It's your money

2022 has been a tough year for everyone. It was even tougher for those countries - in many of which we work - where people, already struggling with poverty and prevailing vulnerabilities, had also to bear the brunt of the economic crisis, ongoing wars and the catastrophic effects of extreme weather events.

Once again this year, at CISP we have worked stubbornly to transform the principles we believe in into facts: that, as human beings, it is our responsibility to care for our fellow human beings, support them in their efforts to improve their living conditions, as well as assist them in crises.

This means being actively present for many years in difficult countries. It will be 40 years in 2023. Forty years in which we have worked, often in risky and uncertain situations, to improve the conditions of individuals and communities in situations of extreme poverty and marginalization. Whether it was to improve food security, promote job creation or income opportunities or guarantee the rights of vulnerable people, we have tried to do it without imposing external solutions, but by supporting and facilitating positive processes taking place in the context. 

Everything we've done over the past 40 years we've done thanks to your money. Money that you have donated to us directly and with which we have carried out interventions and actions to help people with whom we share the inalienable right to a decent living. And money that you have donated to us indirectly, through resources allocated to us by the Italian Government or by the European Commission to implement the programs we believe in.

On our newsletter, social media pages, website and all our communication activities, we include a deal of information about such activities. We do that because the money we use to help those in need is your money, which we want to account for not only to the public body with which we sign a contract, but also to you who, with your taxes, make these resources available to public institutions. We want you to know that we make great efforts to ensure scrupulous compliance with management procedures and rules, even when such rules seem very distant from the needs we try to respond to.

Sometimes we directly ask you for money.
In this period, for example, we are asking for your support to help us respond to a dramatic food crisis that has hit the Horn of Africa, in countries like Somalia or Ethiopia where CISP has been working for decades, where vulnerable communities have to deal with the impact of international crises, local conflicts and climate change. Your donations will help us to be quicker and more flexible in responding to needs that we see before our eyes every day. We are well aware that some dramatic situations seem impossible to tackle, but we also know, from experience, that helping people who find themselves in a condition of dramatic need really makes a difference.

We promise you to continue to be there for those in need, to work alongside them and to grow together. And we promise you to do so in the most scrupulous and transparent way. This is our way; and we are proud of it.

One of us used to say: "We don't claim to save the world, but to improve someone's life, yes".

We will continue with the same commitment next year as well.