2021 has been a devastating year for millions of men, women and children around the world facing unprecedented levels of humanitarian need, forced displacement, increasing climate-related emergencies and a second year of the global pandemic.

While lockdowns, restrictions and the tragic social and economic ramifications of COVID-19 continued, 2021 was the year where we also began to see more wide-scale inequities in how the pandemic was impacting different groups, especially stark for women and girls.

To understand these inequities better, CARE used tested tools that allow us to listen to the unique experiences women face in crisis, as shown in our ‘Women Respond’ Report, and adapt our programs accordingly. As one CARE colleague noted: “The world was responding with soap, face masks and social distancing, but the women we spoke to were telling us they couldn’t eat or feed their kids. They couldn’t possibly quarantine, so listening to these women was very different than listening to ourselves.”

2021 was also a key strategic year for the CARE International Confederation with the launch of our ambitious CARE 2030 Vision – a framework for defining the CARE of the future, and the impact we seek. It outlines six areas of impact for the organization, each of which are designed to address the underlying causes of poverty and social injustice. These include Gender Equality; Crisis Response; Climate Justice; Health; Food, Water and Nutrition; and Economic Justice.

As we look to the future, decolonial approaches, equitable partnerships, and embracing feminist principles remain essential to CARE’s efforts. We know that our programs are more impactful when implemented in partnership; which, in 2021, made up around 43% of all CARE projects and contributed to 56% of CARE’s total impact numbers. In 2021 we also launched our first Feminist Advisory Board made up of grassroots feminist activists from countries in Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East, to help guide our organizational, operational, and strategic thinking around gender equality and other intersecting areas.

Across the year, CARE International supported over 100 million people across 102 countries: from supporting those facing extreme hunger in places such as the Sahel, to addressing the needs of Venezuelan refugees and their hosts in South America. None of this great work would have been possible without our hardworking staff and partners from across the world, and the generous support of our donors.

I would like to thank everyone for their continued commitment as we continue to strive together towards a world of hope, inclusion, and social justice.

Source: CARE