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Caritas Ghana is a charitable organization of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference (GCBC) that operates under the umbrella of the National Catholic Secretariat, the implementing arm of the Bishops’ Conference, established in 1960. There are twenty dioceses and four directorates throughout Ghana: Social Development, Education and Religious Education, Health and Governance, Justice and Peace.

Caritas Ghana works in the following thematic areas: Social Development, Livelihood Promotion, Social Services, Promotion of Social and Environmental Justice, Public Policy Advocacy, Pro-Poor Policy Promotion and Action Research.

His advocacy work on behalf of the poor and for the common good has become central to Caritas Ghana. Examples include his efforts to have the “Right to Health” included in the National Constitutional Review. Caritas Ghana is expanding its work to influence public policies that provide the most vulnerable and excluded groups and individuals with opportunities in line with the Church’s social doctrine. To this end, Caritas Ghana implements strategic dialogue meetings with public and private entities, such as Parliament, government ministers and decentralized bodies, the Presidential Office, and national and local civil society organizations.

Caritas Ghana has implemented an education campaign as part of an advocacy plan to improve education. The Catholic Church is, after the government, the largest provider of educational services in the country. It has created and manages a whole network of educational institutions, from kindergarten to university. Caritas piloted a peer learning plan on best practices in education, published in a “Compendium of Educational Best Practices: A Peer Learning Experience for Educational Managers” (available at www.caritas-ghana.org).

Caritas Ghana is very active in providing emergency relief to victims of conflicts, floods and other types of disasters. The National Catholic Secretariat, in partnership with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is providing relief to internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Ghana as a result of conflicts in neighboring countries. Relief is also provided to victims of natural disasters, through the distribution of vouchers to provide palliative solutions.

Caritas Ghana uses participatory social research tools to collect data on education, health, governance, elections, among other issues. This research is conducted with local community structures such as youth and women’s groups, people with disabilities, traditional authorities and decentralized government services. Based on this research, the results of Caritas Ghana’s “Social Research” work are usually compiled into a monitoring report used for dialogue with the government.

Caritas Ghana seeks support from both local and external partners to promote its institutional development, learning and partnership building. Partners include the Christian Council of Ghana, the Office of the National Chief Imam, STAR-Ghana, UNHCR and members of the Caritas Confederation.