Caritas Papua New Guinea

Ms Mavis Tito, National Director

The Catholic Commission for Justice, Peace and Development (CCJPD) was established in 1974 under the auspices of The Catholic Bishops Inc. (IPA 5-35 Incorporated Association). It operated under this name until 2001 when it changed to Caritas Papua New Guinea (CPNG) as part of a global universal name used in six Caritas Confederations under the umbrella of Caritas Internationalis. Caritas Internationalis, the world’s second largest humanitarian network collectively has more than 500,000 staff and 20 million volunteers operating through 162 national Caritas agencies in 200 countries and territories.

Caritas PNG is a financial member of both Caritas Internationalis and Caritas Oceania. Alongside Caritas PNG in Oceania are Caritas Fiji, Caritas Samoa, Caritas Tonga, Caritas Australia, Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand and CEPAC (Caritas Pacific Islands).

Together, we work on development, emergency response, climate change and peace building. Collectively, the Caritas network has a wide presence across the Pacific, covering 20 countries.

Caritas PNG’s vision is for the nation to be a just and harmonious society and our mission is to serve the poor to raise their dignity by addressing the underlying causes of poverty, dependence, and inequality, which undermine the true nature of authentic human development in PNG.

In PNG, our coverage is 22 provinces (or 19 dioceses). We have a staff strength of 15 out of 19 coordinators, that is, one per diocese. Of the 15, four are women, a remarkable improvement to zero female appointees in the past. We currently have vacancies in Rabaul, Wabag, Buka and Bereina dioceses.

At the National Office, we have the National Director and two officers under our newly established Migrants and Refugees Program. A fourth officer, hired by Caritas Australia, provides occasional support to our Disaster and Relief Management Program.

We have a Five-Year Strategic Plan 2015-2020 which focuses on five key goals: Integral Human Development (IHD); Peacebuilding; Disaster and Relief Management; Lenten Appeal; Research and Advocacy; and Finance and Administration. Work has commenced on developing the next Five-Year Strategic Plan 2021-2025.

We are currently working on finalizing the following documents by the end of December 2020.