Caritas Congo

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Caritas Congo is a nonprofit organization in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is the aid arm of the Congolese Catholic Church and is part of Caritas Internationalis and Caritas Africa. It was founded in 1960 by the Congolese Bishops Conference to improve people’s lives according to Catholic social teaching. It was registered in 1964 and restructured in 1993.

Caritas Congo operates as the national office, called the Executive Secretariat, coordinating 48 diocesan Caritas offices across the country. These diocesan offices work with about 1,500 parish Caritas and more than 10,000 local units. The organization carries out emergency relief, medical services, and development projects, and it provides a large share of the country’s education.

In 2023, Caritas Congo supported about 2.5 million people with a budget of about 20.3 million USD. Its main areas are prevention and emergency response, health promotion, and sustainable development. The headquarters are in Kinshasa, and the national secretariat employs 62 staff.