In Southeast Asia, CRS and its partners focus on promoting good governance, alleviating poverty, and building peace. CRS is building the capacity of local residents to become active participants in the decision-making processes that affect them, and to identify and solve their own problems. Some examples of CRS's work in the region:
- In Indonesia, CRS helps thousands of people by providing supplies such as food and temporary shelter following disasters. Combining its expertise in multiple areas and working with its partners, CRS is helping communities identify their risks, prepare for emergencies, and better cope with them when they strike.
- Through innovative peacebuilding programs such as the annual Mindanao Peacebuilding Institute in The Philippines, CRS is addressing the cultural and religious divisions that prohibit growth and destabilize lives.
- CRS's focus on creating government-licensed, formal Microfinance Institutions ensures that poor entrepreneurs, most of whom are women, have access to much needed small loans for many years to come.
- CRS's health programs target children under five and women of reproductive age with activities in water and sanitation, supplemental feeding, and health education.