In focus: International Women's Day | March 8, 2024

International Women's Day is an important global moment to recognize the incredible achievements of women and girls. On this celebratory day, we also recognize progress that has been made to advance the rights of women and girls — and acknowledge the gaps that remain in achieving gender equality. 

A December 2023 announcement from UN Women stated, "In a world facing multiple crises that are putting immense pressure on communities, achieving gender equality is more vital than ever. Ensuring women’s and girls’ rights across all aspects of life is the only way to secure prosperous and just economies, and a healthy planet for future generations."

Despite the ongoing challenges women and girls face daily, with your help, we are making progress! Help amplify the voices of women and girls on March 8, 2024, for International Women’s Day as together we rally behind the call to “Invest in women: Accelerate progress."

Remember to use the #InvestInWomen and #SWSW hashtags on social media when you join in the conversation. When women and girls gain equal access and opportunity, everyone wins!

A milestone reached: Clean water changes everything

Seraphina and her daughter Vanessa would walk down this steep and narrow path to the valley below to gather water from a spring — descending more than 1,000 feet in elevation. 

Women and girls in poverty face unique obstacles that keep them from reaching their full potential. In fact, the global water crisis hits girls and women the hardest. They spend an estimated 200 million hours hauling water every day — hours they can’t spend getting an education, learning a skill, or earning an income. But getting access to clean water changes everything. 

In 2018, World Vision committed to reach everyone, everywhere we worked in Rwanda with access to clean water — a total of 1 million people. Seraphina was excited to be the representative 1 millionth person reached. Her new water source is only a few minutes from her home and has truly changed everything for her and her family! 

Partner spotlight: "This is where God wants me."

A letter from Strong Women Strong World (SWSW) donor partner Robert Bobo 

I was raised around some incredible women. I’m talking the kind of women who lived a real-life Steinbeck novel, smuggling confidential papers across Communist lines, evacuating and leaving everything behind in the middle of the night because war broke out. Fearless, hardworking, and determined that their children would have something better — they were strong women making a strong world!

Back in 2022, I found myself in Dallas at World Vision’s Every Last One^® conference thanks to an invite by my friend Charity Wallace. It was all new to me, but about an hour into the day’s program I realized: This is where God wants me. And, if they’ll have me, I want to work with Strong Women Strong World! 

Just three months later, I was in Zambia with Kathryn Compton, seeing the work firsthand. I was captivated by World Vision’s work with water because I’d spent a good deal of my career in oil and gas. Drilling wells was familiar.

But the transformation of children, women, and entire communities thanks to one water well and World Vision’s comprehensive program, that was a revelation.

Still, it was heartbreaking to see women with fear and desperation in their eyes. But after spending an hour with the SWSW team, those eyes were sparkling with hope and empowerment. That’s a special — and I’d argue critical — connection that only women can make with each other.

And because it’s backed by World Vision’s talented staff of women and men, it’s even more meaningful.

As we mark International Women’s Day on March 8, I honor the women God chose to raise and form me by coming alongside and supporting SWSW and World Vision’s work. As an ally and friend to the women of SWSW who are impacting future generations of girls and women, I know I make them proud.

Bobo visiting with children in Zambia.

Bobo building a food kit while at the World Vision storehouse location in the Bronx during the 2023 SWSW annual meetings.

Register now for the Global 6K for Water: Every step you take is one they won't have to

Clean water access is an essential piece for vulnerable children and families to build brighter futures. Will you join us in the Global 6K for Water? Every $50 raised helps one person gain lasting access to clean water.

The Global 6K is great because you can do it anywhere! Walk, run, or roll the distance, by yourself or with your family, to help make a global impact. Whether you participate from the treadmill or your favorite trail, the neighborhood or the track ... when you and thousands of others around the world join together on May 18, 2024, you’ll help equip vulnerable people with access to clean water.

Learn more about the Global 6K and register today by clicking the button below!

Ways to take action

• Wear your support: Shop the Strong Women Strong World^® Store now.
• Double your impact! Every $1 given to Strong Women Strong World^® will be matched with a $1 donation to programs that empower women and girls, thanks to a generous SWSW partner. 
• Raise your voice on issues affecting women and girls: Join the World Vision Advocates — a community of ordinary people who desire to follow God's call to seek justice! Visit World Vision Advocacy to learn more.
• Follow us on social media: Stay up to date with us on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

World Vision's Strong Women Strong World^®

helps keep girls and women at the center of global community development, advocacy,

and emergency response work. Together, we can continue making a difference

in the lives of women and girls and accelerate communities’ progress out of poverty.

Learn more and get involved at strongwomenstrongworld.org.