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World Vision staff members facing a queue of Syrian people, wearing World Vision branded vests

The difference we can make

Thanks to supporters, we can respond to disasters across the world

Why we respond to emergencies

We are called to go where we're needed most. Over the past five years we've increased our work in fragile states, and now one in three children we support live where disasters are most likely to strike and children are most vulnerable.

Emergencies can deprive children of their homes and security, leaving them open to abuse and extreme poverty. With your support, we intervene rapidly when disaster strikes to protect and bring hope to vulnerable children and families, supporting displaced people and those seeking refuge across borders. And we help them survive, adapt and thrive in the long term.

Our response

During 2022, World Vision helped over 29 million people in emergencies across 52 countries. We responded to many long-term humanitarian crises caused by conflict – often made worse by drought, as well as natural disasters including flooding, earthquakes, cyclones and tsunamis.

Last year, World Vision UK supported 18 emergency responses, directly reaching over a million people on four continents, almost half of whom were children. This included:

Who needs help right now

Respond with us

One of the reasons we're able to start supporting people within 72 hours of an emergency - or often even faster - is because of World Vision supporters backing our Emergency Fund. It allows us to build relief supplies such as food, shelter and household items, ready to be distributed to families when catastrophe strikes.

When emergencies hit, children are often the most at risk. That’s why we need to be there – in places torn apart by disasters and conflict. Help make sure we can always be there.

I'll support the Fund

Recent Emergency Responses

Ensuring children in emergencies don’t lose out on education.

Many children and young people living in countries affected by conflict or disaster are not in school. Primary and secondary school enrolment rates in fragile parts of the world are far behind as the structures which support education are not functioning as they need to. World Vision believes all children have a right to education, wherever they live. This includes supporting school meals during food shortages.

The Results

In our global response to Covid, 2.8 million children and caregivers across 57 countries supported with training and home learning materials during lockdowns.

By January 2023, over 30,000 children in our global response to the Ukraine crisis had benefitted from World Vision’s education programming, including the distribution of 4,890 education kits.

Providing long-term support in Ukraine

In addition to addressing people's immediate needs, we run Child-Friendly Spaces for children whose lives have been disrupted by conflict and natural disasters. The programme provides safe places for children to play, learn, and access counselling during emergencies.

Child-Friendly Spaces are a great way to integrate Ukrainian children into the community. They're encouraged to build relationships and better understand their emotions, ensuring they feel long-term benefits. Victoria, 12, finds comfort and peace at the child-friendly space in Moldova. She says, “We learn here how to acknowledge our feelings. If I feel angry, I must let that emotion out."

Thanks to our generous supporters, World Vision has reached more than 250,000 refugee children in Georgia, Moldova, Romania and Ukraine, offering education, protection and psycho-social support.

Ukrainian refugee girl pausing from colouring to smile at the camera
Victoria enjoys drawing and painting to express her feelings

Building resilience to climate change

The Result

By the end of October 2019, evaluation results showed that 160,000 farmers had reduced their vulnerability to climate hazards by taking various actions, like storing up food before prolonged droughts, using sustainable agricultural practices to improve production, and putting in place measures to reduce the impact of climate change like digging channels for water, terracing and planting trees.

Short term response to keep long term gains in Sudan

Five women in Sudan walk through a field, one carrying a large plate
Women in Sudan walk through a field of drought-resistant seeds provided by World Vision

In response to the 2015-2016 El Niño causing drought in Sudan, we acted fast to ensure we didn’t lose long term progress, by providing animals to 16,533 families so they had food and income. We also reacted to the rise in malnutrition by screening and referring malnourished children to therapeutic feeding centres for treatment.

As well as the emergency actions, our previous work in community structures and training meant we could quickly respond to the drought. This meant people were shielded from some of the worst effects and we could help prevent great community migration, meaning families, communities and peoples’ lives were kept more stable, and children’s education less interrupted.

We seek to build resilience but the first step after a crisis is survival

Celestin, 26, and Debora, 22, were forced to leave the comfort of their own home along with their three-month-old baby, Aimerance. They are among over 50,000 people who have had to flee conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Now they’re living in a camp of displaced persons. They need food, shelter, water and dignity.

“We were always displaced as children, but I thought conflict would have ended by the time I got my own children, but now see where I am with our baby,” Debora laments.

 

Mother and father from the DRC sat on the floor of their temporary home, the mother is holding their three-month-old daughter
Celestin and Deborah with their three-month-old daughter

We'll keep you updated

We respond to emergencies within 72 hours, and through our national offices in nearly 100 countries, we always have rapid information on the issues affecting vulnerable children around the world. Sign up to emails for breaking news about our emergency response around the world, updates on our work, and ways you can care for children.

Keep in touch

Our history of emergency response

Two refugees on the Seasweep, the smaller child clings to the older child.
After the Vietnam War, thousands of refugees were at risk. A World Vision ship became the first international rescue ship to provide food and medical assistance to 93 stranded refugees from Vietnam.
Woman looks into camera with baby in a sling on her back, and other children behind her also looking at the camera in this black and white photo
In the 1980s, millions were at risk of starvation in Ethiopia due to a famine. We were first in and last out, providing food and water and helping communities become self-sufficient through farming.
People in Rwanda stand on a hillside with the few possessions they could salvage
In 1994, a genocide in Rwanda killed almost 1 million people. We provided medical care and food and helped people to relocate. When the conflict ended, we developed a reconciliation process.
People walk around graves near their house
In the 1990s, when AIDS was stigmatised by the Christian community, we spoke out to help millions of children, helping to bring about global action with the HIV and AIDS Hope Initiative.
Mother, Father and Daughter smile in Thailand
The earthquake that hit Indonesia in 2004 triggered a massive tsunami killing nearly 230,000. World Vision initiated its largest-ever relief response across all of the five affected countries.
A nurse stands in the middle of a cholera tent in Haiti with patients lying on beds
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti in 2010, killing 250,000 and injuring even more. Within minutes, local World Vision staff sprang into action and began distributing emergency supplies.
Two people kneel next to a cooking pot outdoors in Kenya
During the East Africa hunger crisis our local teams helped the poorest and most vulnerable: malnourished young children, female-headed households, orphans, disabled breadwinners and the elderly.
A girl in Sierra Leone stands in the vicinity of a person covered in protective clothes due to Ebola
We worked in Sierra Leone for almost 20 years, so when Ebola hit, we quickly got prevention messages and safer burial and hygiene practices in place, reaching 1.6 million people during the epidemic.
A boy stands in front of makeshift tents in Nepal nearby to where an earthquake hit
In 2015, communities in Nepal were left in shock after two huge earthquakes struck. We responded immediately and over three years of relief, recovery and rehabilitation, we supported 573,688 people.

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