CARE Overview
What We Do
CARE fights global poverty. We focus our efforts on girls and women because they are disproportionately affected by poverty. But we also know they are the key to fighting it.
Our more than seven decades of experience have shown us that when you empower a girl or a woman, she becomes a catalyst, creating ripples of positive change that lift up everyone around her, including other girls, women, boys and men. If we work with local communities to deliver gender equality and give women and girls the chance to fulfill their potential, we will accelerate much faster to that overarching goal.
Girls and women are disproportionately affected by poverty
If everyone started from the same place on the path out of poverty, CARE wouldn’t need to focus on girls and women. But that is not the case.
CARE works alongside poor girls and women to break down barriers that hold them back. CARE engages girls and women at key moments in their lives to help them overcome these disadvantages: at birth with our maternal and infant health programs, at school with our girls’ education and leadership programs and at work with our village savings and loans programs. CARE’s work does not end there. To empower women and girls, we must also address their most critical needs, which is why we also take on food security, climate change, community resilience and emergencies — major challenges for the world’s poor, regardless of gender.
Differentiation
Differentiation and distinctiveness help create successful brands. Our strategic focus on girls and women helps distinguish CARE from other humanitarian organizations. It is therefore essential for our communication and marketing materials to emphasize this focus, without placing a new burden of responsibility on girls or women.
CARE’s programs benefit everyone – including boys and men. However, we should most often tell our story through girls and women.
To establish and nurture our brand, we must present our women-focused message consistently, clearly, repeatedly and over time.
Men and boys are vital to CARE's mission
CARE works with girls and women, but never at the exclusion of boys and men. In fact, CARE’s work is most successful when boys and men are fully engaged. Their involvement leads to sustainable gains. Men and women who belong to more equitable societies are, on average, healthier, more financially secure and better educated.
CARE fights global poverty. We focus our efforts on girls and women because they are disproportionately affected by poverty. But we also know they are the key to fighting it.
Our more than seven decades of experience have shown us that when you empower a girl or a woman, she becomes a catalyst, creating ripples of positive change that lift up everyone around her, including other girls, women, boys and men. If we work with local communities to deliver gender equality and give women and girls the chance to fulfill their potential, we will accelerate much faster to that overarching goal.
Girls and women are disproportionately affected by poverty
If everyone started from the same place on the path out of poverty, CARE wouldn’t need to focus on girls and women. But that is not the case.
CARE works alongside poor girls and women to break down barriers that hold them back. CARE engages girls and women at key moments in their lives to help them overcome these disadvantages: at birth with our maternal and infant health programs, at school with our girls’ education and leadership programs and at work with our village savings and loans programs. CARE’s work does not end there. To empower women and girls, we must also address their most critical needs, which is why we also take on food security, climate change, community resilience and emergencies — major challenges for the world’s poor, regardless of gender.
Differentiation
Differentiation and distinctiveness help create successful brands. Our strategic focus on girls and women helps distinguish CARE from other humanitarian organizations. It is therefore essential for our communication and marketing materials to emphasize this focus, without placing a new burden of responsibility on girls or women.
CARE’s programs benefit everyone – including boys and men. However, we should most often tell our story through girls and women.
To establish and nurture our brand, we must present our women-focused message consistently, clearly, repeatedly and over time.
Men and boys are vital to CARE's mission
CARE works with girls and women, but never at the exclusion of boys and men. In fact, CARE’s work is most successful when boys and men are fully engaged. Their involvement leads to sustainable gains. Men and women who belong to more equitable societies are, on average, healthier, more financially secure and better educated.
CARE has put forth a bold goal of ending poverty in this generation. We will broaden our reach to 200 million people by 2020 in the areas of humanitarian and emergency response, food and nutrition, maternal and child health, and education and work for women and girls.
Our Principles and Approach
To fulfill CARE’s vision and mission, all of CARE’s programs should conform to the following programming principles. These principles must inform and guide, at a fundamental level, the way we work. They are not optional.1
1
Promote Empowerment
We stand in solidarity with poor and marginalized people and support their efforts to take control of their own lives and fulfill their rights, responsibilities and aspirations. We ensure that key participants and organizations representing affected people are partners in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of our programs.
2
Work with Partners
We work with others to maximize the impact of our programs, building alliances and partnerships with those who offer complementary approaches, are able to adopt effective programming approaches on a larger scale and/or have responsibility to fulfill rights and reduce poverty through policy change and enforcement.
3
Ensure Accountability &
Promote Responsibility
We seek ways to be held accountable to poor and marginalized people whose rights are denied. We identify individuals and institutions with an obligation toward poor and marginalized people and support and encourage their efforts to fulfill their responsibilities.
4
Address Discrimination
In our programs and offices, we address discrimination and the denial of rights based on sex, race, nationality, ethnicity, class, religion, age, physical ability, caste, opinion or sexual orientation.
5
Promote the Nonviolent
Resolution of Conflicts
We promote just and nonviolent means for preventing and resolving conflicts at all levels, noting that such conflicts contribute to poverty and the denial of rights.
6
Seek Sustainable Results
As we address underlying causes of poverty and rights denial, we develop and use approaches that ensure our programs result in lasting and fundamental improvements in the lives of the poor and marginalized with whom we work.
Everything we communicate should be consistent with these principles. Communicating these principles in detail depends on your audience.
1Principles as approved by the CI Board, November 2003.