In January 2017 we met South Sudan refugees who are living in Bidi Bidi in Uganda. 18 months later we've returned to the refugee camp to see the difference Caritas programmes are making to people who live there.
Address: PK 16 –Djeffa, Route de Porto-Novo, Benin
Telephone: +229 21 14 14 52
Email: Secretariat@caritasbenin.org/ psanhouekoua@gmail.com
Facebook: Caritas.Benin Twitter: Caritas_Benin
www.caritasbenin.org
Established by the Beninese Episcopate in 1958, Secours Catholique Dahoméen became Caritas Benin in 1975. Its mission is “to bear witness to God’s Love by working to achieve the integral promotion of all people in all their aspects at national, regional, interregional and international level.”
In implementing this mission, Caritas Benin operates in several areas: basic social services (healthcare, education, supply of potable water); ordinary emergencies (assistance for the poor, assistance for people in highly vulnerable situations); major emergencies (disasters such as floods, fires, high winds, transhumance; development (child protection, promotion of women, literacy teaching, empowerment of women, agriculture and pasturage, environmental protection, combatting the structural causes of poverty); advocacy which includes actions relating to peace-building, conflict prevention before during and after elections, and finally citizen monitoring of public actions.
With a view to serving the vulnerable sectors of society better and becoming more competitive, Caritas Benin has undertaken the development and strengthening of its strategic capacities. Therefore, Caritas Benin was one of the first African Caritas to embark on the Personalised Accompaniment / Organisational Development process (A2P/DIRO). One year later, a framework agreement was signed with the Benin government.
In 2014, Caritas Benin was recognised as a non-profit organisation.
Thanks to its network of ten dioceses, more than 500 parishes and at least 3000 volunteers, Caritas Benin deploys multi-disciplinary operational teams in Benin’s 77 municipalities. Its operators are immersed in the populations of the country’s most remote regions, and are informed in real time about the challenges they have to take up. They can also put forward solutions that are in line with the realities on the ground.
Caritas Benin works with grassroots communities, civil society organisations and decentralised state authorities. Caritas Benin’s partners also include international organisations such as Secours Catholique (Caritas France), Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Caritas Germany, UNHCR, Plan Benin, the Global Fund, UNICEF, Terre des Hommes, Misereor and USAID, among others.
Updates from Benin
