CARE International is a global confederation of 16 member organizations – Austria, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Thailand, United Kingdom, and United States – working together to end poverty.
Founded in America in 1945 after World War II, CARE was first known as the “Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe.” CARE first sent food aid and basic supplies in the form of CARE Packages to war-torn Europe – where millions were in danger of starvation and these goods were either heavily rationed or impossible to find. Some 100 million CARE packages reached people in need during the next two decades, first in Europe and later in Asia and other parts of the developing world.
Britain received its last CARE packages in 1955. By then, CARE was working in 18 countries across the globe. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the economies of the former wartime nations developed and improved and the focus of CARE’s work shifted from Europe to the problems of the developing world.
Initially CARE continued to focus on food aid, but in the 1960s we expanded our remit – pioneering primary health care programs. In the 1970s, we responded to massive famines in Africa with both emergency relief and long-term agro-forestry projects, integrating environmentally-sound tree- and land-management practices with farming programs.
CARE International UK was founded in 1985 as part of CARE International.
Today, with our name now standing for “Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere,” our 13,000-strong staff worldwide – most of whom are citizens of the countries where we work – help strengthen communities through programs that create lasting solutions to root causes of poverty.
For more information, please visit the CARE International UK website.