[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 111 (Friday, August 7, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1642]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      THE CATHOLIC RELIEF SERVICES

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, August 7, 1998

  Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, as Congress moves towards consideration of 
this year's foreign operations budget, I would like to draw your 
attention to a highly successful international development program that 
benefits from federal funding dollars and which operates out of my 
district in Baltimore: Catholic Relief Services (CRS).
  CRS is the official overseas relief and development agency of the 
Catholic Church in the United States.
  CRS assists persons on the basis of need, not creed, race or 
nationality. Its first mission provided food and shelter for World War 
II refugees. In the 1960s, while continuing to respond to emergencies, 
the agency began to look for ways to help the poor overcome poverty, 
particularly in newly independent and developing countries. Emphasis 
shifted to the promotion of new farming techniques, loans for small 
business, and health and water projects. The projects were designed to 
provide hope and dignity by allowing the poor to determine their own 
future and rise out of poverty.
  As the agency looks to the millennium with programs operating 
throughout the developing world, peace-building and reconciliation, 
gender responsive programs, the development and strengthening of civil 
society are active parts of its work in the promotion of social justice 
in the countries in which it works.
  The policies and programs of the agency reflect a philosophy of 
working in ways that maximize and optimize the resources, expertise and 
talent that may be brought to bear on the solution of the problems of 
the poor and disenfranchised.
  CRS has programs focusing on education, emergency assistance, 
enterprise development, food security, health, human rights, peace-
building and reconciliation and welfare.
  Long-term solutions to the problems of injustice and underdevelopment 
are fostered by over 2,000 development and reconstruction projects. 
These projects promote food security through production, access and 
utilization; improve health care; develop water/sanitation systems; 
address deforestation problems; enable poor women to start small 
businesses; stabilize the environment; create village banks, and 
provide vocational/agricultural/health care training. Integration of 
these strategies in all CRS programs operating in potential conflict 
areas is a major thrust for the agency.
  In the CRS sponsored Small Enterprise Development programs, for 
example, nearly 90 percent of the entrepreneurs participating in these 
programs are women.
  These programs foster financial independence and sustainable 
development at the grassroots level. CRS involves the beneficiaries in 
the operation of the program. Participants manage the loan portfolio 
and ensure savings are accrued and invested. For most, it is the first 
chance to participate on an equal footing with men in their societies.
  While the obvious beneficiaries of these programs are the women 
entrepreneurs, beneficiaries also include the next generation. CRS has 
found that women who participate in the program spend a portion of 
their earnings on the health and education of their children--needs 
that otherwise would not have been met. Therefore, for example, girls 
who would not have attended school are now students. The benefits of 
literacy as a determinate of good health, income and agricultural 
productivity have been proven time and time again around the world. The 
benefits for the women of the future are innumerable.
  Another value of this program is the savings generated. CRS has 
helped entrepreneurs participating in these programs to save an average 
of more than $250 per person. In countries where people live on $1 day, 
this is the difference between surviving a crop failure, drought or 
flood or becoming a refugee in search of relief aid.
  The Small Enterprise Development program is but one excellent example 
of the programs sponsored by CRS around the world with the help of our 
federal funding. I ask my colleagues to please remember CRS, its 
programs and its dedicated headquarters staff working in my district, 
when they vote on international development funding in the foreign 
operations spending bill in September.

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