Cooperation International pour Developmental et Solidarite

CIDSE, an abbreviation of the French name Coopération Internationale pour le Développement et la Solidarité, is an international network of Catholic social justice organisations. Its members are based primarily in Europe and North America, while its advocacy and partnerships address global questions of poverty, inequality, climate change, food systems, energy, human rights and the governance of shared resources. The organisation’s international secretariat is located in Brussels, where it helps coordinate the network’s common positions, communications, policy work and relationships with multilateral institutions. The network was founded in 1965 in the context of the Second Vatican Council. Its original purpose was to help coordinate Catholic development and solidarity work around the Church’s responsibilities toward poor and oppressed communities and toward the pursuit of greater justice internationally. Over time, CIDSE developed from a coordination mechanism for development agencies into a broader social-justice network concerned with the structural causes of poverty and exclusion. A significant evolution began in the period after 2008. CIDSE broadened its approach to global justice and began working more explicitly with partners and allies on the systemic failures of economic and social structures. Its 2010–2015 strategic framework described this transition as a paradigm shift: rather than focusing only on conventional development activity, the network sought to examine the institutions, economic models and political choices that reproduce inequality, and to support alternatives. The 2016–2021 strategic framework further defined CIDSE as an international family of Catholic social justice organisations working for transformational change. In that formulation, the network’s agenda included ending poverty and inequalities, confronting systemic injustice and inequity, opposing the destruction of nature, and promoting alternatives that are both socially just and environmentally sustainable. Its work is informed by the Gospel, Catholic social teaching, the vocation of lay people in the Church and the world, dialogue with other religions, and the encyclical Laudato si’ by Pope Francis. CIDSE’s secretariat supports member-led working groups, platforms and forums. Its policy activity includes engagement at European Union and United Nations levels, public advocacy, communications and collaboration with civil-society coalitions. The organisation is registered in the European Transparency Register and holds general consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. Its stated areas of work include societal and ecological transformation; enabling communities to regain control over the commons; developing just and sustainable food and energy models in response to climate change; and encouraging change in personal and collective practice. The network also coordinates the Change for the Planet - Care for the People campaign, which links sustainable lifestyles with social justice. The campaign promotes lower overall energy consumption and more sustainable food choices, presenting these actions as ways to reduce environmental impact, support fair livelihoods for producers and respect human rights. CIDSE works with its member organisations and wider coalitions, including networks such as Climate Action Network, CONCORD and the European Laudato Si Alliance. The organisation is therefore best understood not as a commercial consumer brand, but as a coordinating and advocacy platform for Catholic development and social-justice organisations.

CIDSE was established in 1965 to coordinate Catholic development and solidarity work associated with responsibilities highlighted by the Second Vatican Council. These responsibilities included care for poor and oppressed people and the pursuit of justice beyond national borders. The organisation consequently began as a coordinating family of Catholic development organisations rather than as a conventional operating charity with a single country programme. Its subsequent development reflected wider changes in international development thinking. From 2008 onward, CIDSE expanded its understanding of global justice and increasingly worked with partners and allies to investigate the structural causes of poverty, inequality and exclusion. The network’s 2010–2015 strategic framework described this direction as a paradigm shift. The emphasis moved beyond development as a technical process toward examination of economic and social systems, their failures and the alternatives needed to change them. During this period CIDSE’s work became more closely connected with questions of economic justice, ecological limits, human rights, food systems and energy. The organisation used its international membership to coordinate common advocacy and to connect local and partner perspectives with European and global policy debates. Its Brussels secretariat served as the network’s communication and policy hub, facilitating thematic groups, platforms and forums and representing shared positions in relevant institutional settings. The 2016–2021 strategic framework formally articulated CIDSE as an international family of Catholic social justice organisations seeking transformational change. The framework linked the ending of poverty and inequality with challenges to systemic injustice, inequity and the destruction of nature. It also stressed the development of alternatives that combine social justice with environmental sustainability. This approach placed ecological transformation and social transformation within one integrated agenda. CIDSE’s stated principles draw on the Gospel and Christian social teaching, the role of lay people in the Church and the wider world, dialogue with other religions and attention to contemporary social conditions. The organisation also identifies Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato si’ as a significant source of motivation, particularly for work connecting care for the environment with concern for vulnerable communities. In its current organisational model, the secretariat supports member organisations rather than replacing them. It coordinates working groups addressing societal and ecological transformation, community control of the commons, climate change and just food and energy models, as well as personal and collective change. CIDSE also undertakes advocacy with the European Union and the United Nations, participates in broader coalitions and maintains a public campaign focused on sustainable lifestyles. Through this combination of coordination, advocacy, campaigning and alliance building, CIDSE operates as an international Catholic social-justice network focused on changing the systems that generate poverty, inequality and environmental harm.

• 2016

  Transformational-change framework

  [1]CIDSEen.wikipedia.org

  The 2016–2021 framework defines CIDSE as a family of Catholic social justice organisations working to end poverty and inequality, confront systemic injustice and protect nature.

• 2010

  Paradigm-shift strategy begins

  [1]CIDSEen.wikipedia.org

  The 2010–2015 strategic framework places greater emphasis on systemic critique, global justice and the development of alternatives to prevailing economic and social arrangements.

• 2008

  Expansion toward global-justice work

  [1]CIDSEen.wikipedia.org

  CIDSE begins broadening its approach, working with partners and allies to examine systemic failures in economic and social structures and to consider alternative models.

• 1965

  CIDSE is founded

  [1]CIDSEen.wikipedia.org

  CIDSE is established to coordinate Catholic development and solidarity work, including efforts to assist poor and oppressed communities and promote international justice.

A Catholic social justice network positioned around transformational change, structural analysis of poverty and inequality, ecological sustainability, human rights and collaboration across international civil-society alliances.

Product categories. Policy advocacy · International development coordination · Research and public-position papers · Civil-society coalition building · Campaigns for sustainable lifestyles and social justice

• Change for the Planet - Care for the People

  International · Europe · North America

  An international campaign linking sustainable lifestyles with social justice. It encourages reduced energy consumption and more sustainable food choices, with the stated aims of lowering environmental impact, supporting fair livelihoods for producers and respecting human rights.

  Source

1. 1CIDSEen.wikipedia.org
2. 2CIDSE official websitecidse.org