Bangladesh

Address: 2, Outer Circular Road, Shantibagh, Dhaka-1217, Bangladesh
Telephone: +880 2 9339524 Fax: +880 2 8314993
Email: ed@caritasbd.org
www.caritasbd.org

Caritas Bangladesh has its headquarter in the capital Dhaka and has eight other diocesan offices. It works on integrated development, disaster management and human resource development. Over 6000 staff and volunteers implement its programmes at national and diocesan level. Caritas Bangladesh began in 1967 as Caritas East Pakistan. Following the devastating cyclone of November 1970, it was re-organised and became known as the Christian Organisation for Relief and Rehabilitation (CORR). The name Caritas was re-introduced in 1976.

Caritas Bangladesh is implementing over 90 ongoing projects relating to these six goals/sectors:

Improvement of the Quality of Life of the Extremely Poor and of Vulnerable Communities.

Livelihood promotion and economic development of the extremely poor; inclusive development and social reintegration; safe migration; early childhood development; promotion of improved housing conditions; protection of street children; psycho-social care; establishment of justice and peace.

Promote Education Rights and Inclusive Quality Education.

Provide education opportunities for disadvantaged and hardest-to-reach children through ensuring access to quality pre and primary education; enhance teachers’ professional and moral skills; create opportunities for technical skills through training and support for employment/self–employment.

Improve Health Education, Care and Public Health Services.

Provide primary health care; maternal health care; health and nutrition; adolescents’ health care; pro-life reproductive health education and natural family planning; sexually transmitted infections (STI), HIV and AIDS; tuberculosis, leprosy and other communicable diseases; prevention, treatment and aftercare services for drug addiction and sex abuse.

Strengthen Disaster Response and Community Resilience.

Strengthen community-based early warning and rescue systems; immediate food, cash and non-food item distribution; employment creation through repair of damaged infrastructure; livelihood support; construction of flood and cyclone shelters; psycho-social care.

Strengthen Ecological Sustainability.

Livelihood promotion and socio-economic development of the poor; capacity building on organic farming; judicious and sustainable use of natural resources; indigenous agri-aqua-livestock variety and biodiversity conservation; women’s empowerment; building the coping capacity of community people to climate change situations; integrated holistic approaches to establish climate justice, etc.

Improvement of the Living Standards of Indigenous Peoples.

Indigenous-people-friendly social and financial institutional development (Traditional Social Organisation (TSO), and the Cooperative Credit Union (CCU)); community empowerment; land retention, including mapping; legal support; economic development; practicing Sustainable Agriculture (SA); cultural development.

Many Caritas members are among Caritas Bangladesh’s partners, including Caritas Australia, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Japan, India, Nepal, Hong Kong, Korea, Taiwan, CRS, Poland, Spain, Macau, CAFOD, Cordaid and Secours Catholique. Other valuable partners include MISEREOR, Kindermissionwerk, Andheri Hilfe, Bridge of Light and Refugee Action-UK.

Updates from Bangladesh

bangladesh

Empowering women to run small businesses in Bangladesh

Caritas found Juthika’s family to be extremely vulnerable and decided to give her training and help her do a small business plan.

Hope from a Bangladesh refugee camp this Advent: “We are safe now”

Senowara’s labour pains had already started when she fled from Myanmar 16 months ago. After five days walking through the forest, she could hold on no longer. Her child was born by the roadside, beneath a tarpaulin, just an hour and a half after she crossed into Bangladesh. We first met Senowara, a Rohingya refugee, ...

“A cry to the world”: Cardinal Tagle visits Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh

Standing in a refugee camp in Bangladesh, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle said, “This camp is a cry to the whole world for a better politics based on compassion and solidarity.” The Caritas Internationalis president visited Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh 3-4 December. He saw how Caritas is helping provide vital shelter, water, sanitation and hygiene, living ...

Rohingya Crisis

Since 25 August 2017 the number of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh has reached nearly 1 million. Read how Caritas is helping refugees who live in prepare for the monsoon rains.

Caritas helps Rohingya batten down for monsoon and cyclones

With monsoon rains and the onset of the cyclone season expected during the next few weeks, fears are intensifying for the safety of Rohingya people living in makeshift shelters in Bangladesh refugee camps.

Water – for all and everyone

Water is a fundamental human right but water scarcity around the world is causing severe problems and human suffering that are likely to worsen in the future, warns Caritas Internationalis.

A hard year ends in a Rohingya refugee camp

With temperatures dropping at night during the next few weeks, a hard year is closing with yet more endurance required of the Rohingya people in Bangladesh refugee camps.

Birth and death in Rohingya refugee camps

by Caroline Brennan, Catholic Relief Services with additional reporting by Harriet Paterson Shetara, 40, a midwife escaping violent attacks on her village in Myanmar, could tell her cousin was just hours away from going into labour. The trouble was, the Rohingya women were on a small boat crossing the Naf river into Bangladesh, after many ...

Rohingya crisis: Caritas urges rapid aid delivery as global donors pledge $344 million at UN

As countries pledged $344 million for the Rohingya refugee crisis at a UN conference in Geneva yesterday, Caritas underlined the urgency of translating promises into practical help.