Progressio
Progressio is an international development charity supporting poor and marginalised people, especially women, to empower themselves.
Who we are
Inspired by our Catholic roots, and building on 70 years experience of development, we believe poor and marginalised people can gain the power to transform their lives.
Join us
You will be standing in solidarity with poor and marginalised people throughout the world.
You will be part of a community of people around the world working together to achieve lasting change.
You will be contributing to long term, lasting change in the lives of poor and marginalised people and communities.
UK
Our Vision
Poor people empowered to transform their lives. Thats our vision. People powered development is how we will make it happen inspired by our values of respect, solidarity, passion and boldness.
Respect
We respect every persons inherent dignity and right to justice. This requires us to ensure fairness and equity in everything we do. At the heart of our work is fair and sustainable use of the earth and its resources.
Solidarity
We stand in partnership with poor and marginalised people to support them in achieving their rights and challenging unfair systems. We bring people together from the global South and North, from all faiths and none.
Passion
Poverty is an outrage. We believe people can change their own lives for the better, and we act with commitment and conviction to see poverty eradicated. We mobilise people from different countries to campaign and act because every step, however small, helps to achieve lasting change.
Boldness
We are bold and innovative, bringing together Christian values of dignity and social justice with a strong, practical understanding of development. We recognise that relentless determination combined with high calibre work makes the most impact.
Faith inspiration
Progressio takes significant inspiration from Christian and Catholic thinking on social justice issues, especially Catholic Social Teaching. This body of work emphasises:
The dignity of the human person (the intrinsic worth of each individual)
The promotion of the common good (duties towards society as a whole)
Solidarity (the mutual obligations which exist within and between nations and between generations)
Subsidiarity (rights to participation in decision making)
The preferential option for the poor (that the rights of those with least power and wealth should be prioritised).
Support from the Catholic community
Most of Progressios support within the UK is drawn from the Catholic community, especially those with a particular interest in social justice issues. This group is particularly active in public campaigning in favour of action on poverty.
Independence - and influence
We have always remained separate institutionally from the Catholic church - and we have always sought to act with independence.
Church leaders in the UK are strongly engaged with international development issues, so we have regular contact with the Catholic Church leadership, and to a lesser extent with the leadership of other denominations.
Our report on HIV and faith, Prayer Alone is Not Enough, was shared with every Catholic Bishop in the UK, as well as other professional and academic audiences. We also prepared briefings for the Catholic Church leadership and the UK government ahead of the visit of Pope Benedict to the UK in 2010.
Working with people of all faiths and none
All this gives Progressio a strong faith foundation. But we have always been an organisation concerned about the situation in the world, and focused on the world rather than the church. So we seek to be inclusive, working together with all people of goodwill to tackle poverty and injustice.
That inclusive approach is integral to our work in countries around the world. Many of our partner organisations are purely secular. We also work with a variety of faith-based partner organisations where this gives an extra dimension to our projects and programmes and helps to increase their effectiveness, reach, and impact.
Our concern is always to have the biggest impact for poor and marginalised people and communities in the countries where we work - to help people of all faiths and none to overcome the barriers that keep them poor.
