CRS

About the Company

CRS is an international humanitarian agency working to save, protect, and transform lives in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality. CRS’ relief and development work is accomplished through programs of emergency response, HIV, health, agriculture, education, microfinance and peacebuilding.

CRS began working with local partners in Afghanistan in 1998 and launched its own direct operations in 2002. CRS is currently implementing programs in the provinces of Bamiyan, Daykundi, Ghor, Herat, and Kabul. CRS currently maintains five (5) main offices in the country in Kabul, Bamiyan, Chaghcharan, Lal, and Herat, as well as sub-offices that support the direct implementation of program activities. Currently, there are more than 285 CRS-Afghanistan staff and nine (9) expatriates. CRS’ main program areas in Afghanistan are education, agriculture, and Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH). CRS has been implementing education programs in Afghanistan since 2003 and is a key education actor in the country. CRS Afghanistan’s education portfolio currently includes projects funded by institutional donors such as UK FCDO, USAID, UNICEF, and non-institutional donors such as Caritas Australia, Lifes2Good Foundation, and funds privately raised by CRS.

The CRS strategic plan for Afghanistan focuses on poverty and risk reduction, human development, and emergency response in rural areas in western and central Afghanistan. CRS works to:

• Support people, especially girls and women from marginalized communities, to gain basic education
• Support poor rural and peri-urban households to have increased livelihood security
• Support vulnerable communities to survive shocks without long-term negative impact on their livelihoods