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Welcome

You are helping empower people and communities to rise out of poverty

By Caritas Australia

July 2^nd, 2025

Welcome to Caritas Australia

Thank you for becoming our partner in compassion. Your kind gift will help vulnerable people and communities tackle the challenges and adversity caused by poverty. Your gift comes at a time when the need has never been greater. For the first time in more than 20 years, global poverty is on the rise and vulnerable communities need the help of kind and compassionate people like you.

Your support will help ensure that we can continue to work with local partners to deliver programs that support families and communities to thrive. Your support helps build resilience, livelihoods and security, strengthening readiness for whatever challenges the future may bring.

We are so pleased to welcome you to the Caritas Australia community. Your kindness travels far and wide and helps address the injustice of poverty so that families can live with dignity. If you would like to learn more about Caritas Australia and the work that we do, this digital booklet will show you where, why and how you are making a difference. It is your compassion in action.

With gratitude,

Dan Skehan

Programs Director

TOGETHER WE ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Samoa may be surrounded by water, but access to clean drinking water is scarce in some areas. As a result, many families face extreme hardship and an increased risk of waterborne disease.

Leaia lives with her five children, husband, brother, and sister-in-law on the island of Upolu.

Their home is resourcefully constructed from scrap materials collected from a nearby recycling facility. But with no connection to a piped water system, they used to rely solely on rainwater collected in old fridges.

In recent years, the uncertainty in rainfall has become an increasing worry for Leaia and her family, as they face longer dry seasons and briefer rainy seasons.

When their water ran out, Leaia had to walk with her young children to collect water in buckets from a neighbour down the street.

“When it was very hot, there was not much water. It became difficult for me to collect, plus it was far. Without water, we can’t do any of our daily activities. We rely heavily on water to live.”

Thanks to kind supporters like you, our local partner, Caritas Samoa, installed a water tank for Leaia and her family. They now have a steady supply of clean drinking water. Next year, they will also have a toilet built, which will further improve their health and living conditions.

“We are very thankful and grateful for the water tank. It has helped us so much and made our daily life easier.”

For Leaia and many other families around the world, the gift of access to essential clean water can be life changing.

YOUR COMPASSION IS IMPROVING THE LIVES OF OUR NEIGHBOURS IN THE PACIFIC

HOW YOUR COMPASSION HELPS

You are helping communities like Tupou’s in Tonga to be ready, to respond better and recover stronger from disaster.

It was a gentle morning in Tonga as Tupou wondered if it was the day her grandson might be born. She had been working hard to make sure everything was ready in the home she shared with her family. And suddenly, with a frightening boom, everything changed.

“When we came back in the morning the tsunami was up to my son’s shoulder—and he is six feet tall. All the debris and seawater were inside my house.”

Since the eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano and the subsequent tsunami, many families and communities are still recovering and rebuilding from the devastation. The damage was both physical and psychological.

In the immediate aftermath, Caritas Australia’s partner, Caritas Tonga, was there with emergency support for Tupou and her community. Through the generosity of supporters like you, Caritas Australia is now working with these local partners to assist long-term recovery and to build resilience.

Thanks to the compassion of our supporters, a permanent evacuation centre and a warehouse to store essential emergency supplies is now under construction. Counselling and training are helping Tupou and her community to recover from the trauma and build resilience to be better prepared for future disasters.

As she proudly introduced us to her now two-year-old baby grandson, Tupou told us,

“I feel better prepared, mentally, physically and spiritually.”

Your generosity truly changes lives.

You are helping hardworking people like Priscilla to lift themselves out of poverty.

Priscilla lives with her husband Charles and their two grandchildren, Obry and Jayden, in the Hwange region of Zimbabwe. They are farmers who have been battling an intense drought for over five years.

The impact of extreme changes in the weather is making life even harder for families like Priscilla’s. As crops fail and livestock die, normally resilient families have become more vulnerable to hunger and financial insecurity.

In communities like Priscilla’s, generous gifts like yours support programs that deliver urgent assistance and drive lasting change for individuals and their communities.

Along with other members of her community, Priscilla has learned about conservation farming to grow more nutritious and drought-resistant crops. From an increased harvest, she has been able to buy hens, whose eggs now provide income to support her family.

You are also helping to improve access to clean and safe water in remote communities. These essential programs support positive social change, especially for women like Priscilla.

POVERTY IS NOT JUST ABOUT LOW-INCOME

The World Bank defines poverty as living on less than $2.79 a day. But poverty is not just about low income—it is often about a lack of access to essential services, goods, and support.

Your generous support of Caritas Australia means you stand alongside people facing the most challenging of circumstances—including natural disasters, extreme weather, armed conflict, displacement, and more. You stand with our local partners to put your compassion into action.

You are helping to provide the resources and support people need to overcome adversity and alleviate suffering and poverty. You are empowering individuals, families, and communities to lift themselves from poverty and build a better future.

We are putting your compassion into action to create positive, lasting change for vulnerable communities.

Here is how:

1 You make it possible for us to work with local communities and partners to design community development programs around their needs.

2 We ensure programs meet all the standards laid out by the Australian Government and the Australian Council for International Development.

3 Your generous donation is allocated to a program where it is pooled with other donations from foundations, private donors and/or the Australian Government.

4 Funds are sent to local partners who will implement programs and use their local insights and experience to maximise potential of the program’s success.

5 Our local partners use funds for materials, equipment, training, education and more in village-based and community initiatives.

6 Our local partners regularly report to us to confirm community programs are working towards their objectives.

7 We also visit our programs to assess progress and ensure effective implementation, working together with our local partners and communities.

8 We report back to you and other supporters to show how you are helping to change lives in communities in need around the world.

INSPIRED BY HUMANITY, DRIVEN BY COMPASSION

For 60 years, Caritas Australia has worked hand in hand with the most marginalised communities around the world to confront and overcome the challenges of poverty.

We are the international aid and development agency for the Catholic Church in Australia and we work for all people, anywhere regardless of religion, race, or political beliefs.

Wherever the injustice of poverty needs to be addressed and where the need is greatest, you will find Caritas.

Through the generosity of our broad community of supporters, we partner with local communities in need. In times of crisis such as natural disasters or conflict, we work with our local partners to bring urgent aid to where it is needed most.

In the longer term, we support programs that help communities build on their own strengths and resources to drive transformative and sustainable change. Change that can help people rise out of poverty. This is compassion in action.

Caritas Australia is part of Caritas Internationalis, one of the largest humanitarian networks in the world with over 160 Member Organisations. Working through this global network of local partners and Church networks is what enables us to reach where need is greatest.

As we work together for a just future, we take inspiration from the Catholic Social Teachings. While these are shared by Catholics everywhere, they give universal purpose to our vision of enabling justice, dignity, and hope for humanity.

FOR THE FIRST TIME IN OVER 20 YEARS, POVERTY IS ON THE RISE

Despite a concerted worldwide effort to reduce inequity, the United Nations is reporting that global poverty is on the rise for the first time in more than 20 years.

Your compassionate support of Caritas Australia comes at a time where more families and communities are falling into poverty due to a wide range of factors like crises, conflict, displacement, and extreme weather events—including persistent droughts and flooding rains.

Your ongoing support can help individuals and their communities to rise up against the injustice of poverty.

Thank you, once again, for becoming an essential part of our team as our partner in compassion. Together, we are a powerful force for change. We look forward to working with you to put compassion into action and achieving good things for those most in need.

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