Hope in uncertainty | World Vision UK

Helping children survive, recover and build a future

In the past year, many children and families have survived traumas such as drought, flood, hunger, conflict and displacement, and are recovering and building a future, thanks to your generosity.

Practically speaking, that can look like water, food, medicine, a school pack, safety, a blanket, a hygiene kit, or a heater. It could be education, safe spaces, peace clubs, opportunities to have a say, even training and support to provide for themselves . . . and the list goes on.

Scroll on to read remarkable stories that illustrate some of the ways children now have hope for their future, despite unstable and unpredictable circumstances.

Be encouraged. Hope is alive, and you are a part of it.

Girl with blue headscarf walking in a displacement camp — Hend, 14, walks past a small rose garden that has been planted in between the tents where she lives at an informal tented settlement (ITS), Lebanon ©Mark Abou Jaoude, 2023.

Transformed lives

We believe in a world where children can live in peace and stability. And through our ongoing projects we’ve continued to strive to achieve that.

Lebanon

In Lebanon, your support has been pivotal. Despite internal instabilities and economic challenges compounded by conflicts in neighbouring countries, the burdens faced by vulnerable communities have been eased. We remain committed to protecting children in Lebanon and aiding communities in their survival and recovery efforts.

Education – four learning spaces were renovated to create environments for education and development.
Education – 34 teachers were recruited and trained to increase child literacy and child protection.
Emergency Response – 940 individuals received the assistance they needed to help them survive.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

In the challenging landscape of Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), your support has made a substantial impact on communities facing complex crises. Despite formidable security challenges posed by disruptive and violent rebellions, families remain determined and resilient. Your support is providing the crucial life-sustaining aid to help them survive and build a better future.

Livelihood – 1,533 community members received seed kits and livestock.
Nutrition – 1,176 malnourished women and children received clean water and nutritional interventions.
Livelihood – 60 women leaders have been trained on income generation, women’s rights and gender-based violence.

Mali

In Mali’s challenging landscape, your support is making a tangible difference to the lives of many, providing immediate relief for families facing hunger and economic insecurity, and paving the way for a brighter future.

Nutrition – 300 families received money to buy essential food items for their survival.
Education – 165 children now have school meals to make sure they can focus on school.
Livelihood – 80 gardeners trained to be more productive and self-sufficient.

Somalia

The ongoing climate crises and conflict in Somalia pose major challenges for children and their families. Significant change has been enabled, by providing clean water, healthy food for malnourished children, and peace-building initiatives to mitigate violence, thanks to your support.

Water and Sanitation – 894 people now have access to clean water and food.
Nutrition – 276 families received money to buy essential food items for their survival.
Child Protection – 55 community leaders have been trained to deal with and prevent gender-based violence.

Honduras

Honduras faces major economic struggles, soaring irregular migration, and volatile gang violence. Our work focuses on safeguarding children, promoting education and child rights, fostering community participation, and influencing government institutions for policy changes. Through your ongoing support, we’ve made a noticeable difference and are moving towards making a lasting impact on the lives of thousands.

Child Protection – 20,773 children supported through programmes to reduce and prevent violence.
Emergency Response – 5,145 families received life-saving humanitarian assistance.
Child Protection – 194 individuals were trained in child protection.

Afghanistan

In the past year, in the midst of upheaval in Afghanistan, a ban on work in specific areas and women’s education, we persevered, prioritising health, nutrition, and child protection despite these challenges. With your support, we aimed to restore immediate access to essential services disrupted by the unstable situation.

Healthcare – 15 children received critical treatment for chronic and acute diseases, surgery, and mental health support.
Child Protection – 2,904 children provided with mental health and emotional support services.
Healthcare – 68,891 individuals given access to health facilities equipped with modern resources and trained professionals.

Philippines

In the Philippines, ongoing displacements, violence, and child protection concerns pose significant challenges. Your generosity directly impacted over 12,000 people in the Philippines during 2023, making a real difference in their lives.

Education – 9,680 children received learning kits consisting of school bags and supplies to support and encourage enrolment in school and alternative education.
Education – 516 children participated in conflict and peacebuilding programmes.
Emergency Response – 376 caregivers gained knowledge to improve child health, nutrition, and hygiene.

Far from home, Hawa hopes for school

In Mali, children dream of peace, and going home. Here, over 350,000 people currently live as Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) due to internal and regional conflict, as well as climate change.

Fleeing violence, Hawa had to run. But in the confusion of the chaos, she was separated from her mother. Like many young children fleeing in the night, she ended up in a host community. Here, a family is looking after her.

Child in a pink dress with an older woman — Hawa wants to go to school, so she can one day become a nurse and help people in situations like her.

When you flee with nothing, you arrive with nothing. Everything, except maybe a small backpack, is left behind. And you never know when or if you will go home.

People who are displaced need the same level of support as refugees who cross a border. They need food, water, shelter, and medicine.

