Linked with Jeanne Devos – Belgium.
MISEREOR was founded in 1958 as an agency « against hunger and disease in the world ». In its capacity as the overseas development agency of the Catholic Church in Germany, it offers to cooperate in a spirit of partnership with all people of goodwill to promote development, fight worldwide poverty, liberate people from injustice, exercise solidarity with the poor and the persecuted, and help create « One World ».
MISEREOR is mandated by the Catholic Church in Germany:
- to fight the causes of hardship and misery as manifested chiefly in countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America in the forms of hunger, disease, poverty and other forms of human suffering;
- thus enabling the people affected to lead a life of human dignity;
- and to promote justice, freedom, reconciliation and peace in the world.
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This Christian motivation should lead us not only to help and share with the poor, but also to undergo a process of spiritual renewal, becoming « richer » people through solidarity and community with the poor. It should also lead us to make a commitment to creating a more just and peaceful One World through responsible development of our own society. As such, MISEREOR is also a campaign, a « movement » in Germany, everywhere on the lookout for partners, friends and « fellow activists » in the fight against poverty.
For this development work, MISEREOR receives donations from German Catholics, chiefly through the MISEREOR annual Lenten Campaign, as well as a large number of donations from German society as a whole, and funds allocated from German diocesan budgets through the Association of German Dioceses. The development cooperation activities of the German Catholic Church are also supported from public funds of the Federal Republic of Germany, and the European Union. These funds are deployed by the Katholische Zentralstelle für Entwicklungshilfe e.V. (Catholic Central Agency for Development Aid, regd.), or « Zentralstelle » for short. Most of the administrative work involved in Zentralstelle funding is, however, taken care of by the head office of MISEREOR. (full text).