The post A Haitian mother’s struggle for survival appeared first on World Vision.

The post Breaking barriers: Rabia’s impact on her Iraqi community appeared first on World Vision.

The post Redefining gender roles in the Democratic Republic of the Congo appeared first on World Vision.

The post Matthew 25: Prayer for women and girls appeared first on World Vision.

Empowering women and girls is vital to creating a better world. At World Vision, guided by our Christian faith, we’ve championed equality for decades. Our commitment to this cause is deeply rooted in our work because we believe that when you empower women and girls by granting them equal access and opportunities, entire families and communities thrive.

But for millions of girls, that empowerment remains out of reach, often hindered by poverty, violence, or child marriage. Each year, 12 million girls are married before they turn 18, many of them forced to leave school and abandon their dreams far too early. World Vision’s Big Dream to End Child Marriage program aims to change this reality.

As we recognize International Women’s Day on March 8 and International Day of the Girl on October 11, here are seven ways you can help empower women and girls and protect their ability to shape their own futures.

1. Ensure clean water access for better lives

Girls and women around the world spend 250 million hours each day collecting water, often from unsafe sources that harm their health. Access to clean water helps free up time for education, work, and rest — helping girls and women transform lives.

Join World Vision’s Global 6K for Water® on May 16, 2026, or participate in fundraising for clean water with a Team World Vision event.

2. Support girls and women in crisis

Millions of girls face abuse, child labor, trafficking, and other violations of their rights. Your support equips local teams in protecting girls and women by offering training, education, counseling, medical care, and more in breaking gender-based violence cycles. Help every girl feel safe, seen, and valued.

3. Help end child marriage and other harmful practices

For millions of girls, child marriage means the end of childhood. It often leads to early pregnancy, isolation, and lifelong poverty. That’s why World Vision’s Big Dream to End Child Marriage program works in Kenya and Bangladesh to address the root causes of poverty, harmful social norms, and lack of access to education and clean water.

“Getting married now will be the death of my dreams … I do not want my dreams ruined,” says 17-year-old Sumaiya of Bangladesh.

Through community-led solutions, including child protection systems, behavior change training, education access, economic empowerment, water and sanitation access, and child protection systems strengthening, World Vision is helping girls like Sumaiya dream again.

4. Mentor for local impact

Your local community needs your influence. Volunteer with organizations like Big Brothers Big Sisters to become a mentor for a girl in need. Your presence and guidance can help shape her future and inspire change close to home.

5. Empower female entrepreneurs

Empowered women empower women. Help women rise through World Vision microloans. Support dedicated female entrepreneurs to build thriving businesses with small loans. By assisting these women, you promote economic growth that uplifts entire communities. One empowered woman can ignite change on a global scale.

Your gift sparks long-term, multiplying impact that goes far beyond a single load — creating hope, opportunity, and lasting transformation.

6. Advocate for education

Girls who stay in school are less likely to marry early and more likely to lead healthier, more secure lives. Support legislation and stand with programs like Big Dream to End Child Marriage, which prioritizes education as a pathway to freedom and agency.

7. Help new moms for a healthy start

The first 1,000 days of a child’s life — from conception to age 2 — are the most critical. You can help save young lives by giving a new mother essential things like a bassinet, cloth diapers, blankets, a container for clean water, and soap. Closer to home, connect with local volunteer opportunities that support new mothers and families. Your involvement can help create a nurturing environment that ensures healthier starts for both moms and their children.

Bonus: Express care and gratitude

Encouragement begins at home. Show your appreciation to the girls and women in your life, and how much they mean to you. A thank-you note, a helping hand, or a heartfelt conversation can make a world of difference.

The post 7 ways to empower women and girls appeared first on World Vision.

The post Sarafina’s story: From impoverished to resilient businesswoman appeared first on World Vision.

The post Finding their worth through making chocolate appeared first on World Vision.

The post Empowered through knowledge: Monika’s transformative farming practices appeared first on World Vision.

Throughout World Vision’s more than 70 years of work, our roots have run deep in helping where people are suffering, where poverty seems undefeatable, and where the needs are great. With God’s sustaining hand and faithful support from people like you, we were there in the wake of the Vietnam War with Operation Seasweep, sailing the South China Sea to pick up Vietnamese refugees that the world had turned its back on. We were there during the Ethiopian famine, feeding starving children and doing the much harder work of helping to establish long-lasting systems that have transformed lives and the region. We cried out for the church to respond when the AIDS crisis was creating orphans at an astonishing rate. We’ve been helping countless families since the Syrian civil war resulted in the largest refugee crisis of our day. And today, we’re responding to the crippling needs brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic in every country we work in while our staff are all equally affected by this crisis.

