Denis Goulet in Local Ownership Global Change, ed. Roland Hoksbergen and Lowell M. Ewert (Monrovia, CA: World Vision International, 2002), pp. 204-233.

CRS (Catholic Relief Services), an NGO created in 1943 as a relief
agency has now, in a world marked by globalization, become a development agent and advocate of human rights, social justice, environmental soundness, and the settlement of conflicts. As they
took on welfare functions abandoned by states, NGOs became heavily dependent on funding from governments or international institutions, while striving to continue being “close to the people they serve” and retaining their ethically-grounded independence of action. After re-examining its mission, philosophy of action, and criteria for choosing projects and partners, CRS now evaluates its work through “a justice lens” and engages its members to view their specific work — in agriculture, micro-credit, women’s empowerment, health, and technical assistance— as concrete arenas for promoting better development policy, creating new partnerships of action, promoting peace, and educating its constituency (Roman Catholics in the United States) to the need for structural change toward more just global economic systems, the integral defense of human rights, empowerment of the poor, and the promotion of peace.

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Home > Publications > Peace Colloquy > Issue No. 4 (Fall 2003)