Program:
HIV and AIDS
- Budget:
-
$166,818,000
- Category:
-
Diseases, Disorders & Medical Disciplines
- Population Served:
-
General Public/Unspecified
Program Description:
Catholic Relief Services' HIV and AIDS programming is a central and growing component of our efforts to relieve suffering in the world.
Program Long-Term Success:
Catholic Relief Services' HIV and AIDS programming is part of our commitment to provide health and medical services to those in need.
Program Short-Term Success:
CRS and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops contributed to the bipartisan effort in Congress to pass a renewal of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. CRS provided our experience and expertise toward the new PEPFAR legislation, which authorizes $48 billion over the next five years to respond to HIV and AIDS. The legislation recognizes that a successful response to this pandemic means addressing related nutritional needs, building up local health infrastructure, and taking on diseases like tiberculosis and malaria, which make the successful treatment of HIV and AIDS even more difficult.
Program Success Monitored by:
In total, CRS supported 280 HIV projects in 62 countries in 2008. CRS and our partners focused on education and palliative care while helping those left behind as the disease took its toll. That work continued as CRS reached more than 650,000 orphans and vulnerable children last year.
Program Success Examples:
Since the program began in 2004, AIDSRelief has delivered HIV care and treatment to 505,921 individuals. In fiscal year 2010, the consortium passed an important milestone, handing over management of AIDSRelief's PEPFAR program in South Africa to CRS' local partner, the South African Catholic Bishops' Conference. CRS supported more than 650,000 orphans and vulnerable children in 2010.
Program:
Emergency
- Budget:
-
$272,766,000
- Category:
-
Public Safety, Disaster Services
- Population Served:
-
General Public/Unspecified
Program Description:
Catholic Relief Services continues to provide lifesaving food and supplies to fortify countless survivors of natural disasters as they rebuild their lives.
Program Long-Term Success:
CRS' emergency programs are helping people prepare for disasters on an unexpected and unprecedented scale and agricultural programs are adapting to new and less predictable weather conditions.
Program Short-Term Success:
Cash-for-work programs enable disaster survivors to rebuild while earning an income and stimulating the local economy.
Program Success Monitored by:
In early 2010, a massive Earthquake struck Haiti. CRS fed more than a million people, provided emergency shelter to about 275,000, provides an average of 375,000 gallons of clean water per month, and supported more than 900 emergency surgeries and 64,000 medical consultations.
Program Success Examples:
In 2008, a series of hurricanes and tropical storms devastated the Caribbean. An estimated 2.5 million tons of mud and sludge caked the streets, homes, churches and schools of Gonaives, Haiti. CRS worked with our partner Caritas Haiti. We hired local workers as part of a cash-for-work program to clear the school and 35 others of the storms' muddy aftermath. The wages earned by cash-for-work laborers stimulated the local economy and provided residents the freedom to purchase essentials while their efforts restored the community and allowed children to resume their studies.
Program:
Agriculture
- Budget:
-
$126,941,000
- Category:
-
Food, Agriculture & Nutrition
- Population Served:
-
Adults
Program Description:
Catholic Relief Services works through local partner agencies to implement agriculture and environment programs for the poorest families and rural communities worldwide.
Program Long-Term Success:
The agency's long-term goal is to strengthen the capacity of local agencies and farm communities to take control of their own development.
Program Short-Term Success:
CRS' immediate goal is to improve family well-being through agro-economic development and environmental stewardshithe Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda protect cassava- a critical source of food an income- from two devastating diseases.
Program Success Monitored by:
CRS and its partners work with the poorest farm families and communities, as well as with laborers, the landless, and victims of natural disasters in 34 countries worldwide. As landholding size and production decreases in many countries, seasonal migration by men increases, which means CRS is working with more women farmers and young adults. We also collaborate with national and international agricultural research institutes to make sure that new technologies and practices are available to our farmer partners.
Program Success Examples:
One noteworthy success is our project in Tanzania, where 3,800 small-scale farmers are growing an improved variety of chickpeas as a marketable export crothese farmers were able to access microfinance support through their involvement in savings groups. This enables them to leverage economies of scale in both production and marketing, leading to increased net income for their families.
Program:
Health
- Budget:
-
$87,253,000
- Category:
-
Health Care
- Population Served:
-
General Public/Unspecified
Program Description:
Catholic Relief Services take an integrated approach to health assistance. To promote lifesaving interventions in each of the countries in which we serve, CRS engages a variety of partners, including the local Church and ministries of health.
Program Long-Term Success:
Communities owning and managing their own health needs ensure that even the most vulnerable have the means to live healthy lives.
Program Short-Term Success:
One of the first steps in solidifying the health of a community is to ensure safe motherhood and child survival. To avoid preventable maternal and child deaths during pregnancy, CRS promotes interventions proven to reduce them. In all our projects, CRS encourages exclusive breastfeeding to age 6 months, and from 6 months through early childhood, sound nutrition and wellness practices for caregivers of young children. Vaccines are another big component of CRS' integrated approach to community health.
Program Success Monitored by:
During 2008, CRS managed 123 health projects worldwide in more than 29 countries. Women, mothers and young children are the primary beneficiaries, but CRS projects incorporate wellness-focused activities for men, grandparents and community leaders as well.
Program Success Examples:
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, CRS supports clinics with the distribution of vaccines and awareness campaigns that encourage immunizations. In India and Angola, CRS is working on programs to eradicate polio, and in Niger, Benin, and The Gambia, we are working to prevent the spread of malaria- the leading cause of death for children under the age of 5 in sub-Saharan Africa- through the use of insecticide-treated bed nets.
Program:
Education
- Budget:
-
$56,979,000
- Category:
-
Education
- Population Served:
-
Children and Youth (infants - 19 years.)
Program Description:
CRS and its partners promote and support access to quality basic education for all.
Program Long-Term Success:
School feeding programs also help meet long-term education and food security objectives. Over time, investments in education, especially for girls, have been shown to improve family health and incomes and help ensure food security for future generations.
Program Short-Term Success:
In the short-term, school feeding encourages children to enroll in school and attend regularly because they receive a meal at school. Through the school meal, children receive essential nutrients, which improve their ability to learn. This meal is also an incentive for parents to send their children to school because they know their children will eat well at school, and they will not have to use limited family funds and time to prepare a midday meal.
Program Success Monitored by:
According to the United Nations, 75 million children of primary school age are not in school. Girls are at a particular disadvantage. Education opportunities for boys far exceed those for girls in much of southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. CRS supports education programs in more than 60 countries worldwide in Africa, Asia, Latin American and the Caribbean, the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Every day, more than 1million children around the world attend a school supported by CRS.
Program Success Examples:
A CRS education project in the Palestinian territories worked with 1,470 students, as well as school administrators, teacher, parents and community members, to create learning environments designed to promote democratic citizenship, social responsibility and justice, and peace. Youth learned nonviolent ways to manage the anger, frustration, and isolation they so often feel as a result of their environment, which is brimming with conflict.