For three years now, catastrophic weather extremes, droughts and floods, have ravaged East Africa. Millions of people are suffering from a severe shortage of food and drinking water. With the support of Swiss Solidarity, Caritas Switzerland is providing emergency aid, with the focus on South Sudan, Somaliland, Ethiopia and Kenya.

In the municipalities of Umala, Santiago de Machaca and Calacoto, which are participating in the project, 80% of the population on average have no access to clean drinking water. This means that people fall ill more often...

In the mountainous hinterland of Prizren, many people can only make a living from small-scale farming. The project supports 250 families in berry and honey production and gathering of herbs, and provides advice to four producer organisations.

This project focuses on the north of Bangladesh, where the situation regarding water resources is most precarious. Caritas’ successful work in recent years in this region continues with activities such as the construction of latrines, hygiene campaigns and training for cultivation methods adapted to the scarce water resources.

For quite some time now, Ethiopia has been investing heavily in education, so today, many young people are able to attend school. However, the infrastructure of the buildings often leaves much to be desired. Caritas installs sanitation in selected schools and provides a basic water infrastructure. In addition, using playful learning methods, it tea...

Many young women leave their home villages to work in Delhi as domestic workers. There, they are often exploited or even abused. Caritas has built a self-help organisation with 4,000 members and offers training and legal advice.

The majority of Mali’s population are smallholder farmers who mainly practise subsistence agriculture. The increasing number of droughts, floods and pest infestations leads to ever more frequent crop shortfalls and threatens people’s food security. In the Mopti region, the project aims to safeguard the basic food requirements over the long term. Th...

The Sahel zone is characterised by structural poverty and chronic food insecurity. Changing climatic conditions and swarms of locusts jeopardise agricultural production, there is a lack of technical equipment, adapted seed and appropriate knowledge. The project improves the nutritional situation of the rural population. The families learn about new...

The main thrust of Caritas Switzerland’s programme in Colombia is centred on dealing with the conflict and the country’s peacebuilding process, which will continue to dominate the national agenda over the coming years. Another focus is given to addressing migration, as well as measures which increase and mitigate impacts of climate change. 

The overarching objectives of the Ethiopia Country Programme are to contribute to combating the root causes of poverty, especially for the marginalised strata of the rural population, and to create opportunities by using a participatory approach to enable smallholders to live in a sustainable way.

Since mid-2015, well over 2 million refugees have come to Europe. Many of them were fleeing from the war in Syria. Their living conditions in Europe are often deplorable. Caritas Switzerland is providing humanitarian aid to refugees in Greece.  

The overall objective of Caritas Switzerland's country programme in Haiti is to contribute to poverty alleviation. This contribution focuses on equitable development of the agricultural sector, access to quality education and, if necessary, emergency aid.

In India, Caritas Switzerland works in the fields of Climate Change Adaption & Disaster Risk Reduction, Food Security & Markets and Migration.

Caritas Switzerland's engagement in Kenya focuses on the fields of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) and Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction (CC&DRR). In addition, we provide humanitarian aid in case of emergencies.

In April 2015, a devastating earthquake claimed the lives of thousands of people in Nepal and destroyed hundreds of thousands of houses and 7,000 schools. Caritas Switzerland’s approach is to intervene with rapid emergency relief, but also to provide long-term support. The reconstruction of earthquake-resistant schools ensures that children have a ...

The overall goal of Caritas Switzerland in Kosovo is to contribute to poverty reduction, to support marginalised communities and to offer alternatives to migration, through the creation of job opportunities, sustainable living conditions, and quality education.

Mali is a country highly exposed to climate change in terms of changing temperatures and precipitation. It has to cope with the risks of events such as droughts, floods and epidemics, which reduce the resilience of the rural population. The Mali country programme 2017-2020 contributes to alleviating poverty and improving food and nutrition security...

Tajikistan is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change. Through judicious application of evidence, participatory learning and sound environmental underpinnings, Caritas Switzerland's programme in Tajikistan focuses on improving agricultural livelihoods within mountainous environments, while simultaneously reducing vulnerability to nat...

The overall objective of Caritas Switzerland’ programme in Uganda is the socio-economic empowerment and integration of vulnerable youth and other at-risk populations so as to enable genuine human development.