East Africa and the Horn of Africa are confronting a humanitarian crisis that may worsen in 2018. Armed conflict and severe drought are causing extreme levels of hunger. Up to 35 million people are in need of urgent food assistance across the region.
Address: Ethiopian Catholic Church, Social and Development Commission, Arada Subcity, Woreda 01/02, House number 374, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Postal Address: Ethiopian Catholic Secretariat, P.O.Box 2454, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Telephone: +251 011 155 03 00 Fax: +251 011 155 31 13
Email: ecs@ethionet.et
Facebook: Ethiopian-Catholic-Secretariat
www.ecs.org.et
The Ethiopian Catholic Church Social and Development Commission (ECC SDCO) – or Caritas Ethiopia – was founded in 1965 and registered with the Ethiopian government in 2000. Its mandate is to initiate, promote and coordinate the social and development ministries of the Universal Church in Ethiopia. The Ethiopian Catholic Church Social and Development Commission’s (ECC SDCO) programmes have evolved to respond to the ever increasing needs of the Ethiopian people and are marking a visible achievement in bringing about a sustainable change in the lives of people in rural and urban areas.
Caritas Ethiopia operates at the community and national level to provide quality education, humanitarian assistance, emergency aid and food security, social rehabilitation, water and sanitation, health and HIV/AIDS education, assistance relating to migration and refugees and women’s and family matters, capacity building programmes, and campaigns for gender equality through social and economic empowerment for women.
Supplementing its humanitarian aid are development programmes that provide people with long-term solutions to the recurrent and chronic occurrences of drought. In addition, the long-term programmes, such as alternative means of income for women and youth, are also contributing to lowering the number of migrants.
In 2016 until May 2017, Caritas Ethiopia implemented a rehabilitation and recovery project to improve resilience capacity to risk and disasters in response to the drought that hit some parts of the country. It produced improvements in access to water, hygiene and sanitation practices, crop and livestock production, and soil and water conservation. Caritas Ethiopia also campaigns to address the growing concern about female genital mutilation (FGM) and other harmful practices that hinder the development of young girls and women. One practical example is the document produced on the Catholic Church’s stand against FGM by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Ethiopia.
Caritas Ethiopia’s main office is in Addis Ababa, with 13 diocesan coordinating offices and their sub-offices throughout the country. Currently more than 3000 people are employed by Caritas Ethiopia.
As a member of the Caritas Internationalis and Caritas Africa, Caritas Ethiopia works in partnership domestically and abroad with members of the global Caritas network, non-Caritas Catholic organisations, pontifical organisations, UN agencies, the European Union, and many local and international organisations similarly dedicated to integral human development.
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