CARITAS FINLAND ACTIVITY REPORT 2013

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1 CARITAS FINLAND ACTIVITY REPORT 2013 Suomen Caritas ry, Caritas Finland is a Catholic aid organization founded in It works among people and ethnic groups that are most vulnerable and in threat of social exclusion. As a member of Caritas Internationalis, Caritas Finland is part of the worldwide Caritas network. The various European Caritas branches form a strong advocacy work network within the EU area. The office for Caritas Finland is located in the Kruununhaka district of Helsinki, at Maneesikatu 2a. A Caritas shop operates alongside the office. It sells monastery products from the Carmelite monastery in Myllyjärvi, as well as monasteries in Spain and France. The organization employs Ms Sirpa Monteiro as part-time secretary. In addition to sales, funding for Caritas projects comes from various collections, bazaars, and campaigns, as well as membership fees and support payments. A 5-euro Club has been set up to increase fundraising. In 2013, the organization had 220 members. Caritas Finland is a registered association whose power to act and decide rests with the board of directors. According to the rules, the members of the board are elected for two years at the time and the elections are spaced so that half of the board is set to resign each year. The chairperson is elected annually. In 2013 the board met six times and the annual meeting was held on 25th April in St. Henry s Parish Hall. Board of Directors : Larissa Franz-Koivisto (chairperson), Mari Malm (deputy chair), Karin Pessi (Secretary), Klaus Damstén (Treasurer), Helena Langinvainio, Gloria Lapitan and Joyce Suokas. Father Wieslaw Swiech acted as the moderator. Gloria Lapitan and Joyce Suokas were set to resign in Board of Directors : Larissa Franz-Koivisto (chairperson), Mari Malm (deputy chair), Karin Pessi (Secretary), Klaus Damstén (Treasurer), Elie El-Khouri, Mervi Hopia, Helena Langinvainio, Gloria Lapitan, and Joyce Suokas. Father Wieslaw Swiech will act as the moderator. Klaus Damstén, Helena Langinvainio, Mari Malm, and Karin Pessi are set to resign in Kari Miettinen (KHT) acts as auditor and Pirjo Uronen as deputy auditor.

2 EVENTS AND FUNDRAISERS Caritas Finland participated in the World Village festival on 25-26th May in Helsinki, the Market of Possibilities event on 8th of June in Tampere and the St Thomas' Christmas Market on December 7-22 at Senate Square in Helsinki. All the events were carried out with volunteer participation. The largest event was at the St Thomas' Christmas Market, which included 22 volunteers over a period of 16 days. The organization arranged a membership evening on 28th of February, where the theme was Immigrants and Entrepreneurship. A fundraising theatre evening was arranged at the Finnish National Theatre. The traditional Palm Sunday Bazaar and November market were held at the Cathedral s Parish Hall. Sales events were also arranged at St Bridget's, St Mary's, St Olav's, and Holy Cross parishes. The Lenten Collection s theme in 2013 was Care and Qualitative Services (Valistusta ja turvallisia palveluja in Finnish and Upplysning och trygg service in Swedish). The collection was used to support the women s shelter Ariadna in Moldova. The proceeds of the Lenten Collection amounted to 12, To support the Lenten Collection, Lenten bread was sold on Ash Wednesday at the churches in Helsinki. The Advent Collection s theme in 2013 was Winter Aid for Syria (Lämpöä Syyrian talveen in Finnish and Värme till Syrien för vintern in Swedish). The collection went towards supporting Caritas joint project in helping Syrian refugees from unrest and to survive the cold winter in their home country. The collection raised 6,833.64, of which 1,500 was set aside for domestic use. The ongoing emergency relief collection raised 1,690 during the year. Of Caritas Finland s emergency aid fundraising, 6, was sent to Syria through Caritas Internationalis. In 2013, a separate emergency relief collection was held for the rebuilding of disaster areas in the Philippines struck by Typhoon Haiyan on November 8. Bishop Teemu Sippo SCJ gave an emotional appeal on behalf of the victims of the storm and the Filipino community in Finland responded actively to the appeal, which raised 10, The aid to the Philippines was directed via Caritas Internationalis. DEVELOPMENT AID PROJECTS A proportion of the projects is financed through the government s development/humanitarian aid funds. Caritas share of the funding is 15% and the remaining 85% comes from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Volunteer participation in the development aid projects can be counted towards the Caritas self-financing. During the past year, its worth was 2,508.

