How Caritas Mthatha Promotes Women’s Leadership In March 2018, Caritas Mthatha/Catholic Development Centre initiated a program called Masiphunge Women Empowerment Program. Masiphunge is a Xhosa word meaning, “Come, let’s have a cup of tea together”. The concept is based on an idea that women used to drink tea together and began to share important information ...
Address: Kapingila House, Kabulonga Road, Plot BRT6, P.O. Box 31965, Lusaka, Zambia
Telephone: +260 211 260980 Fax: +260 211 260950
Email: caritaszambia@iconnect.zm
Caritas Zambia was established in 2001 to animate the work of the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace and the Catholic Commission for Development with the mandate to foster and uphold human dignity through promotion of integral human development. The agency aims to improve outcomes for all of Zambian society, specifically targeting the poor and marginalised, through its core programme areas: organisational development, gender equality, HIV/AIDS prevention, sustainable agricultural, emergency response and preparedness, and governance and human rights.
During disasters resulting from natural hazards like droughts and floods, Caritas Zambia provides support to the affected households through relief and rehabilitation programmes, dispensing the basic necessities such as food, shelter, medicine and hygiene sanitation. Their work also aims to increase the capacity of communities in disaster preparedness and response through training in disaster risk reduction and the creation of community awareness to recognise early warnings.
Advocacy and lobbying work at the national level to raise awareness of the importance of using gains from the country’s natural resources for social development is a core part of Caritas Zambia’s work. The agency lobbies policymakers to ensure that mining for Zambia’s copper is conducted in a responsible and environmentally sustainable way, and that all Zambians stand to benefit from the use of their country’s natural resources.
Caritas Zambia’s agriculture and alternative livelihood programmes focuses on capacity building for crop dependent communities in small livestock production but also initiatives to empower community members to effectively engage in other economic activities besides farming. Additional activities also include production of cash crops, training initiatives for farmers and harvesting and sale of forest products.
Caritas Zambia provides technical support to the dioceses to address gender inequalities and the consequences HIV/AIDS. The agency has developed HIV/AIDS work place policies and action plans to improve the social well being of women and female-headed households.
Based in Lusaka, Caritas Zambia works from the National Office there and in the 10 Caritas Diocesan and parishes spread throughout the country. To carry out their mission the agency employs 100 staff and 50 volunteers.
Caritas Zambia is indebted to the global Caritas network who have supported the agency’s work for a very long period of time, even in the face of world financial challenges that have been experienced in the recent past.
Their current partners include: Caritas Norway, Caritas England and Wales-CAFOD, Caritas Netherlands-CORDAID, Catholic Relief Services USA, Caritas Canada-Development and Peace, Caritas Australia, Caritas Sweden, Caritas Ireland-Trócaire and Caritas Internationalis.
Updates from Africa
This year, as part of the global Caritas Internationalis campaign to eliminate violence against women and girls (25 November – 10 December), Caritas South Sudan launched their national initiative Act Now: Prevent and Respond to Violence Against Women and Girls to celebrate and stand in solidarity with women and girls combatting all forms of violence ...
Nearly 10 years on, terrorism and violence instigated by militia groups continues to threaten the peace and safety of tens and thousands of families throughout Burkina Faso. Since 2015, men, women and children have been forced to flee their homes and leave everything behind. In more recent years, Burkina Faso has witnessed unprecedented levels of ...
Due to the conflict that broke out in Sudan last April, several men and women have been forced to leave their homes and villages behind in search of safety and for the survival of their families in other parts of the country and beyond, including Chad. In their flight, many displaced families did not have ...
“We have witnessed drought before, lost animals and crops, however, unlike other periods, we usually had enough livestock and crops to sustain ourselves until the rainy season. Now the rains have failed for the fourth time and we are not sure if the fifth rainy season will come,” shares Habey Maanur Mohamud, a 60-year-old mother ...
As part of the inauguration of the Global Year of Action of the “Together We” campaign, aimed at promoting integral ecology by simultaneously protecting people and our planet, Caritas Internationalis will launch its publication Displaced by a changing climate, highlighting the vital need for collective action to address the consequences of environmental degradation. Caritas Internationalis, ...
Since conflict erupted in Sudan in mid-April, it has become one of the most dangerous places not only for families and communities affected by the crisis, but for the national and international humanitarian workers and partners supporting them. Since the onset of the crisis, more than 4.3 million people, including aid workers, have been forced ...
Caritas Internationalis joins the appeal of His Eminence Cardinal Berhaneyesus, Rev. Kes Yonas, Patriarch Abune Mathias, and Rev. Bishop Tesfaselassie Medhin in urging US Agency for International Development (USAID) and World Food Programme (WFP) to resume life-saving food distribution immediately. The food aid was suspended on the 30th of March 2023 in the Tigray region ...
Sudan has been embroiled in a devastating armed conflict since last April, triggered by power struggles among the country’s military factions. The fighting, primarily between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has had a profound impact on civilians, resulting in large-scale displacement and shattered access to food, water, health care, fuel, ...
“Everybody is trying to leave Khartoum because practically no one is sure of his remaining there and being safe. And so people run away. I also had to leave, I crossed the border by car. There is a huge need for help both in Sudan and in neighbouring countries to accommodate people fleeing the conflict”. ...
Caritas Africa Info
- Angola
- Benin
- Botswana
- Burkina Faso
- Burundi
- Cameroon
- Cape Verde
- Central African Republic
- Chad
- Comoros
- Congo Republic
- Congo (DRC)
- Cote D’Ivoire
- Equatorial Guinea
- Eritrea
- Ethiopia
- Guinea
- Gabon
- Gambia
- Ghana
- Guinea-Bissau
- Kenya
- Lesotho
- Liberia
- Madagascar
- Malawi
- Mali
- Mauritius
- Mozambique
- Namibia
- Niger
- Nigeria
- Rwanda
- São Tomé and Príncipe
- Senegal
- Seychelles
- Sierra Leone
- South Africa
- South Sudan
- Sudan
- Swaziland
- Tanzania
- Togo
- Uganda
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe