CARE International

CARE (Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere, formerly Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe) is a major international humanitarian agency delivering emergency relief and long-term international development projects. Founded in 1945, CARE is nonsectarian, impartial, and non-governmental. It is one of the largest and oldest humanitarian aid organizations focused on fighting global poverty. In 2019, CARE reported working in 104 countries, supporting 1,349 poverty-fighting projects and humanitarian aid projects, and reaching over 92.3 million people directly and 433.3 million people indirectly.

CARE's programmes in the developing world address a broad range of topics including emergency response, food security, water and sanitation, economic development, climate change, agriculture, education, and health. CARE also advocates at the local, national, and international levels for policy change and the rights of poor people. Within each of these areas, CARE focuses on empowering and meeting the needs of women and girls and promoting gender equality. and was originally intended to be a temporary organization. Churches, welfare organisations and trade unions were among the 22 founding members. World War II had ended in August of the same year. After pressure from the public and Congress, President Harry S. Truman agreed to let private organizations provide relief for those starving due to the war. CARE was initially a consortium of twenty-two U.S. charities (a mixture of civic, religious, cooperative, farm, and labour organizations) to deliver food aid to Europe in the aftermath of World War II. but then William N. Haskell served as executive director from late 1945 until 1947. In February 1946, William N. Haskell wrote to Oskar Lange, the Polish ambassador in Washington, explaining the plan and asking for his assistance in obtaining Polish government's consent to its extension to Poland. The organization delivered its first food packages in 1946.

CARE's food aid took the form of CARE Packages, which were at first delivered to specific individuals: the US people paid $10 to send a CARE Package of food to a loved one in Europe, often a family member. President Truman bought the first CARE package.

Although the organization had originally intended to deliver packages only to specified individuals, within a year CARE began delivering packages addressed for example "to a teacher" or simply "to a hungry person in Europe". Twenty-two of CARE's forty-two missions were closed, mostly in European countries, and efforts were concentrated on food distribution and emergency response in the developing world. Over 100 million CARE Packages had been delivered worldwide since the first shipment to France. The concept was also revived in 2011 as an online campaign encouraging donors to fill a "virtual CARE Package" with food aid and services such as education and healthcare.

Microfinance

In the early 1990s CARE also developed what would become an important model for cooperative microfinance. This model is called the Village Savings and Loans Associations and it began in 1991 as a pilot project run by CARE's Country Office in Niger.

The model has also been widely replicated in Africa and Asia and by other large NGOs including Oxfam, Plan International, and Catholic Relief Services.

Each CARE national member is an autonomous non-governmental organization registered in the country and runs programs, fundraising, and communications activities both in its own country and in developing countries in which CARE operates. The members are:

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!scope="row"| Yayasan CARE Peduli (Indonesia)

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| 2023

!scope="row"| CARE Japan

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| 1987

!scope="row"| CARE Norge

| N

| 1980

As well, CARE is a member of a number of networks aiming to improve the quality and coordination of humanitarian aid: The Emergency Capacity Building Project, the Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance in Humanitarian Action, CARE also regularly engages in joint advocacy campaigns with other major NGOs. The Global Campaign for Climate Change Action is one example.