and Church in Turkmenistan. Joining us online were Dr. Benedict Alo D Rozario (President of Caritas Asia), Bishop Jerzy Maculewicz (The Bishop of Tashkent, Uzbekistan), Ms. Moira Monacelli (Caritas Internationalis), and Bishop Jose Luis (President of Caritas Kazakhstan). The workshop was a good opportunity to reconnect with Caritas MOs in the sub region and to celebrate the 10 years of journeying together as Central Asia sub region highlighting the progress and achievements amidst the challenges and changing contexts. This reflection was a learning exercise for all members as it enabled better understanding of ground reality of the social work and how Caritas and Churches in Central Asia sub region have been working hard to reach the unreached amidst multifaceted challenges. | |
South Asia Sub Regional Meeting (Bangkok, 18-19 March 2024) |
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South Asia sub regional meeting was attended by the Directors and key staff of Caritas Bangladesh, Caritas India, Caritas Nepal, Caritas Pakistan and Caritas Sri Lanka, as well as Caritas Asia President and Regional Coordinator. The meeting highlighted the uniqueness of the sub region and Caritas MOs in the sub region have been dealing with challenges in their work and there are more challenges now compared to those in the past. The MOs are committed to identify the common challenges and the best way to collaborate, as neighbors and friends, and to contribute to the region and globally. |
Visit to Laos (14-16 January 2024)
Caritas Asia visited Laos to learn more of the newly established Caritas Laos, to exchange the work of Caritas from different countries in Asia Region, to meet with the local church leaders and local partners, and to accompany Caritas Laos in institutional development and thematic programs. It was a rather short visit, but we learned much, particularly on the presence of Catholic Church in the country and its work with local communities. We are amazed by how the community members are able to organize themselves for safe drinking water projects despite the limitation and challenges they face. We are grateful for the blessings and support from the Catholic Church leadership of Laos: Bishop John Prida and Cardinal Ling. We also exchanged stories and ideas with Bishop Andrew Souk, President of Caritas Laos, about Caritas work in Asia and globally.
Visit to Sri Lanka (5-11 February 2024)
Caritas Asia Regional President Dr. Benedict Alo D’Rozario visited Sri Lanka to understand their realities and challenges better in order to strengthen collaboration and cooperation for capacity building of staff and for timely and effective coordination and communication. Besides meeting the Executive Director, Fr. Luke Nelson and staff at the National Office in Colombo, he visited Caritas Sri Lanka's diocesan staff and the communities in Kandy, Badulla, Galle and Ratnapura. He also met the Emeritus Bishop Vianney Fernando of Kandy, one of the founding members of Caritas Asia. During the visit, Dr. D'Rozario observed Caritas Sri Lanka's impressive achievements aiming at ending poverty and promoting peace by implementing food security, sustainable agriculture, conflict mitigation, disaster risk reduction, livelihoods and nutrition, and religious amity projects. Caritas Sri Lanka needs capacity strengthening in resource mobilization, networking, localization, and real-time digital monitoring.
Warm greetings!
We feel honored to be here among the participants of FIMARC 16th World Conference and Global Assembly to share our thoughts on Sustainable Agriculture.
Sustainable agriculture has been one of the major focus of Caritas Asia strategy since its first establishment in 1999 through various programs implemented at parish, diocesan, national, sub regional and regional levels, with Smallholder Farmers at the center of our work.
For Caritas, the smallholder farmers play a crucial role in the social mission of the Church, not only because they are an important part of society, but also because they are the very backbone and source of the food system that sustains every family in every community. They help in the development and nurturing of communities by producing the daily food needs of all individuals, who are the nucleus of society.
The smallholder farmers, however, have yet to receive enough attention and support in dealing with challenges they struggle with for many years, including among others, land ownership, access to capital and to market, support in climate change adaptation and many more. These challenges are further exacerbated by the now unpredictable changing patterns of the weather that has made farming more chaotic and more susceptible to agricultural losses, than ever before.
Through the years, 25 Caritas member organizations in Asia have continuously addressing this issue through various key activities including capacity buildings, awareness raising, dialogue with decision makers, research, and collaboration with different actors.
You can see some of the best practices and learnings here through the 6 Caritas MOs present here from Indonesia, Cambodia, Philippines, Myanmar, Vietnam, including Thailand as the host. In few minutes we will also learn about Caritas Thailand’s work in caring for our common home with the smallholder farmers in the dioceses in Thailand.
Similar to FIMARC, Caritas is also moved by the Pope Francis’ papal encyclical letter, “Laudato Si’: On Care For Our Common Home.” The encyclical letter inspires Caritas Confederation in launching its worldwide #TogetherWe campaign, where we form Communities of Care. Communities of Care are made up of parishioners, diocesan representatives, youth clubs and community members in general who commit together to act at all levels to care for our planet and to care for the poor.
In all countries where Caritas is present, Communities of Care engage and empower people to be change makers in their local communities with a view to promoting integral ecology as inspired by the teachings of Fratelli Tutti and Laudato Si’.
Through this campaign, we would like to share that everyone has a chance to raise awareness and collectively address care for the poor and care for our planet in our efforts to uphold human dignity and advance social justice together, which is in line with FIMARC World Assembly’s theme this year: Let’s be actors of Ecological, Economical and Human transition/transformation... Let’s dare to build dignified rural life and a just world!!!
Thank you very much for having us here and be a part of your journey in protecting our common home.
(Dr. Benedict D’Rozario, Caritas Asia President, address during Caritas Special Session on Sustainable Agriculture, 30 September 2023)
Caritas Asia participated in the FIMARC 16th World Conference and Global Assembly held on 26 September-4 October 2023 in Chiang Mai, Thailand. More than 70 participants of 29 countries worldwide joined the event, including 5 Caritas MOs in Asia and Caritas Asia Regional Secretariat.