Project HOPE developed in Goa to provide support to victims of abuse and at risk
The Francis of Assisi and Carlo Acutis International Prize being presented to Fr Sanford Rodrigues and Fr Alvison Fernandes, Goan student-priests studying in Rome on behalf of Caritas Goa.
PANAJI
Caritas Goa has won the prestigious Francis of Assisi and Carlo Acutis International Prize for its Project HOPE, which was developed in Goa to support victims of abuse and at risk.
The International Prize for an Economy of Fraternity was awarded to Caritas-Goa at the Santa Maria Maggiore, Assisi, on May 25.
THE AWARD
The award was handed over by Archbishop of Assisi Domenico Sorrentino, Stefania Proietti (President of the Umbria Region), Fr Roberto Genuin (Minister General of the Friars Minor Capuchin) and Msgr. Anthony Figureido to Fr Sanford Rodrigues and Fr Alvison Fernandes, Goan student-priests studying in Rome on behalf of Caritas Goa.
T
his year, the Award Secretariat had received a record of 60 projects in five languages (English, Italian, French, Portuguese, and Spanish) from 30 nations and 4 continents.
Caritas-Goa was granted the Award after three rounds of scrutiny by international experts.
In addition to the cheque for 50,000 Euros, Caritas Goa received the icon of the Prize with the depiction of St Francis and Carlo Acutis and the scarf with the image of the undressing of the Poor Man, made and delivered by Brunello Cucinelli who recalled the difficulties of today's society "of the increasingly widespread evil of the soul" but the possibility also with these initiatives to cure it.
Caritas Goa Director Fr Maverick Fernandes said he felt deeply humbled about the International Award granted to Caritas Goa.
“We received this Award not to hold it, but to be its custodians, and in doing so, we hope that every act of healing, every life lifted, and every effort of fraternity through this mission will contribute to spreading hope (HOPE) in the world,” said Fr Fernandes.
THE PROJECT
Fr Fernandes said HOPE (Healing, Opportunities, Protection and Empowerment) was developed in Goa with an aim to support young people (but not minors) victims of abuse and at risk, some of whom are deafblind, by accepting their request for help through the call centre.
The project provides them with specific training to create handcrafted and environmentally friendly products, such as toilet paper rolls, soap, handicrafts and biodegradable packaging, including customised eco-friendly hospitality kits, designed and provided according to demand.
“Project HOPE focuses on those who are often overlooked by mainstream economic models – abused youth, those with disabilities, and marginalised women. Project HOPE develops a new economic model by putting large scale operators like five-star hotels into direct contact with vulnerable members who in turn purchase items required by the hospitality industry made of raw materials that would otherwise go to waste – banana fibre, coconut husks and recycled paper,” said Fr Fernandes.
“The approach is innovative and creative in that it derives economic value from the particular capacities of local communities. In a concrete expression of the fraternity's capital, one of the best-known hotel chains, Taj Hotels, welcomed the opportunity to stock, market and sell the products.”
THE PRAISE
Archbishop of Goa and Daman Cardinal Filipe Neri Ferrão expressed his happiness for the award which “creates a new model of economy: a different economy, one that gives life and does not kill, includes and does not exclude, humanises and does not dehumanise, takes care of creation and does not plunder it.”
President of the Umbria Region Stefania Proietti underlined that the award is “a gesture of hope”.
“With these projects we tell the story of social innovation that does not stop at the desperation of misery but looks with hope to make an apparently unsolvable problem an opportunity for sustainable and integral development, work and growth,” said Proietti.
