CARITAS REPRESENTATIVES FROM AROUND THE WORLD GATHER IN ROME TO BUILD GLOBAL SOLIDARITY.

From 21-22 November 2022, over 100 Caritas representatives from all over the world came together in Rome for a two-day conference to reflect on how to strengthen local leadership within the Confederation and enhance fraternal cooperation among member organisations. The central theme of the conference, Together, Serving out of Love – Strengthening our Fraternal Cooperation envisions uniting member organisations with a shared vision when carrying out the humanitarian and development works of Caritas in local communities throughout the world.

As a Confederation, Caritas brings together 162 national member organisations that operate in 200 countries and territories. Each member organisation shares the mission of serving, accompanying, and defending the poor and most vulnerable in our communities.

 Over the last twenty years, Caritas Internationalis has worked to develop partnership principles in order to guide the relationship between Caritas member organisations according to the Confederation’s founding values and principles.

“At a moment when the humanitarian community is reflecting on localisation and local leadership, this conference will be a step forwards to reflect on how to empower the local members who are implementing projects and promoting the dignity of the most vulnerable”, says Aloysius John, Caritas Internationalis’ secretary general.

During this two-day conference, representatives from 64 Caritas member organisations and the seven regional secretariats reflected on both the challenges and good practices to propose strategies and new actions to engage Caritas MO to become more effective in their mission.

This conference took place at a moment when the Caritas member organisations are confronted with the devastating impact of the pandemic aggravated by the negative effects of war and violence on the most vulnerable and the need for creative and coordinated cooperation. The reflections and the discussions on the way forward will help reflect on new strategies for collaboration to combat poverty and save lives.

The outcomes of this conference provide the groundwork for Caritas Internationalis to lead the Confederation towards 2030 and for the upcoming General Assembly to be held next year in May 2023.