Participation
Working together for a better world
Overview
Participation is a call to engage fully and consciously in society.
Caritas Europa believes that everybody can help shape society by contributing their ideas, and expressing their needs and expectations.
We therefore work to empower Caritas staff, volunteers and the general public to engage in communities and to advance together the common good.
Why do we need this?
Caritas Europa embeds participation in all its actions since we believe that every person can play a unique role in shaping society and social welfare by volunteering and being active in their communities.
Participation is about supporting others in their decision-making and their activities, helping them discover their talents and empowering them to express their opinions.
Participation also means that we do the best we can to make our communities as friendly and as welcoming as possible by establishing spaces for real encounter.
In this way, we are helping to shape a world filled with love, peace and justice.
How does it work?
The Caritas Europa grassroots participation handbook “Small steps, big differences” develops a vision on how and why participation is rooted in our work at all levels. The handbook also has an overview of methodologies and tools used to facilitate participation as well as examples of good practices from different countries.
The handbook itself is an example of participation as it was written together with Caritas staff who provide services for people experiencing poverty, exclusion and inequality.
The participants of the Grassroots Participation Learning Path, coming from different levels in different Caritas organisations, contributed to the development of the Grassroots Participation Roadmap. Drawing from the practical knowledge of our member organisations ensures that the Roadmap is grounded in real-life experiences and based on actual case studies.
The Roadmap aims at sharing tools and supporting the exchange of expertise and inspiring further action between Caritas organisations and local communities on participatory practices and processes.
The Parish Social Ministries Programme (PSM) started more than 20 years ago. It initially involved Caritas organisations in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Serbia and Slovenia and resulted in a practical manual. Today, the support to Parish level Caritas organisations is developing in many other countries.
The goal is to recognise the importance of Caritas organisations’ work (Diakonia) at grassroots level and to promote a network of parish Caritas organisations capable of responding effectively to local needs. By this, we hope to develop a common approach to fighting poverty, promoting volunteerism and animating communities to put faith into action.
All work with parish Caritas organisations is done in close cooperation with the local church in line with Pope Bendict XVI’s Motu Proprio “intima Ecclesiae natura” and inspired by Pope Francis’ Encyclical Letter “Laudato Si”
Download manuals
FROM CARITAS MEMBERS
Ask an expert
Marc Somers
Institutional Development Director
Tel: +32 (0)2 235 26 57
Mob: +32 (0)478 44 09 61
msomers@caritas.eu
