The Ethiopian Catholic Church (ECC) – or Caritas Ethiopia – was founded in 1965 and was registered with the Ethiopian Government in 2000. Its mandate is to initiate, promote and coordinate the social and pastoral activities of the Universal Church in Ethiopia. Today, the Ethiopian Catholic Church (ECC) programmes have developed to respond to the ever increasing needs of the Ethiopian people.
Caritas Ethiopia operates at the community and national level to provide humanitarian assistance, emergency aid and security, social rehabilitation, water and sanitation, health and HIV/AIDS education, capacity building programmes and campaigns for women in development.
Supplementing its humanitarian aid are developmental programmes that provide people with long-term solutions to the recurrent and chronic incidences of drought.
[mappress mapid= »21″]
In 2012 Caritas Ethiopia implemented a rehabilitation and recovery project to improve resilience capacity to risk and disasters. It produced improvements in access to water, hygiene and sanitation practices, crop and livestock production and soil and water conservation. Over 60 000 households in 4 regions in Ethiopia benefitted. Caritas Ethiopia also campaigns to address the growing concern of migration.
Caritas Ethiopia’s main office is in Addis Ababa and employs a staff of 95. In addition, there are 12 diocesan secretariats and 256 parishes working throughout the country.
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 such as Caritas Italy, Catholic Relief Services USA, Caritas Belgium, Caritas Spain, Caritas England and Wales, Caritas Ireland, Caritas Netherlands, Caritas Scotland, Caritas Germany, Caritas Switzerland, members of Caritas Africa, Caritas Korea, Caritas Austria, Caritas Denmark, Caritas Czech Republic, Caritas France and Caritas Canada.