We seek to tackle the root causes of poverty and scale-up the impact of our projects through our advocacy work
We seek to tackle the root causes of poverty and scale-up the impact of our projects through our advocacy work
“Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice,” Nelson Mandela once said.
We know that poverty is often caused by injustice – by inequality, exploitation and conflict. We seek to tackle these root causes and scale-up the impact of our projects through our advocacy work.
Our approach is to bring the local to the global. We act as facilitators, communicating the needs of the most marginalised people to policy makers, and supporting local people to do their work.
We lean on the experience and knowledge we have gleaned from our 70 years of humanitarian and development work to inform our conversations with people in positions of power, whether that be local authorities, national governments, regional or global institutions or private sector companies.
CARE’s advocacy works at every level
We work with the police to stop violence against sex workers in Vietnam.
We work with the Cambodian Government to support their own roadmap to reduce maternal and newborn mortality.
We work with garment factories across Asia to improve the working conditions of their female employees.
We work with the Australian Government to enhance multi-million dollar investments in promoting gender equality globally through international forums such as the World Humanitarian Summit, and to strengthen global responses to support people in emergencies.
Globally, CARE’s advocacy focuses on key priorities
Humanitarian action and emergencies
We want to ensure people affected by crises, particularly women and girls, get the assistance they need and are supported to realise their rights. We want people in positions of power and responsibility at the national, regional and global levels to stop or mitigate conflicts and to avoid, prepare for or respond effectively to disasters.
Sexual and reproductive health and rights
We want all women, men, couples and adolescents – including those in fragile and crisis-affected settings – to be able to exercise their right to make free, full and informed decisions about if and when they have children, and to do so without discrimination, coercion or violence.
Gender-based violence
We want to prevent gender-based violence (GBV) by getting policies implemented that promote gender equality and prevent and respond to gender-based violence in development and humanitarian contexts.
Food and nutrition security and climate resilience
We want a world free of hunger and malnutrition where all people – including women, girls and marginalised populations can realise their right to nutritious food. Our global goal is to see policies enacted at national and global levels that empower small-scale food producers and support their resilience to climate change.
Climate change and resilience
We want a poverty-free world that is climate-resilient with zero-carbon sustainable development. We want local, national, regional and global policies that increase the resilience of the most marginalised people, including women, girls and their communities and reduce the risks of climate change and disasters.
Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE)
We want all women to be economically empowered with greater access to and control over economic resources and opportunities.
Read more about our ongoing work:
- Lessons & Impact: a collection of our evaluations, impact briefs and advocacy reports
- CARE insights: a collection of our research, advocacy documents, blogs and discussions from CARE offices around the world
- CARE’s Gender, Power and Justice Primer: a report and interactive website documenting the state of gender and rights globally, and programming practices that work toward justice, strong communities, development and peace. This includes our priority areas: gender-based violence, women’s economic empowerment, gender in emergencies, food and nutrition security and climate resilience, and reproductive health rights
- CARE’s Climate Change and Resilience Centre: a website that brings together our research, programming expertise and advocacy on climate change and resilience
- Made by Women: houses information about work to support women working in the garment industry, including our work to stop violence and harassment at work
