Missionaries working at the forefront of international development

Our members work in over 50 countries, empowering vulnerable people to achieve a better life through climate resilient livelihoods, access to quality education and healthcare, and by upholding human rights.

Our Impact

In the past year our members transformed 1.9 million lives

Education

112,107

people accessed quality education

Health

1.5 million

people accessed quality healthcare, clean water and improved sanitation

Livelihoods

71,520

people improved their livelihoods and increased their earning potential

Human Rights

1.4 million

people educated on their human rights and how to defend them

Emergency Assistance

32,783

people received emergency and humanitarian assistance

Where We Work

Our members work in more than
50 countries around the globe

In the Brazilian State of Paraíba, the Sal da Terra Association, in partnership with the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary, teaches basic reading and writing skills to individuals in a region with one of the highest illiteracy rates in the country.

Brazil

Zambia

In Zambia, the Sisters of Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary operate a school that provides quality, inclusive education to children with a range of disabilities. Opened in 1998, the school has become a national centre of excellence and is the only school in the country for deaf blind children.

In Gaza, where most people live in extreme poverty, older residents can access free health care through the Caritas Jerusalem Health Project. Operated in partnership with the Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood, the project helps elders manage the effects of age-related conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and osteoporosis.

Gaza

In a high-poverty area outside Lima, the Columban Fathers promote community livelihoods and food security through projects like the Happy Worm collaborative, which buys compost from local growers and packages it for retail purchase by other urban household food producers.

Peru

The Brickfield School Project, run by the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary Loreto Sisters, provides quality education in their own language to over 2,500 migrant children who travel to the West Bengal region with their families for work each year during the brick making season.

India

During the COVID-19 crisis, the Jesuit Refugee Service, in partnership with the Irish Jesuits International, distributed re-usable face masks to 1,000 school children and set up 12 hand-washing facilities in communal spaces at a site for refugees in Maban, where there is a high risk of disease due to overcrowding and poor sanitation.

South Sudan

Kenya

The Ruben Health Centre in Nairobi, operated by Edmund Rice Development in partnership with the Christian Brothers East Africa District, is a focal point for community health care in an area where few other clinics exist. Services include essential mother and child wellness care.

Uganda

In Kampala, small business owners learn how to grow their ideas into self-sustaining enterprises with the help of economic cooperative programmes run by the KADCOS Nsambya Cooperative. With the support of Viatores Christi and Caritas Kampala, the cooperative helps empower the development and growth of entrepreneurs and the local economy.

South Africa

In Johannesburg, Three2Six (a Marist project) provides education support to refugee and migrant children to help them mainstream into regular public schools. Even during the COVID-19 lockdown the project team ensured the children kept up to date with their learning and provided at-home support such as food and hygiene parcels.

Nepal

The Community Nutrition Programme in Jiri, Nepal - an area with persistently high rates of childhood malnutrition – runs a kitchen training garden where groups of mothers learn how to cultivate crops to boost their families' nutrition, including ingredients to make a nutrient and protein dense 'Super Flour' for children. The Nutrition Promotion and Consultancy Service (NPCS) runs the project with support from the Church Missionary Society of Ireland (CMSI).

Tanzania

In Tanzania, community health workers with the Faraja Centre in Singida conduct HIV awareness classes with women in the local community. The project, operated by the Medical Missionaries of Mary delivers health care, medicine, and social support to people living with HIV and AIDS.

Thailand

The Marist Asia Foundation’s HIV and AIDS project in Ranong helps migrants from neighbouring Myanmar with support for basic health needs, assisting them as they seek a better future for themselves and their children. The project also works on HIV and AIDS awareness and prevention.

Paraguay

In Paraguay, a project of the Servants of the Holy Spirit worked with indigenous leaders of the Ava Guaraní’s Jejyty Miri community to get out information about the COVID-19 virus and how to stop its spread, including hand washing technique, the use of face masks. Posters were up in local languages and children in the community wrote COVID-19 safety messages on balloons to share with friends and family.

Paraguay

The Missionary Approach to Development

What makes the missionary approach to international development unique? It is based on long-term, deep-rooted connections with communities that help missionaries identify, reach and prioritise the furthest behind first.

Misean Cara
2022-2026
Strategy

Our 2022-2026 strategy builds on the long and distinguished history of Irish missionaries and their work with excluded and vulnerable communities overseas. It is a framework to help prioritise and focus our efforts to enable missionaries to maximise their impact, as we collectively work towards a vision of a better world for the furthest behind.

Read Our Strategy

2024 Misean Cara Climate Action Awards

The 5th Annual Climate Action Awards recognise innovation and commitment to tackling climate change in vulnerable communities where our members work.

Meet the winners!

Focus On

SafeBirth4All - Preventing Obstetric Fistula

Obstetric fistula is one of the most neglected public-health and human-rights realities for women and girls in the global south. The SafeBirth4All campaign aims to raise awareness about its devastating impact on women, and will work to eradicate it through prevention and treatment by 2040.

Learn more

Our Supporters

Misean Cara is grateful for the ongoing support of Irish Aid and our other donors whose generosity enables us to fund the life-transforming projects of our members.

Missionaries assisting in Lebanon

Many Misean Cara members were working in the Holy Land before the most current conflict began, supporting communities living in poverty and hardship from years of violence. Their long-term presence in the region makes missionaries uniquely positioned to help traumatised communities in Lebanon.

Learn more

Latest News & Blogs

Bee Inspired by Nature to Nourish Us All – Reflections on World Bee Day 2025

Tom CarrollMisean Cara Project OfficerFor World Bee Day 2025, Misean Cara Project Officer Tom Carroll considers the essential interconnectedness and...