Caritas Europa and Caritas Asia meet in Astana for their first joint emergency training

From 8 to 10 September 2026, Caritas Europa and Caritas Asia held their first joint event: a training on emergency response delivered in Russian. Hosted by Caritas Kazakhstan in Astana, it brought together representatives from three European Caritas organisations (Belarus, Latvia and Russia) and four from Caritas Asia: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. The training provided an opportunity for participants from these regions to exchange experience and strengthen practical capacities, with Russian serving as a shared working language that facilitated communication and participation throughout the programme.

In all of these countries, Caritas has long experience of supporting people and communities facing poverty, exclusion and other forms of hardship. The three-day training aimed to strengthen their readiness for emergencies such as natural or human-induced disasters. As a confederation, Caritas has considerable expertise in humanitarian action and in delivering quality responses to disaster-affected populations. But a disaster – particularly an unexpected one – can severely disrupt an organisation’s own functioning. Having the necessary policies and procedures in place before it strikes is what allows a Caritas to respond without being overwhelmed or losing precious time. Participants also examined the risks their organisations may face in an emergency, identifying existing capacities and areas where further preparedness could strengthen their response.

“None of these organisations is starting from zero; they have been accompanying people in difficulty for decades. What we worked on here is making sure that experience holds up under the pressure of a sudden disaster. Not everyone has dedicated emergency staff, and emergencies do not happen often. But when one does, we need to be ready to respond with the means we have.”

Anahit Mkhoyan, trainer and former Director of Caritas Georgia

The training covered three phases: preparedness, response and closure. On preparedness, the participants learned about the support available from the Caritas Internationalis secretariat in Rome, including coordination assistance for a Caritas in distress, and about the value of formalising financial and operational procedures in advance. A response should never be improvised: it follows a sequence of needs assessment, planning and design, and must meet international standards such as Sphere and the Core Humanitarian Standards (CHS). The training also highlighted the importance of monitoring and clear communication throughout an emergency response, helping organisations track developments, coordinate action and keep partners and affected communities informed. Closure was the third focus: ending support without leaving people stranded, or moving into a recovery phase.

Throughout the three days, participants worked on a single fictional scenario: a landslide emergency, and how their own organisation would respond to it.

The training comes as Caritas Internationalis – the global confederation of which Caritas Europa and Caritas Asia are two of seven regional entities – reviews its approach to emergency response. A new Emergency Response Manual is expected in 2027, better adapted to changing geopolitical realities and to the needs of member organisations worldwide. The Astana training already drew on some of the new material, including the forthcoming Caritas Internationalis Humanitarian Response Guide.

Caritas Europa and Caritas Asia warmly thank Fr. Tomasz Pys, Director of Caritas Kazakhstan, and his team for hosting the training, as well as Archbishop Tomasz Peta and Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider of the Archdiocese of Mary Most Holy in Astana for meeting participants at the opening.

“It is a joy to see Caritas from so many countries gathered here in Astana. What unites you is greater than the distances between you.”

Archbishop Tomasz Peta

The training forms part of Caritas Europa’s 2021–2028 strategy, which aims to strengthen member organisations’ disaster preparedness and response. This was a first, and Caritas Europa plans to run similar trainings in English for the rest of its member organisations.