Valsa Chacko went to a self-help group to combat her illiteracy. Now she is president of a panchayat, or district council, in Kerala.

Meena Devi took part in a similar scheme. Now she is a graduate, busy helping others in her home state of Uttar Pradesh to follow her lead and break free of illiteracy and poverty.

Both women owe their success to Caritas India, which celebrates its golden jubilee this year.

“Caritas is bringing about a silent revolution in the country through its women empowerment schemes,” says Sister Ajitha, who works with marginalized women in Uttar Pradesh.

“Women who never ventured out of their houses now hold positions of prominence,” says the nun, who is also author of a book on the role of NGOs in empowering women.

According to Father Varghese Mattamana, executive director of Caritas India, as many as 14 million people benefited from its services last year and 85 percent of them were women.

The self-help literacy groups, open to women whose children are all over three years old, have proved especially popular and outstandingly effective.

Now, in many states, women occupy more and more of the seats on self-governing councils. This is certainly the case in Bihar, where 5,000 women were awarded seats in its 2010 council elections.

“Women are being involved in governance in a big way here,” says Father Amal Raj, director of the Bihar social services forum.

Another Caritas service which has proved useful to women is its micro-finance program. “It has enabled them to increase their income and invest in their families, bringing healthier families, more schoolgoing children and all-round improvements to their status,” says Sr. Ajita.

Fr Mattamana is also especially proud of the organization’s national resource management scheme, which promotes organic farming.

In one rural district, Wayanad, there was an alarmingly high suicide rate among farmers.

Caritas launched a scheme there  which worked on two levels, boosting the agricultural yield and helping the farmers and their families to lower their stress levels.

The director believes that its Church network is what gives Caritas India an edge over other NGO’s.

“The Church has 164 dioceses and 900 religious congregations managing 20,370 educational institutions,” he says. “These are spread across the country and they pool in with infrastructure and manpower, which reduces our costs.”

“We’ve been able to support 22,551 projects in the past five decades. And we’ve gathered a wealth of experience and expertise in community mobilization, disaster risk reduction, natural resource management, health support and peace building.”

Related links:

Caritas India Turns over Houses to Tsunami Victims