Caritas Rwanda works to improve the lives of people in a country where 60 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line. Rwanda suffered a three-month genocide in 1994 that killed over 800,000 people from Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups, and the economic effects are still being felt today.

There is widespread food insecurity as a result of population pressure caused by refugees returning home after the conflict. Over one million fled following the 1994 genocide.

Caritas Rwanda launched a major appeal in 2006 for emergency food aid, citing further problems such as Rwanda’s low-lying, semi-arid plains and plateaux, where even a minor disruption in normal rainfall patterns can spark a food crisis.

The agency sought to help the country’s women, who after the genocide made up 70 percent of the population and accounted for most economic activity. Orphans were also helped, with at least 100,000 households headed by children.

Caritas Rwanda worked with Government officials to buy food from selected suppliers and distribute it to those in need. The work was overseen by Caritas staff, linked by a network at the diocesan and parish levels.