General Information about Caritas Transcarpathia

Caritas Transcarpathia started to operate in 1993. Today it is a network of non-governmental organizations in Transcarpathia aiming to help people in the region who struggle with social and financial difficulties. Our organization belongs to the local Roman Catholic Church, which is based on the traditional Christian foundations of charity work and care for the needy. However, help is not only provided for members of the Catholic Church. The organization assists everybody in need regardless of religious views or national background.

The work of Caritas Transcarpatia was started after the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Ukraine lost most of its commercial connections following the declaration of independence. As a consequence, factories and plants were closed down, and unemployment increased significantly. As humanitarian aid started to pour in from Western Europe, an organization was needed to be established to administer the aid and ensure fair distribution.

However, it soon became apparent that foreign aid would not offer longterm solution to the social problems in the region. With the provision of mere financial support, Caritas would not contribute to human development on the long run. Therefore, Caritas started projects that aim at making people more independent and financially stable thus helping them live a more dignified life.

Our organization is looking for solutions to the most striking social problems working with various groups of people (addicted, elderly, sick, phisically and mentally disabled, street children, and families struggling with social problems).

In the past few years, Caritas has realized several social projects with the help of foreign partners. Our organization is not only in need of financial help. We would not have been able to launch and successfully run our projects without the professional support of our foreign partners, who shared their experience, their know-how with us thus contributing to our work and improvement.

The current goal of Caritas Transcarpathia is to become more independent in its work, although this process is a slow and lengthy one due to Ukraine's bad economic conditions, corrupt administration as well as widespread poverty. In this transition period, we need much support.