One of the major challenges facing the Indian Church is the massive poverty of millions in India. Consequently, work for development, justice and liberation believing that “Action on behalf of justice and participation in the transformation of the world fully appear to us as a constitutive dimension of preaching the Gospel; or in other words, of the church’s mission for the redemption of humanity and its liberation from every oppressive situation.

Caritas India propagates action, i.e., the action of creating changes in the life of people, actions that have not simply news value but value as good news have to precede proclamation.

The foundation of people first in animation, dialogue, service, and resources is the cornerstone.  This well-informed empowerment and dialogue process then engages with the partner communities and partner organizations, middle class and other social sections. This would be done in a manner that creates ownership of the partner communities over their empowerment process and factors through providing platforms of actions. These platforms of actions would be initially related to a sector/theme/issue. These collective actions will eventually lead to social transformation towards a just society.

The cluster programs that Caritas India had once initiated for the southern states, was with a view towards building a perspective around a common issue/cause and harness the partner strengths towards engaging together to contribute towards its addressing through different approaches of animation, networking and linkages, dialogue and resource mobilization. The noble idea behind this cluster approach was to bring the partners together to work with a unified approach of harnessing opportunities of mobilizing resources and volunteers to make the programs self-sustaining.

This initiative is more than a project, it is an evolving action led by compassion, which invites every person of goodwill, inspired by faith, motivated to be the harbingers of hope to the vulnerable and the marginalized. It is moving everyone with societal responsiveness to be more sensitive to the needs of the affected and their families and harbor sensibility for affirmative action for prevention and support to those, who go through destitution. Every person in the society is invited to be a partner in the process not just because of the social responsibility concerns, but with deeper concern for the poor, moved by the compassionate involvement as inspired and transpired by the passion of Jesus and His action of Love.

Volunteerism is the hallmark of our Approach. Providing services freely and willingly, making this movement un-parallel. The social capital that would be mobilized in the awareness building and extension services would add value to the program. The most important aspect of Volunteerism is that spending time for such a noble cause helps to ensure a richer and more fulfilling experience. Let this approach be a true experience of sharing one’s resources both human & material, for the sake of taking one’s suffering and converting them to the joy of giving.

Caritas India proposes the new cluster approach for Karnataka, Andhra/Telengana and Tamil Nadu for the following:

• Joint strategic and operational planning: Partners should come together to strategically think and plan their modus operandi in order to create an efficiency within the program.
• Inclusion of communities: Engage the communities and the local stakeholders to operationalize the plan and yield maximum results.
• Engagement with national and local authorities: As a clustered body, engaging with the authorities shall speed up the resolution of issues, and allows greater access for the non-governmental community to the government platforms.
• More effective advocacy: This clustered body can collectively speak with one voice on issues of common concern, including those affecting groups who are not normally heard

Together in consultation with the partners, Cancer is identified as a common theme across the partners of Karnataka and Andhra/Telangana. The partners shall now implement this program through a campaign mode for the next 18  months