In 2010, we embarked on a mission unlike any we’d ever undertaken. In the middle of a major economic crisis, we launched World Vision’s Campaign For Every Child (FEC). Our goal was to empower 20 million people worldwide with life-changing resources. We felt God calling us to make this bold move, and many of you felt the same call. Because God honored our joint efforts, this groundbreaking campaign had an incredible global impact. We exceeded our goals, reaching more than 25 million people — half of them children — in just five years.

Each of these challenges seemed insurmountable — the numbers too big, the need too great. But World Vision instead said “together, we can do this, because this vision is from God.” He is our confidence who has guided us and provided for us for over 70 years. And He has stirred in your hearts and inspired you to be part of His great work of empowering children and families to raise themselves out of poverty so they can have life, hope, and a future — even amid crises like a global pandemic.

And that’s why we’re not backing down, and instead we’re setting an even more audacious goal. At God’s prompting in late 2015, World Vision launched Every Last One (ELO) — a $1 billion capital campaign over eight years to reach more than 60 million people*. It’s over twice as large as FEC was, and it builds on our global child sponsorship foundation — accelerating development in places where sponsorship projects already have a firm footprint. In these communities, campaign projects — funded by private donors and philanthropists — help us make an even bigger impact even faster, meeting a family’s needs through three areas of focus:

• Life through clean water and mother and child health
• Hope through child protection, emergency response, and Christian discipleship
• Future through economic empowerment and education

Come with us on a journey to discover what’s been accomplished so far. See the lives that have been transformed — both those of people here in the U.S. who said yes to God’s call to help, and those of the children and families we serve around the world. And continue the journey by partnering with us to make life, hope, and a future possible for every last one during a time when all three of those ideas seem questionable. The needs today are even greater because of the pandemic, but by the grace of God and with your compassionate generosity, we’re committed to empowering millions of children and families to transform their lives.

*Includes the number of unique participants in each of our Signature Initiative programs. Because of World Vision’s multi-sector approach, some people will participate in more than one program.

Every human being deserves clean water and access to essential healthcare. Still, women and children in developing nations walk an average of 6 kilometers — 3.7 miles — each day to get bacteria-filled water. And a child under the age of 5 dies every seven seconds, mostly from preventable causes. That’s why World Vision is committed to reaching 25 million people with access to clean water and 2 million mothers and young children with health and nutrition services by 2023.

Water: From problems to prayers answered

Witness to transformation: A new purpose

Mother and child health: Changing lives in Zambia

Once people are healthy and have access to clean water, it opens up new possibilities and inspires hope. This is where World Vision builds on our work by integrating child protection initiatives and leading emergency response programs. When people are safe, it frees them from worry and creates space for spiritual nurture. Christian discipleship is the third component of our Hope work. Through these three initiatives, we’re aiming to reach 28 million people by 2023.

Child protection: From child marriage to freedom

Witness to transformation: A miraculous change

Child protection: Girls free to dream of brighter future

Child protection: Kenyan children embrace new tradition

Christian discipleship: Youth pray passionately for their country

Emergency response: Responding in one of the most remote places

Emergency response: Citizens of nowhere

Emergency response: Family sacrifices for boy

Child protection: Protecting girls in Armenia

Emergency response: Girl excels in school after working

As hope builds, people begin to dream of a brighter future. ELO’s Future work is centered around economic empowerment and education. World Vision’s award-winning Unlock Literacy program empowers parents and children to value education and its life-changing potential. And parents struggling to make ends meet gain the knowledge and tools to farm better, learn new skills, and gain access to financial services like loans and savings groups. Economic resilience is critical to helping families weather natural disasters and other emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic, and it also helps them navigate unexpected expenses that life often brings without being financially devastated. Our aim through ELO is to brighten the futures of 5.4 million children and hardworking adults by 2023.

Economic Empowerment: From migrating to managing

Education: Rwandan woman advocates for children's education

Witness to transformation: Finding God's purpose to fulfill

You can help make life, hope, and a future possible for every last one.

Give Now

The post Called by God: The Every Last One campaign appeared first on World Vision.

We all need inspiration. Life can be tough, the news can be overwhelming, and it’s easy to get lost in a busy life. We may be independent and strong, but we also need to take time to support and learn from each other. To celebrate International Women’s Day, March 8, here are 12 amazing women with life lessons to inspire and support you.

