CAFOD has worked alongside communities in Latin America and the Caribbean since 1960 with our first-ever project in Dominica. Since then, the region has been at the heart of CAFOD’s mission.
Throughout the decades, repressive military regimes and civil wars have led to widespread human rights abuses. The Catholic Church has stood alongside victims of human rights abuses and conflict, which has sometimes created tensions and persecution against religious leaders. However, with its broad influence and moral authority, the Church in Latin America has remained a staunch defender of human rights, offering solidarity with and protection to society's most vulnerable people.
Today, we work across the region, with programmes in Central America, the Andes and Brazil, as well as supporting regional organisations and networks. From the Amazon rainforest to the highlands of the Andes, we work with grassroots organisations, faith groups, small farming communities, as well as environmental and human rights defenders, to build a just, peaceful and sustainable future for all.
Where we work in Latin America and the Caribbean
CAFOD works in Central America (Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador), Brazil and the Andes region (Colombia, Peru and Bolivia), as well as at a regional level, supporting grassroots, Church and civil society organisations tackling injustice, inequality and environmental crises.
Why CAFOD works in Latin America and the Caribbean
Latin America and the Caribbean are regions of beauty, resilience, and rich cultural and ecological diversity. But they also face some of the world’s deepest inequalities. While some local economies have grown, over 30 per cent of its people still face the injustice of poverty with rising hunger, especially among rural and urban marginalised communities.
With over 43 million people facing hunger, food systems in Latin America are under strain. Industrial farming, land grabbing and climate change make it harder for small-scale farmers to survive.
The region has the highest levels of income inequality globally and inequalities are deepened by systemic racism, weak governance and corruption, and increasing violence.
People from indigenous, Afro-descendant, and rural and small-scale farming communities -especially women - are among the most excluded. Many are being displaced from their land, silenced when they speak out to protect their rights (and our common home), and face discrimination, exploitation and violence.
At the same time, Latin America is home to some of Earth’s most vital ecosystems. The Amazon rainforest and the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor are under severe threat from extractive industries, deforestation and the climate crisis.
Latin America and the Caribbean is the most dangerous region in the world for environmental and human rights defenders. Repression, corruption and authoritarianism are rising, while civic space is shrinking.
Patriarchy and gender-based violence remain strong in both society and Church institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Communities across Latin America are increasingly vulnerable to natural disasters and crises such as rising sea levels, ever more frequent hurricanes, floods, wildfires and droughts.
Amid these overlapping crises, Latin America remains a region of hope and strength.
Our impact in 2024
Sixty-four CAFOD partners working across 10 countries in Latin America reached around 57,491 people with projects focusing on:
strengthening human rights and good governance,
resilient livelihoods and emergency preparedness
response and early recovery.
Our priorities in Latin America and the Caribbean
We work with our local partners to support environmental and human rights defenders, influence UK and international policies on climate justice, and advocate for fair climate policies and access to global climate finance.
CAFOD’s partners are supporting justice and peacebuilding efforts in places like Colombia, Peru and El Salvador. Our partners are working closely with local communities so they can protect themselves and speak out against injustice, and hold governments and extractive industries such as mining and logging accountable for any abuse, exploitation and pollution caused.
CAFOD and our partners ensure that women lead in and benefit from the design and implementation of our programmes, and that we support women-led organisations and the Church to recognise women’s contributions and leadership.
Our partners are working across the region with local communities to tackle gender discrimination against indigenous, Afro-Latino women facing poverty, and injustice against disabled women, in places like Brazil and Guatemala. Our partners are also creating spaces for learning and dialogue to change harmful attitudes around gender equality and women’s rights.
CAFOD and our partners are supporting local communities to practise environmentally friendly farming methods, and to learn more about environmental rights, the importance of ancestral knowledge in farming and caring for our common home. Our partners are also working closely with vulnerable families to better prepare for climate shocks and disasters.
CAFOD’s partners are working closely with communities to better prepare for emergencies and to recover from disasters and emergencies. Through local Church networks we are supporting rapid emergency responses to reach the most vulnerable communities.
As well as supporting country partners, CAFOD works with regional organisations and networks who are advancing Church and civil society coordination, advocacy and movement building.
CAFOD are supporting CELAM’s programmes and pastoral work on human rights, climate justice and gender justice, such as through our project 'Strengthening of the Women in Church and Society' and the support to their human rights defenders campaign 'Life Hangs by a Thread'.
We are supporting our partner SELACC on regional learning, coordination and advocacy on key policy areas, such as the Sustainable Development Goals and climate justice.
We support our partner REPAM on their advocacy and communications work on human rights and environmental and climate justice in the Pan-Amazon region.
News from Latin America and the Caribbean
What we do
CAFOD is the official aid agency for the Catholic Church in England and Wales.
With your help, we reach out to people living in hard-to-reach places, in war zones and those who are discriminated against.