Caritas Lithuania was founded in 1926 by Lithuanian Catholics but was forced to suspend their activities during the Soviet Union occupation in 1940. It was not until 1989, the moratorium was lifted and Caritas Lithuania resumed its social activities providing care and assistance to the poor and marginalised.

During the National Assembly in 1997, Caritas Lithuania name was approved and the organisation was integrated into the structure of the Catholic Church of Lithuania.

Caritas Lithuania programmes includes humanitarian assistance in the form of food and clothing to poor families, homecare service to provide care to the elderly and sick, day care centres for children and treatment and rehabilitation programmes for people struggling with substance abuse.

Caritas Lithuania national office in Kaunas employs 300 staff and approximately 2500 volunteers. The Secretariat coordinates the activities in 7 Caritas dioceses throughout Lithuania.

The Specialised Assistance Centre (SPC)

Our goal is to provide specialized services for the persons who experienced domestic violence and police report has been filed.

Specialised assistance centre shall mean an institution performing public functions and providing specialised comprehensive assistance to victims of violence.

SAC receives information from police officers about violence cases through phone calls, e-mails or directly from the domestic violence victims. SAC offers help to overcome difficult situations. For example:

• To clarify the details of the situation
• To inform about available assistance
• To create individual support plans
• To provide judicial and psychological assistance
• To organize other institutional assistance
• To mediate/ provide medical assistance to victims

This project has been active since September of 2012.

Monday to Friday, 09.00-17.00

Lithuanian, English, Russian

Women’s Issues Information Centre (WIIC) was established in April 1996, after the completion of activities by the Secretariat of the Lithuanian preparatory Committee for the UN Fourth World Conference on Women. It is an umbrella women’s NGO promoting gender equality policies through education, public campaigns, lobbying policy makers and civil society, seeking equal rights and opportunities for women and men, raising public awareness on equal opportunities and gender equality, improving the position of women in all spheres of life.