1. Dr. Li in China:
Stand fast in the face of fear.

The coronavirus-caused disease, COVID-19, continues to spread around the world. But near the center of the epidemic, 27-year-old Dr. Li is standing strong. She canceled vacation plans to visit her parents, missed her New Year’s Eve celebrations, and has continued working at the health center where she provides services including vaccinations, epidemic prevention, and public health supervision. Her work now involves sanitizing public places, persuading people to stay in quarantine, monitoring new outbreak data, and writing reports. “I’ll be here when needed,” she says. World Vision has been supplying her health center with face masks and other protective items.

2. Ireen in Malawi:
God made you wonderful.

Ireen did not feel wonderful. She was hopelessly in debt and desperately unhappy. The death of her father had forced her to drop out of school at 12. She married at 19, then had five children but had nothing to feed them. Through training provided by World Vision, she began to see her life in a new way. She learned that God’s love empowers us to take responsibility for ourselves, our marriages, families, communities, and creation. She learned that God had made her wonderful.

Ireen also learned new ways to farm and joined with other farmers to turn subsistence farming into a real business. The community elected Ireen to be the leader of five farmer groups, 150 people strong. Now, Ireen and her husband are building a new house — this one with six rooms. “We need room for grandchildren,” laughs Ireen, grandchildren that will know God made them wonderful, too.

3. Gertrude in Zimbabwe:
Stop waiting for a man to fix your problems.

Gertrude felt helpless. Her husband was away working, but not earning enough to provide for their three children. “I used to wait for my husband to feed the family. I also used to wait for my husband to buy livestock … and I waited for my husband to build the house,” explains Gertrude. Meanwhile, her marriage was falling apart, her children’s health was suffering, and Gertrude was so shaken by fear and anxiety that she was admitted to the hospital. “I would spend the whole day crying,” she remembers.

As Gertrude was packing to return to her parent’s home, a World Vision staff member confronted her saying, “You have to stay and use your brains and use your hands — we will teach you!” Gertrude joined a savings group and started earning money. She bought livestock, built a latrine, added on to her house, and bought furniture. She and her husband have reconciled, and she is now a volunteer health worker, helping other mothers keep their children healthy. She says proudly, “I feel like a champion!”

4. Shabitri in Bangladesh:
It’s never too late to learn new things.

Two years ago, Shabitri held a book in her hand. She had no idea how to read, but she felt happy. Happiness was rare for this mother of three who never went to school as a child and married at age 11. When health issues overwhelmed their meager finances, she resorted to begging from neighbors to feed her children.

Through World Vision and a program funded by U.S. foreign assistance, USAID, Shabitri was handed a book and invited to join classes in business training and literacy. She learned to read and do basic math. And thanks to a loan, she has started two profitable businesses: weaving baskets and running a small grocery shop. Her 15-year-old daughter is inspired. “My mother can now write and read,” says Modhumala. “She can make decisions by herself. She is independent. The most beautiful thing I love is now she can teach my younger brother.”

5. Christine in South Sudan:
Breaking stereotypes is rewarding.

It’s easy to see people as one thing and limit them according to what we see — their race or gender, their economic status, their past trauma, their failures. But Christine Ngbaazande is breaking these stereotypes apart. In a place where women and girls are not respected, where survivors of sexual violence are shunned, and where former child soldiers are feared and avoided, Christine is leading a movement to welcome everyone. She is also breaking stereotypes simply by being a female leader. When young girls see her drive past on her motorbike, a vehicle typically reserved for men, they are inspired. Christine was rewarded with a prestigious humanitarian award in 2019 for her work in her community, supporting survivors and making progress to end violence against women.

6. Patricia in Honduras:
No journey is too far to pursue your dreams.

Five days a week, Patricia leaves her mountain home to walk precarious trails to her job as head of women’s programs, serving more than 9,000 women in 60 rural communities in Yamaranguila. The daily walk takes her four hours, but the journey to service is one she’s been on ever since she was a child. At age 11, after dropping out of school in third grade, Patricia joined a World Vision program to learn how to tutor children and encourage them to stay in school rather than join their parents in the fields. Now 36, she’s currently enrolled in seventh grade, attending classes on Saturdays. She’s taken every course or workshop she could, all with the intent to serve her family, community, and nation. In between her own studies, she teaches evening classes at her house and is a respected leader. In 2019, she was rewarded with the five-star citizen’s award by the Honduran anti-corruption council.

7. Dativa in Rwanda:
You can give others what you never received.

Dativa once dreamed of being a doctor, but her dream never came. She had to drop out of school in third grade to care for her eight siblings and her mother, who struggled with mental illness. When Dativa was 23, her mother was killed in the Rwandan genocide. Two years later, Dativa married, but after a lengthy illness, her husband died, leaving her to raise their children on her own.

