Women are one of the main pillars where the solidarity work of Cáritas is supported throughout the country. Not only because the vast majority of our volunteers are women, but also because, with their deep sensitivity, their maternal gaze and their unwavering commitment in the face of adversity, they offer irreplaceable humanity and closeness in the complex task of providing assistance in the realities more difficult.
In Cáritas, the tasks of caring for food assistance spaces are assumed by the women of the neighborhoods themselves. Our mission is to care for the sacred value of life, from a perspective of justice, dignity, autonomy and inclusion.
For this reason, we assume food as a fundamental right that must be guaranteed and we work to manage and plan a more organized and responsible diet to promote healthier nutrition habits.
At the same time, we promote education for healthy eating. With this effort, we want to influence issues such as malnutrition, poor nutrition, nutrition in the first thousand days of life, obesity and also meal planning. Today we are assisting more than 1,500,000 people with food bags or food rations.
Our volunteers also have majority participation in our educational spaces. These are more than 230 spaces, in twenty provinces, which are true centers of reference in the neighborhoods, from which we promote educational inclusion and the integral development of vulnerable people and communities. There, school support, family and sports workshops, a vacation camp, youth volunteering, toy libraries and libraries, among other services, are provided. The main objective is to accompany educational processes of children and adolescents to promote their permanence in the school system. In many spaces, the role of the mothers themselves is remarkable, who prepare and distribute reinforced snacks, capable of replacing a dinner, often absent in families. They are the ones who take ownership of the place, taking care of the children and supporting the spaces, accompanied by representatives from Cáritas who empower them and provide them with tools for the care and education of their children.
In the field of social and solidarity economy, women also have a leading role. At Cáritas we promote an economy centered on life, which generates work spaces, finds solutions to needs, creates networks between people, families and organizations, and produces goods for the community.
For this reason, we encourage and organize projects related to family entrepreneurship, microcredits, equipment, training in trades and food sovereignty through vegetable gardens, seed production and marketing, etc.
Mothers are usually the most concerned about their children having a roof over their heads and, in our participative self-build housing programs, 50% of those who build are women. After the experience of building their own house, they usually continue working in the construction industry, taking advantage of the knowledge acquired.
The solidarity of women in the face of need stands out, maximizing the resources they manage and administer, in order to reach more people. And, when it comes to organizing to obtain the necessary resources, the women of the neighborhoods mobilize all the actors in the territory to commit them to accompanying the initiatives.
The tasks of caring for the weakest, the work in community activities, the actions for the prevention and monitoring of the drug problem, are places where their presence and service are constant, facilitating the performance of multiple activities, adding and training others to build a community where their children can grow up.
The woman in Cáritas is at the heart of its solidarity action and, although we need to continue growing, over time she has a presence in decision-making places. They are the ones who offer their time and service every day to help those who are suffering in their community, who need a plate of food, a word of encouragement or help with their school homework. And, thanks to them, from almost all the parishes and Caritas centers in the country, we are able every day to respond to the specific and urgent needs of families, groups and communities that are in a situation of socioeconomic emergency.
This weekend, June 10 and 11, is the Annual Collecta de Cáritas. We invite you to join https://caritas.org.ar/ to support the work of so many women who silently watch, listen, meet each day, create community and help those who have less.
*Deputy director of Cáritas Argentina. Director of Cáritas Morón.