Leading French NGO CCFD-Terre Solidaire tackles the root causes of poverty and hunger

For more than 55 years, CCFD-Terre Solidaire has been fighting hunger by tackling its underlying causes. It supports more than 697 projects initiated by local actors in 66 countries.
CCFD-Terre Solidaire draws on a network of 15,000 volunteers to raise public awareness in France on international solidarity and, through advocacy, works with decision makers to build a more just world.

Our values

We refuse to believe that poverty is inevitable.
Poverty has multiple causes, but none are insurmountable. Microcredit, training, natural resources management, seed banks… are merely ways to accompany women and men as they choose their own future.

We believe that everyone is responsible and capable.
We are guided by one principal: supporting our partners to carry out their own projects, rather than doing the job for them.

We invest in the number one source of wealth in the world : people.
This wealth cannot be divided, it can only multiply. For the situation of poor countries to change, informed citizens here in France must be engaged and supportive.

Our actions are rooted in the social thinking of the Catholic Church
CCFD – the Committee against hunger and for development – was born in the early 1960s in response to a global call to fight hunger launched by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and supported by Pope John XXIII. Catholic movements and organisations already engaged in actions of national and international solidarity decided to join together to work “on the causes rather than the effects” of hunger. Today, CCFD-Terre Solidaire is actively engaged with organisations from different cultures and religions

CCFD-Terre Solidaire works to promote :
-food sovereignty
-sharing financial wealth
-social economies of solidarity
-equality between men and women
-conflict prevention and resolution
-justice and solidarity in international migration

Supporting partners internationally

For CCFD-Terre Solidaire, our objective is to look for, work with and support the ‘actors of social change’ within a region or a area (local, national, regional or global).
We support partners who are able – or who have the potential – to take action that is technical, social and political.

We support organisations that take the time to build solid and sustainable structures. Development cannot be achieved in a short time, and we stand with our partners to support them for years, sometimes decades.

Among our criteria for choosing partners, initiative is fundamental. It’s not the funding proposed by CCFD-Terre Solidaire that gives impetus to the project, but the initiative of a local organisation – even if small-scale – which is encouraged and reinforced both through financial support and through exchanges of experience.

Support from CCFD-Terre Solidaire can come in various forms :
– funding activities and projects that result in real improvement of people’s living conditions ;
– networking and exchanging experiences ;
– participating in international events ;
– supporting public-opinion advocacy campaigns ; etc.

This work is carried out among different groups, along with local organisations that may or may not be Christian. While CCFD-Terre Solidaire finds its inspiration in the Gospel and in Catholic social thinking, it participates in a wealth of relationships with many partners of different beliefs.

Having broken with traditional aid practices, CCFD-Terre Solidaire abides by its principle of not carrying out projects itself. It works with its partner organisations, without taking the place of local civil society.

CCFD-Terre Solidaire sends neither expatriates nor material. It has no branches or offices abroad.

Thanks to its long and rich experience with its partners, CCFD-Terre Solidaire bears witness to their realities. It denounces the harsh and difficult situations they encounter and asserts the capacity of local communities to address the problems they face.
To take action on the fundamental causes of poverty, CCFD-Terre Solidaire has developed expertise, analysis and specific strategies to strengthen international solidarity.

Advocacy activities targeting French, European and international political and economic decision-makers

In order to share expertise and have greater impact, CCFD-Terre Solidaire is engaged in developing collective positions and actions as part of alliances with other civil-society organisations in France and internationally.

For our proposals to be heard, they must be credible. This requires in-depth studies, well-researched information and analyses; the development of recommendations with experts and partners ; and dialogue with decision-makers.

CCFD-Terre Solidaire carries out a number of actions aiming to influence the decisions of political and/or economic leaders regarding the problems of development in the countries of the South and in Eastern Europe.

To influence public policy, CCFD-Terre Solidaire relays its partners’ causes, experiences and analyses to French, European and international bodies, acting as a force both to condemn injustices and to make proposals for an economy in the service of humanity.

15,000 CCFD-Terre Solidaire volunteers working to promote international solidarity. They are actors for social transformation.

Citizen mobilization is central to CCFD-Terre Solidaire’s approach. The involvement of its network of 15,000 volunteers is essential for generating awareness about its actions.

The 15,000 volunteers are above all motivated by the certainty that the injustices of this world are not inevitable and that it is up to each of us to take action if we want a world of fairness and solidarity – a ‘Terre Solidaire’ – where human dignity prevails.
The volunteers address the issues central to CCFD-Terre Solidaire by working on public-awareness campaigns and on education in schools, and by engaging with local political and economic decision-makers.

CCFD-Terre Solidaire is an active participant in French civil society, present throughout the country at every level : local, departmental and regional