![Refugees gather at a makeshift camp near Kibati, 12 km north of the provincial capital of Goma, October 29, 2008 [REUTERS/Stringer, courtesy www.alertnet.org]](/var/storage/images/about-cafod/where-we-work/dr-congo/images/refugees-who-fled-fighting/934156-2-eng-GB/refugees-who-fled-fighting_0column50_04space_landscape.jpg)
![More than 700 campaigners rallied before delivering anti-poverty messages to every EU embassy in London [CAFOD]](/var/storage/images/media_folder/cafod/images/campaign_images/trade_justice_campaign_images/embassy_bus/199633-2-eng-GB/embassy_bus_0column50_04space_landscape.jpg)
![Fatna (right) brings home wood that she and some neighbours have harvested from outside the camp in Kubum, south Darfur [Paul Jeffery/ACT/Caritas]](/var/storage/images/about-cafod/where-we-work/sudan/images/fatna-right-brings-home-wood/247664-2-eng-GB/fatna-right-brings-home-wood_0column50_04space_landscape.jpg)
![Niccollette and Shrirvanie film the aftermath of the Guyanan floods, with support from CAFOD partner Guyana Human Rights Association [CAFOD]](/var/storage/images/about-cafod/what-we-do/communications/images/after-guyana-floods/679742-1-eng-GB/after-guyana-floods_0column50_04space_landscape.jpg)
Conflict and peace
![East Timorese children displaced from their homes by burning and looting take refuge in a temporary camp protected by UN peacekeeping troops [Mike Goldwater]](/var/storage/images/media_folder/cafod/images/international_images/asia/east_timor/two_boys_and_soldier/3807-2-eng-GB/two_boys_and_soldier_medium.jpg)
Unrest has become a state of normality in many countries - war and conflict directly undermine vital development work
In times of war, crops are destroyed, and people are forced to leave their homes before they can plant or harvest their crops.
Millions of people flee areas where there is fighting to look for safety, while anti-personnel landmines make land unusable. Roads and bridges are destroyed, schools and health clinics closed.
Money needed for health, education or agriculture is spent by governments on weapons instead.
Development programmes directly focus on reconciliation and peace building, or provide support to affected communities.
The exploitation of natural resources in countries with weak governance structures is also strongly associated with conflict, as resources are siphoned off to buy arms rather than to invest in development.
![CAFOD supported communities with seeds, tools and training to help local people move home and reintegrate in Northern Uganda [CAFOD]](/var/storage/images/about-cafod/where-we-work/uganda/images/move-home-and-reintegrate/945382-1-eng-GB/move-home-and-reintegrate_0column75_06space_landscape.jpg) CAFOD film about Uganda to star in UN festival Our documentary about war-torn Northern Uganda will mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights at the “We the Peoples” film festival |
![A CAFOD EU-funded project helping families rebuild their lives by setting up community businesses such as coffee growing [CAFOD/Paul Smith]](/var/storage/images/about-cafod/where-we-work/colombia/images/setting-up-community-businesses/905066-1-eng-GB/setting-up-community-businesses_0column75_06space_landscape.jpg)
Focus on the struggle for peace in Colombia - where millions have been forced to flee their homes during decades of fighting between guerrillas, paramilitaries and the army |
 Nobel Prize highlights challenge to peace in Aceh CAFOD congratulates former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari on winning the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in resolving conflict across the world through mediation and diplomacy |
![Anthony Lenard in one of three partitioned rooms he shares with his wife, three grown sons and 14-year-old twins at a camp in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka [David Snyder]](/var/storage/images/about-cafod/where-we-work/sri-lanka/images/anthony-lenard-sitting/923888-1-eng-GB/anthony-lenard-sitting_0column75_06space_landscape.jpg) Searching for peace in the camps of Sri Lanka CAFOD is helping people living in temporary camps in Sri Lanka who were forced to flee their homes because of the ongoing violence in the country |
Please send a message of support to kids this Advent at a special school run by a CAFOD partner |
Please sign our petition calling on the world's largest mining company to listen to communities in the Philippines worried about the effect mining will have on their land - plus send a personal message of solidarity to the people of Macambol |
Browse our new range of alternative gifts that act as two presents in one – something for you to give to friends or a relative, while the real gift changes the life of someone living in poverty |
