Who we are
Caritas Mongolia is a non-governmental organization (NGO) that works with poor, vulnerable and excluded populations, regardless of gender, race or religion.
We achieved our registration as NGO in 2010, in the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbataar. Today, we operate locally with 23 staff members and 30 volunteers, but we are part of a much larger whole: Caritas Internationalis, a Vatican-based confederation of more than 160 Catholic aid, development and social justice agencies from around the world.
Caritas seeks a world where the voices of the poor are heard and acted upon. This means a world where the poorest and most disadvantaged communities are able to influence the systems, decisions and resources that affect them. Thus, we fight for holding governments, institutions, and global structures fair and accountable.
Our Mission
We facilitate and create integral livelihood opportunities for vulnerable communities. As a professional and sustainable organization, we advocate in partnership with the poor, leveraging local and international volunteers to aid communities in unstable socioeconomic situations. Throughout our programmes, we emphasize six common approaches:
Community Empowerment
Caritas Mongolia promotes the empowerment of people through animation and training, so that they can enhance their role as citizens and organize themselves into dynamic and self-reliant communities, whether in urban or rural areas.
Integral Human Development
As Caritas Mongolia operates on the principle of ‘attention to the whole person’, its program development assesses the different aspects of the person or community requiring support, and their interrelatedness at all levels.
Care for the Environment
Rural livelihoods in Mongolia are regularly disrupted by dzuds, desertification, and the other effects of climate change; and Ulaanbaatar is one of the world’s most polluted cities, especially during winter. CM decided to ‘care for the environment’ in all its work.
Gender
One the key challenges Caritas Mongolia faces is that of gender-based violence. Therefore, our organization prioritizes gender in all its programmes and develops a gender checklist to be used in all our activities.
Disaster Risk Reduction
Investments in disaster risk reduction have shown to have a high cost–benefit impact. Given Mongolia’s vulnerability to the effects of climate change, Caritas Mongolia includes this approach in all of its activities.
Innovation
Caritas Mongolia seeks to grow as an organization that can identify innovative solutions to address the main issues faced by Mongolia’s communities. Innovations can be technical, such as passive solar greenhouse projects, or relate to how programs are delivered.
Our Vision
We place humans front and center, because we want people to live free of poverty in a healthy, secure and fair society. These are the values that we advance within the Mongolian society and the world as a whole:
Human Dignity
Preference for the Poor
Community and the Common Good
Dignity of Work
Stewardship of God’s Creation
Solidarity
Promotion of Peace
Our History
A few landmarks on our journey so far.
1999: We began as a dzud-relief operation in the Uvurkhangai and Tuv provinces of Mongolia.
15 April 2010: We were registered as a local NGO in Ulaanbataar.
2010: The beginning of our first four-year strategic plan.
21 May 2011: We became a full member of Caritas Internationalis.
2014: The beginning of our second four-year strategic plan.
Today: We operate with 24 staff members.
Our Team
Meet the people responsible for the daily operations of Caritas Mongolia.