Dativa doesn’t know how to read or write, but she’s not letting that stop her. She’s making sure her children are educated, and she’s become an advocate for other children to ensure their parents send them to school. She’s also adopted a girl named Keza, whose mother wasn’t able to care for her. At first Keza struggled in school, even repeating a grade. Now in third grade, Keza ranks second in her class and dreams of becoming a doctor.

8. Haley in the United States:
Learn from the next generation and remember, with God all things are possible.

Haley Lilla, 19, is articulate, compassionate, and determined to lead her generation not only to dream but also to act. When World Vision’s Ignite partnership came to her school, Haley felt God call her to action. She sponsored a child and became an advocate for his community in Kenya. She also became a spokesperson about injustice, rallying her peers to “start making a tangible impact now.”

Haley is now majoring in Peace and Conflict Resolution at Chapman University, has designed a bike that purifies water with UV light, and is working on partnering to help a refugee community. In a speech to 300 leaders from top U.S. Christian schools, Haley said, “I understand that maybe my generation can’t fix it all, but with God, all things are possible.”

9. Maribel in the United States/Mexico:
God will speak when you listen.

Every day, Maribel prayed for wisdom. Then, God gave her a dream. She and her husband, Frank, were ministering to a growing number of people who were living in a city park in Matamoros, Mexico, waiting for asylum hearings in the U.S. Children and families slept outside with no tents, or blankets, or food. Maribel and Frank brought supplies from their home in Texas, while volunteers served meals. But Maribel wanted to do more.

In the dream, God told Maribel, “Teach them how to fish. Give them a hook. They have abilities, give them something small.” Maribel wrestled with the dream, unsure what it meant. Then God spoke again: “Take them pots and pans, plates and glasses, and they’ll figure out how to cook.” Even though Maribel knew the camp of 2,500 people had no stoves, she rounded up pots and pans to distribute. Sure enough, one man figured out how to make a stove using mud and materials he found. Maribel and Frank organized people into groups, to make new stoves and cook their own meals. “Now there are over 100 ovens serving the area,” says Maribel. Maribel and Frank have also distributed supplies from World Vision, including tents, blankets, food, and hygiene kits. Maribel is now teaching women to make jewelry and do embroidery.

10.  Mayerly in Colombia:
Unconditional love can change nations.

Despite growing up in a violent neighborhood of Colombia during a time of conflict, Mayerly Sanchez’s family gave her stability, unconditional love, and taught her to love God. World Vision also taught her to speak up. Mayerly joined other children to start a peace club, to steer kids away from drugs, crimes, and violence. At age 12, after her best friend was killed, Mayerly became a spokesperson for the Children’s Peace Movement. Mayerly and her friends lobbied elected officials and organized public rallies. Peace became a nationwide issue. The Children’s Peace Movement was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize four consecutive times.

Now, at 35, the peaceful life that she advocated so hard for has become her reality. Homicides are at a 40-year low and she and her husband are raising two young girls. As a communications manager for World Vision, she continues to use the power of words to change her country and advocate for children. “Kids are what makes me love this work,” she says. Mayerly wants kids to have what she has experienced: unconditional love. “With love, everything is different in your life.”

11. Manushak in Armenia:
You can leave a legacy.

At 47, Manushak knows she won’t have her own children. But she still wants to leave a legacy. Her grandmother taught her to knit when she was 6, a skill that has allowed her to earn a small income despite a physical disability. Now she’s passing that skill onto others. She’s partnered with World Vision and leads a group of women who knit clothes to fulfill orders such as 300 scarves to give to Syrian-Armenian refugees who were facing the winter without proper clothing. Manushak is proud that she’s able to pass on what she learned from her grandmother so long ago. “I don’t want to lose this after me. I want to leave something after me,” she says. “I want the story to be continued.”

12. Anwara in Bangladesh:
We need each other.

Anwara used to send her children out to search for firewood in the refugee camp where she lives in Bangladesh. Surrounded by more than 740,000 people from Myanmar who also fled extreme violence, Anwara didn’t know anyone. World Vision created community kitchens, where women could come cook together for their families. Now, Anwara has 50 close friends who cook together and encourage each other. “We feel that we have better strength now,” she says. She’s able to share that strength and knowledge with her children, who no longer have to search for firewood.

Kari Costanza, Kristy J. O’Hara-Glaspie, Kathryn Reid, Laura Reinhardt, and Jon Warren of World Vision’s staff in the United States contributed to this article. Lilly Li of World Vision’s staff in China and Cecil Laguardia of World Vision’s staff in South Sudan also contributed to this article.

The post Life lessons from inspiring women around the world appeared first on World Vision.