In a regional context marked by deep inequalities, Cáritas Latin America and the Caribbean, through the Latin American and Caribbean Secretariat of Cáritas (SELACC), presents its Political Advocacy Guide. This tool was born not as a simple technical manual, but as an input to support the agents of the National Cáritas in their daily advocacy work and with a view to moving from immediate assistance to the real transformation of the structures that generate exclusion.

Damiana Lanusse, advocacy coordinator of Cáritas LAC, presented the Guide to the regional team of Environment, Risk and Disaster Management (MAGRE) and Integral Ecology in the face-to-face workshop that took place in Bogotá, in the month of February. Lanusse highlights that this guide responds to the "prophetic tradition" of the Church.

Political advocacy is not an optional addition, but rather a constitutive dimension of our mission. Without it, the exercise of charity runs the risk of limiting itself to addressing consequences, without transforming the causes that generate suffering.

From theory to concrete action

The Guide takes a tour of political incidence in the church and a grateful memory of political incidence in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The third part offers a clear methodology so that national, diocesan and parish Caritas have a common roadmap. The document allows local teams to:

• Analyze the social and political context in depth.
• Identify key actors for dialogue.
• Formulate viable proposals that defend human dignity and the common good.

Collective and synodal strength

According to Lanusse, the tool integrates the learnings of the regional diagnosis carried out in 2025, ensuring that the contents respond to the real needs for strengthening that the organizations expressed throughout the continent.

One of the pillars of this guide is multilevel incidence, “that is, coordinated between the different levels of the Confederation. Likewise, it highlights the importance of walking with a synodal spirit in alliance with other organizations and ecclesial networks; and as a Church on the way out, faithful to the culture of encounter, dialogue and work together with communities of faith, organizations of society civil, academia, private sector, among other social actors,” highlights Lanusse.

In short, this common tool helps us speak with greater collective force, so that the voice of the Church, close to those who suffer the most, reaches a real impact in the spaces where decisions are made that affect the lives of our people.

This is how Lanusse concludes, emphasizing that the ultimate goal is for the most vulnerable communities to stop being just recipients of help and become protagonists of their own change.

We invite all pastoral agents, allied organizations and people committed to social justice to learn about and download this material. Click on Download file (button below).