Rwanda

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Address: KN 76 Str.3, Kigali, Rwanda
Postal Address: B.P. 124 Kigali, Rwanda
Telephone: +250 252 574 295
Email: info@caritasrwanda.org
Twitter: CaritasRwanda
www.caritasrwanda.org

Caritas Rwanda was established in 1960 by the bishops from two Catholic dioceses in Rwanda at that time. Caritas Rwanda was officially authorised as a non-profit organisation in 1962. Over the years, as the Catholic Church of Rwanda expanded with the foundation of new dioceses and parishes, the organisation of Caritas also extended to different levels of the ecclesial structure.

Since 8 September 1965 Caritas Rwanda has been affiliated with Caritas Internationalis. In accordance with Law 06/2012 of 17 February 2012 regarding faith-based organisations, it became a non-governmental organisation. Today, Caritas Rwanda operates at national level, while each of the country’s nine Catholic dioceses has its own autonomous diocesan Caritas and the 180 parishes their own parochial Caritas. The structure branches out into 980 centres and 30,000 basic ecclesial communities, which each have their own Caritas structure.

Caritas Rwanda wants to give people back the human dignity denied to them by social marginalisation, poverty and injustice. It would like to see the poorest social categories manage to take charge of themselves, individually or through social solidarity, in order to fulfil their dignity as children of God created in his image.

Mission

  • Study problems regarding assistance and material, social and moral mutual aid relating to the regions where Caritas carries out its activities in order to find solutions;
  • Organise, foster, direct and support all charitable actions in the service of the poor and all categories of vulnerable people;
  • Help people and families that are particularly afflicted, without discrimination on the grounds of race, religion or sex, or of any other kind;
  • Represent and safeguard the organisation’s interests, actions and services in dealings with public authorities and official institutions.

Caritas Rwanda has been mandated by the Rwandan Bishops’ Conference to coordinate all the actions carried out by the Church regarding social assistance, healthcare and development. However, as a priority the activities of Caritas should be carried out by Catholic faithful at the basic ecclesial community level. Only if these communities are unable to resolve identified problems should the higher levels of Caritas be called on to act. The national Caritas network is active and operational even in the most remote parts of Rwanda via its approximately 390,000 volunteers.

Partners

  • At local level: The Rwandan government is Caritas Rwanda’s main partner via the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Local Government, the Ministry of Gender and Promotion of the Family, and the Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs.
  • At international level: Caritas Rwanda’s partners include USAID, the European Union, the Belgian Fund for Food Security, Global Communities, the Global Fund, among others.
  • Caritas network partners: Trocaire, Caritas International Belgium, Catholic Relief Services (CRS),  Caritas Spain, Caritas Austria, Secours Catholique (Caritas France), Caritas Italy, Caritas Japan, Caritas Scotland (SCIAF) and Caritas Korea.

Updates from Rwanda

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