In focus: Empowering women, families, and communities to end extreme poverty
Although overall progress has been made in reducing extreme poverty around the world in the last 40 years, 712 million people still live on less than $2.15 per day, according to the World Bank's updated definition of extreme poverty.
Two-thirds of all people living in extreme poverty are smallholder farmers — and about half of them are women. The majority of them live in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Central America. Women make up 43% of the global agricultural labor force, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization, yet they face discrimination when it comes to ownership of land and animals, equal pay, participation in decision-making, and access to credit and financial services.
Most rural farmers and small business owners where we work lack the empowered mindset, financial tools, business knowledge, and resilience needed to earn more money and break the cycle of poverty. Read on to learn how women are equipped and empowered through World Vision's THRIVE (Transforming Household Resilience in Vulnerable Environments) 2030 plan.
Economic Empowerment THRIVE 2030 plan
Our eight-year Economic Empowerment business plan, THRIVE 2030, will equip everyone, everywhere we work in 11 countries — at least 10 million† people — with access to the tools they need to lift themselves out of extreme poverty.
Through World Vision's work, every 60 seconds a family gets the tools to overcome poverty. Our proven THRIVE approach equips women and their families using four sequential, evidence-based tools that lead to improved incomes and more resilient families.
The foundational tool in the THRIVE model is Biblical Empowered Worldview training. This Bible-based curriculum helps people shift their mindsets from dependency to confidence, responsibility, and accountability as children of God. After taking part in the training, Constasie (pictured at right) says she feels one step closer to achieving her dreams. "For me, I learned that before God's eyes, I am of great value," she says. "My wish is for my family to have a very good life. I don't want my children to ... survive on casual labor but have tangible work to do and have a place to call home."
Constasie, Rwanda
To put this new empowered mindset into practice, we help community members — primarily women— set up their own groups to save money together and expand their social networks and relationships. They also learn financial basics and how to manage household finances, and they lend to one another to start or improve a business.
For the savings and producer groups ready for the next step, we provide business planning and tools for developing market profitability, leading to income diversification, improved resilience, and increase profits. Finally, through an innovative product called Lending to Savings Groups, loans are offered to mature savings groups, providing more capital for the group to lend to its members. This enables them to take even bigger steps toward growing or improving their farms and businesses.
An independent study of World Vision’s livelihoods model THRIVE in Tanzania in 2021 revealed significant results over eight years. Parents in extreme poverty — even the poorest of the poor living on as little as 38 cents a day — improved their families’ quality of life, with incomes significantly higher than at the beginning of the program.
†Reach will require additional support from other sources such as public grants, gifts-in-kind, field offices, and other funding sources.
Partner spotlight: The blessings of equality
A Strong Women Strong World partner impact story, by Dale Hanson Bourke
From left to right: Kimberly Quanstrum Jillson, Chris Hardy, Kathryn Compton, Dale Hanson Bourke, Kerry Bendt, and Julie Stanfill.
Throughout His ministry, Jesus reminded us to look out for "the least of these brothers and sisters of mine." This included women, children, and those marginalized because of social status, disability, and ethnicity.
As we gathered in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, May 20-24 for the Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) Forum, World Vision staff from around the world shared their creative and compassionate work aimed at making sure that everyone experiences equality and inclusion in every aspect of life.
One of the highlights of the trip was a visit to the El Barro community where we saw how the SWSW Beyond Access Project had changed the lives of women, men, and children in the community. After gaining access to a convenient clean water source, the women no longer had to spend most of their day at the river gathering water and washing clothes, and so could participate in developing small businesses. At the meeting of their “Always United” savings group we heard men and women share heartfelt thanks for what they had learned. Said one man, “Thanks to World Vision training I now know that no person is better than the other. I now do the sweeping and sometimes the cooking in our house. My children now see that it is normal for a man to do work in the house, too. I am grateful.”
Jackie, who heads the savings group, said, “World Vision changed our mindset. We had been afraid and fear paralyzes you. Now our vision is to prosper.”
Another man observed that so many people were leaving places like Honduras for the U.S. because they had no way to make a living. “World Vision has shown us how to make a living and not live in poverty. People don’t need to flee.”
Although I had heard the acronym “GESI” many times, the visit to Honduras and participation in the forum left me in awe of the commitment of the World Vision staff around the world and so very grateful to be able to support such life-changing work.
Dale Hanson Bourke and Jackie, leader of the Always United savings group.
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Save the date! The 20th anniversary Strong Women Strong World event is taking place on December 6, 2024, in New York. Come join us for a special dinner experience to honor past achievements, hear stories of beautiful transformation, and look ahead with excitement at the great opportunities God has called us to! Registration opens soon.
Want to learn more about our Economic Empowerment work? Consider joining us at the 2024 Economic Empowerment Forum in Tacoma, WA, August 23-24. The last day to secure the discounted hotel rate is July 24. Learn more or register now by visiting worldvision.org/2024EEForum.
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.
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.