3 Healthy living through access to safe drinking water in the Municipality of Sapahaqui in Bolivia Caritas Corocoro ( ). Caritas Finland has coordinated the project in cooperation with Caritas Switzerland. At the end of 2011, it was discovered that there were discrepancies in the use of funds by the partner organization Mosoj Causay, and the partnership with Mosoj Causay was terminated. A new partnership was formed with Caritas Corocoro which has 10 years of experience in facilitating water projects in the region. Finland s role in the project is to be responsible for the water systems of two villages, Sixilla Baja and Candiali. The villages are located between 2,300 and 2,660 meters above sea level. A drill well is used to supply drinking water and irrigation to the indigenous families of these hard-to-reach mountainous areas. The project also supports the village community s social development activities on hygiene issues, and advances the position of women. The project s scope includes a total of 1415 villagers. The project support was 43,162. CENTRE ARIADNA SUPPORTING WOMEN IN CRISIS SITUATIONS, MOLDOVA Local facilitator: Moldovan non-governmental organization Artemida The project supports the Centre Ariadna women s shelter, which helps victims of domestic violence and human trafficking. The shelter's services were commenced in 2010 with the support of Caritas Finland. This shelter in the Northern Moldovian city of Drochia has become a leading example in all of Moldova on how women can be directed towards a more independent life by giving them financial and legal advice, as well as psychosocial support. The shelter can support 10 mothers with children at a time, for a maximum period of 6 months. During 2013, 45 mothers and their children received aid. A mobile team of social workers, psychologists and legal services provided aid to women living in more distant areas. It has helped 106 mothers and children suffering from domestic violence. The project was monitored by Caritas Finland in October. The project support was 40,622. ST. CYPRIAN CHAVANOD COLLEGE IN KASANA LUWEERO DIOECESE, UGANDA Local facilitator: The Sisters of the Cross of Chavanod A sponsorship programme was started in 2003 to support AIDS orphans. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Finland supported the project for several years and the last of funds to be reported to the Foreign Ministry were used in At first, studies were supported at several different primary schools. Since 2009, support has been focused towards St. Cyprian Chavanod College, which is a 4-year secondary school.

4 Especially motivated students are chosen for the school, most of whom need financial support in order to pay their tuition fees. The annual fee for children is 150 for the daytime school and 220 for the boarding school. The school s curriculum includes English, mathematics, chemistry, physics, biology, geography, history and religion. In addition to these, elective courses are offered in finance, accounting, agriculture and the native language Luganda. In the past year, the project supported 13 boarding school students, as well as one graduate student, and paid for the entry fees of national degrees. Fifteen pulpits were obtained for the classrooms and five bunk beds for the dormitories. A garden plot started for the school s dietary needs produced onions, beans, cassava, mango, bananas, and other fruits. The students were in charge of the upkeep of the garden during their free-time. In addition, students boarding at the school received a daily morning and evening meal. Caritas Finland will continue the support of underprivileged students through the aid of project sponsors. St. Cyprian Chavanod College support was 5,000. COOPERATION WITH NEIGHBOURING AREAS During the past year, clothes, linens, household supplies and toys were delivered to Russian Karelia and Estonia s Tartu. They were distributed in partnership with Filantropia rf to poor families with children, orphanages, homes for the elderly and a hospital in Vyborg. IMMIGRATION WORK The organization helps and advises immigrants. Financial support is mainly directed towards the immigrants own events and participation fees for parish events. The immigration work is still being developed so that each parish would have a named Caritas contact person. The contact persons met in Helsinki in March. A service directory has been compiled for each district. The information can be found on the Caritas website. The Myanmar Catholic Community in Europe arranged its annual international summer event for 2013 in Helsinki during July. Out of the 140 Burmese participants at the event, about 100 were from Finland and 40 from different parts of Europe. The event was aimed towards youth and young adults, who were given the opportunity to spend a week becoming familiar with their own culture and religion. The seminar culminated in a final celebration, which was attended by Bishop Stephen Tjephen of Myanmar and our Bishop Teemu Sippo. Caritas Finland supported the organisation of the event financially as well as with practical help, such as with the arranging of the event venue. The immigration work was supported in various ways with 2,

5 ADVOCACY AND COMMUNICATIONS WORK The main partners in advocacy work are Kepa and Caritas Europa. In 2013, an appeal to raise the development cooperation aid to 0.7% was submitted to the Finnish government and a lobbying letter written by Caritas Europa on behalf of development work was conveyed to Heidi Hautala, Minister for International Development. In addition, we participated in the joint working of development aid organizations at the UN s 68 th General Assembly. Caritas Europa s social policy working group began the preparation of their shadow report, Europe 2020 Shadow Report, in connection with the EU s Europe 2020 strategy. Along with the other Caritas branches, Caritas Finland has participated in the writing of the shadow report. Each Caritas has reported on their country s social policy questions, such as finances, unemployment, social exclusion, and immigration. The Nordic Caritas branches have intensified their cooperation and meet annually. During the past year, Caritas Denmark acted as the conference s host in Copenhagen. The executive director of Caritas Denmark Jann Sjursen visited Finland in the spring to discuss an increase in partnership between the Finnish and Danish Caritas branches, especially for development cooperation projects. The organization s communications channels are its own improved website its new profiles on Facebook (facebook.com/suomencaritas) and Twitter (twitter.com/caritasfinland), opened in the past year, and the diocesan magazine Fides.