Caritas Lesotho

Core Activities:

In Lesotho Caritas focuses mostly on, Relief, Emergencies, Food Security and HIV/AIDS related programs. Currently Caritas Lesotho is implementing two new projects; the one dealing with food security is called Homes With Urban Gardens (HUG) and is implemented in Maseru and Maputsoe.(Targeted populations are factory workers as well as non factory workers in villages where the factory workers live and the Faith Based HIV/AIDS Project, which is implemented in the districts of Maseru, Berea and Leribe. This two projects are in addition to the potato farming and marketing project in Mantsonyane that is coming to the end in August 2009 and the OVC project that focuses on food security in Bobete, Nkau and Nohana.

Activities in Lesotho:

Care of OVC
• Training on Food production through homestead gardens for 2000 OVCs in every site (Total of 6000 OVC Households)
• Distribution of garden tools to each of the OVC households
• Formation and support of Microfinance Groups (Savings and Internal Lending Communities)
• Monthly monitoring and Reporting

Potato Project

• Training of 1000 farmers on Potato farming
• Distribution of 25KG bags of potato seedlings to each of the farmers
• Training on various marketing modules
• Distribution of potato packaging material (Branded)
• Potato fairs
• Marketing through radio slots farmer representatives
• Formation of Marketing committees
• Monthly monitoring and Reporting

Homes with Urban Gardens

• Training of 5,000 participants on various homestead gardening techniques ( 3,500 in Maseru and 1,500 in Maputsoe)
• Distribution of vegetable seeds to all participants (5 Varieties each)
• Distribution of hand forks
• Promotion of Matsema Groups
• Formation of Community Fundraising Mechanisms

Faith Based HIV/AIDS Prevention Campaign

• Training of 15,000 participants on HIV/AIDS Prevention in 5 districts using various church denominations in the districts (Maseru, Berea Thaba Tseka, Mohales hoek and Leribe)
• Distribution of various training packages and manuals
• Monitoring of activities in the districts and reporting

Future Plans:

• To implement the Faith Based HIV/AIDS Project through out the country
• To extend our food security projects to at least 3 new needy sites
• To mainstream Gender into all our projects

Needs of Organisation:

Capacity building for Caritas Lesotho Local structures. (Diocesan and village structures)

Training and assistance on Resource Mobilisation and Fund raising

Office Equipment and carpeting of some offices

Funding:

CRS, DFID (PSP), NAC, Irish Aid. PACT, CoMark

This organisation’s info updated on: June 26, 2009. Please ignore date below.