# Caritas Asia

Caritas Asia is a pan-Asian nonprofit organisation and one of the seven regions of the global Caritas Internationalis confederation. Caritas Asia refers both to its regional secretariat, based in Bangkok and its network with 25 member organisation.

## Background

Caritas Asia's predecessor was the Asia Partnership for Human Development, founded in 1973 and bringing together more than 23 Catholic development organisations from Asia and the West.
The current structure was established in 1999 during the general assembly of Caritas Internationalis in Rome, where the request of its Asian member organisation to create a regional secretariat was approved. The goal of Caritas Asia is to coordinate the work of its member organisations, especially in the context of responses to natural disaster, as well as to strengthen the technical capacities of the network.

## Membership

Caritas Asia consists of 25 national member organisations operating in 24 Asian countries. In Singapore, there are two member organisations: Caritas Singapore and Caritas Humanitarian Aid & Relief Initiatives (CHARIS). Not all Asian national Caritas organisations are members of Caritas Asia; those in the Middle East, despite being geographically located in Asia, such as Caritas Jordan, Caritas Iraq and Caritas Iran, are members of Caritas Middle East and North Africa, while Caritas of Armenia, Georgia, Russia and Turkey are part of Caritas Europa.
The membership of Caritas Asia is further grouped under four subregions, each having their own sub-regional office. These are Central Asia with an office in Kyrgyzstan, East Asia with an office in Macau, South Asia with an office in Sri Lanka and South-East Asia with an office in Singapore.

### List of Member Organisations

| Sub-region | Country | Member organisation (English name) | Established |
| South Asia | Bangladesh | Caritas Bangladesh | 1967 |
| South East Asia | Cambodia | Caritas Cambodia | 1972 |
| East Asia | Hong Kong | Caritas Hong Kong | 1953 |
| South Asia | India | Caritas India | 1962 |
| South East Asia | Indonesia | Caritas Indonesia (Karina KWI) | 2006 |
| East Asia | Japan | Caritas Japan | 1946 |
| Central Asia | Kazakhstan | Caritas Kazakhstan | 1997 |
| Central Asia | Kyrgyzstan | Caritas Kyrgyzstan | 2011 |
| South East Asia | Laos | Caritas Laos | ? |
| East Asia | Macau | Caritas Macau | 1951 |
| South East Asia | Malaysia | Caritas Malaysia | 2020 |
| Central Asia | Mongolia | Caritas Mongolia | 2000 |
| South East Asia | Myanmar | Caritas Myanmar (KMSS) | 2001 |
| South Asia | Nepal | Caritas Nepal | 1990 |
| South Asia | Pakistan | Caritas Pakistan | 1965 |
| South East Asia | Philippines | Caritas Philippines (NASSA) | 1966 |
| South East Asia | Singapore | Caritas Singapore | 2006 |
| South East Asia | Singapore | CHARIS | 2010 |
| East Asia | South Korea | Caritas Korea | 1975 |
| South Asia | Sri Lanka | Caritas Sri Lanka | 1968 |
| East Asia | Taiwan | Caritas Taiwan | 1969 |
| Central Asia | Tajikistan | Caritas Tajikistan | 2007 |
| South East Asia | Thailand | Caritas Thailand | 1972 |
| South East Asia | Timor-Leste | Caritas Timor Leste | 1999 |
| Central Asia | Uzbekistan | Caritas Uzbekistan | 2002 |
| South East Asia | Vietnam | Caritas Vietnam | 1965 |

## Leadership
### Presidents

* 2007–2011: Joseph Vianney Fernando
* 2011–2019: Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi
* 2019–2023: Benedict Alo D'Rozario

### Regional Coordinators

* 2008–2012: Fr. Bonnie Mendes
* 2012–2023: Eleazar Gomez
* 2023-now: Shimray Mungreiphy