They’ve lost so much. Many children talk about the loss of school, learning and their future education. They know that an education gives them the means to build a better future and they know they deserve it.

How is your support helping children like Hawa?

Cash!

Cash distributions are a big part of providing help in survival situations and are becoming the preferred method of assistance. Cash vouchers often come via a spending card, but in some remote areas, physical cash is the only method available. Families often receive between $50 and $80 USD for a month.

Top reasons cash works:

It is designated for specific needs, such as food, medicine and basic essentials.
It keeps money local, supporting the local economy.
It promotes agency and choice.
Cash can help encourage participation in other support activities.

Girl in pink dress eating grapes — Despite all the tragedy, Hawa is determined to study and find a way to become a nurse. She sits here enjoying some local grapes, purchased using the cash distributed to her and the host family.

Around the world, children like Hawa live amidst the cruel realities of conflict, war and disaster. But they are resilient and determined to build a future – and your support is helping them do that.

A story of hope from Somalia

In 2023, we began setting up new programmes in the state of Puntland, northeast Somalia. Puntland is a beautiful coastal region. Fishing used to be a major source of livelihood for families.

Now, communities live amidst climate uncertainty. Drought has wiped out so many people’s cattle and livelihoods. Forced to desert their homes, many trek through dry desert-like terrain to be closer to regional towns, hoping to find work or support.

Humanitarian support is vital to thousands of families and children, which this Somalian team is delivering and impacting lives.

Group of women — A group of women have formed a savings group, improving livelihoods.

Our work is driven by community consultation and engagement. The programme activities are designed with the community, and that is something we are proud of.

It means, some weeks our teams are trekking over extremely bumpy roads to distribute immediate need items, such as food packages, cash vouchers, agricultural seeds, tools or water collecting buckets.

Essentials such as containers for water and mosquito nets ready for distribution

Non-food essentials ready for distribution

The distribution of non-food items, such as water collection buckets, containers for storing water and mosquito nets is a vital part of helping communities and children survive.

A group of women holding water containers and mosquito nets.

The team distribute these items across the region

Having the ability to collect water, soap to keep clean and mosquito nets is an integrated approach to combatting, thirst, ill health and disease, and helps families with watering crops.

Then, on other weeks, the teams will focus on community workshops and reflection sessions. This aims to deepen community understanding of key issues that have the potential to deeply affect a child’s future.

Recently, the team delivered some vital ‘need’ items but also engaged in a lot of community activities.

Valuing people and investing in women

Investing in women means positive progress for all communities.

Community consultations and workshops happen in a lot of places. Often, key religious leaders and community figureheads will meet with local officials in more formal settings, such as a hired conference room. But many times, the team meet people in locations most accessible to them, such as a makeshift tent, a local community clinic, or the veranda of a school.

Some of the recent workshops:

Nutrition education and awareness

Here, a group of women are participating in a nutrition education and awareness session.

Health education workshop

Another group of women are learning about child health and wellbeing.

Workshop with women and key religious leaders in a conference room.

Gender-based violence workshop

Women and key religious leaders are meeting together for a gender-based violence (GBV) workshop in a more formal setting.

FGM reflection session

A group of women are attending a reflection session on the issue of female genital mutilation.

The Somalia team and the communities they work with have some amazing plans for this year. In Somalia, hunger and the effects of climate are two of the biggest causes of fragility.

In the upcoming months, the team will engage in:

Food and cash distributions.
Distributing agricultural seeds and tools.
Planning and sourcing goats and livestock for distributions.
Continue with livelihoods and income-generating activities.

Improving life in IDP camps

Re-greening initiative

A joint community clean-up campaign in a local IDP camp helped prepare the community for a re-greening initiative that aims to increase vegetation, grow shading trees and prepare potential crop sites that are better suited to survive the effects of changing climate and weather.

Preparing the ground to produce sustaining food

A group of residents, along with members of the World Vision Somalia team, work together cleaning up and clearing ground ready to plant trees and seed to grow crops. These will provide shade and healthy food for the whole community.

We couldn’t do this without you

Thank you for your generosity and support for children and communities in vulnerable circumstances across the world. Here’s a snapshot of what your support has enabled in some of the most dangerous places:

4 million people in need assisted (including 18.8 million children).
76 disasters (in 60 countries) were urgently responded to.
3 million people reached through cash and food assistance.

We’re here for the children, helping them no matter what

Our commitment to children around the world is to help them survive, recover, and build a future.

Countless vulnerable children are born or forced into fragile and dangerous environments where leaving is not an option for them, so turning our backs on them is not an option either.

That is why our dedication is resolute in reaching those who need us most. We commit to securing additional funding, bolstering our capabilities, and fortifying our promise to make impactful changes to their lives.

In the landscape of 2023’s uncertainties – marked by instability, disasters, and conflict – we stand firm, knowing our programmes endure. With your continued support, we’ll not only maintain but also elevate our commitment for the years ahead, knowing our programmes will endure into 2024 and beyond.