Caritas Asia is a pan-Asian nonprofit organisation and one of the seven regions of the global Caritas Internationalis confederation. Caritas Asia refers both to its regional secretariat, based in Bangkok and its network with 25 member organisation.
Background
Caritas Asia's predecessor was the Asia Partnership for Human Development, founded in 1973 and bringing together more than 23 Catholic development organisations from Asia and the West.
The current structure was established in 1999 during the general assembly of Caritas Internationalis in Rome, where the request of its Asian member organisation to create a regional secretariat was approved. The goal of Caritas Asia is to coordinate the work of its member organisations, especially in the context of responses to natural disaster, as well as to strengthen the technical capacities of the network.
Membership
Caritas Asia consists of 25 national member organisations operating in 24 Asian countries. In Singapore, there are two member organisations: Caritas Singapore and Caritas Humanitarian Aid & Relief Initiatives (CHARIS). Not all Asian national Caritas organisations are members of Caritas Asia; those in the Middle East, despite being geographically located in Asia, such as Caritas Jordan, Caritas Iraq and Caritas Iran, are members of Caritas Middle East and North Africa, while Caritas of Armenia, Georgia, Russia and Turkey are part of Caritas Europa.
The membership of Caritas Asia is further grouped under four subregions, each having their own sub-regional office. These are Central Asia with an office in Kyrgyzstan, East Asia with an office in Macau, South Asia with an office in Sri Lanka and South-East Asia with an office in Singapore.
List of Member Organisations
Sub-region Country Member organisation Established South Asia Caritas Bangladesh 1967 South East Asia Caritas Cambodia 1972 East Asia Caritas Hong Kong 1953 South Asia Caritas India 1962 South East Asia Caritas Indonesia (Karina KWI) 2006 East Asia Caritas Japan 1946 Central Asia Caritas Kazakhstan 1997 Central Asia Caritas Kyrgyzstan 2011 South East Asia Caritas LaosCaritas Laos and Caritas Uzbekistan are member organisations of Caritas Asia, but not of Caritas Internationalis. ? East Asia Caritas Macau 1951 South East Asia Caritas Malaysia 2020 Central Asia Caritas Mongolia 2000 South East Asia Caritas Myanmar (KMSS) 2001 South Asia Caritas Nepal 1990 South Asia Caritas Pakistan 1965 South East Asia Caritas Philippines (NASSA) 1966 South East Asia Caritas Singapore 2006 South East Asia CHARIS 2010 East Asia Caritas Korea 1975 South Asia Caritas Sri Lanka 1968 East Asia Caritas Taiwan 1969 Central Asia Caritas Tajikistan 2007 South East Asia Caritas Thailand 1972 South East Asia Caritas Timor Leste 1999 Central Asia Caritas Uzbekistan 2002 South East Asia Caritas Vietnam 1965
Leadership Presidents ... 2007–2011: Joseph Vianney Fernando 2011–2019: Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi 2019–2023: Benedict Alo D'Rozario 2023–now: Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi
Regional Coordinators ... 2008–2012: Fr. Bonnie Mendes 2012–2023: Eleazar Gomez 2023–now: Shimray Mungreiphy
References
External links