In her village in Uganda, 54-year-old Dinah is known as the woman with a big heart. As a grandmother and the primary caregiver to 12-year-old Javira and his three siblings, she carried the job of sole provider for her family.
But despite working tirelessly, Dinah could never seem to get ahead.
Not allowed to attend school as a child, she had few opportunities beyond small-scale farming. She grew corn, cassava, and beans, but her harvests were usually too small to feed her family, let alone cover healthcare and school fees for her grandchildren.
The consequences were heartbreaking. Javira was diagnosed with malnutrition more than once, and his education was delayed a full year while Dinah scraped together school fees. When money ran short, she sold her produce prematurely for low prices or faced moneylenders charging up to 150% interest. "It felt like I was making two steps forward and four steps backward," she says.
Finding a new path forward
But in 2021, things started to change. After Javira joined World Vision's child sponsorship program, Dinah became part of a group of 25 families in the Kamwenge District, Uganda that received training and tools to overcome extreme poverty.
Alongside these other families, she participated in World Vision’s THRIVE approach (see graphic below) to economic empowerment, which emphasizes savings and lending, climate-smart agriculture, kitchen gardening, and practical business skills. Another key element of THRIVE is Biblical Empowered Worldview training, a Scripture-based curriculum that helped Dinah understand her identity in Christ and her capacity to transform her life — and by extension, uplift her family and community.
"For the first time I knew that my family had hope for a better future," she says.
Using the farming techniques she learned, Dinah’s harvests grew significantly. Through her savings group, she could access affordable loans with interest rates below 5%. And by selling crops together with other families, the group was able to negotiate better prices and earn higher incomes for themselves.
Dinah no longer lives from crisis to crisis, scraping by or falling behind. Now, she has the knowledge, resources, and support network to build a stronger future — one she’s always dreamed about.
A formula for success
Dinah’s story is hardly an isolated one. Millions of people around the world are living on less than $3 per day — an extreme category of poverty many in the Western world can’t fathom. When your income is barely enough to get by, you can’t save. And when you can’t save, you’re just one crisis away from economic disaster. It’s a vicious cycle millions are caught up in, tragically passed from one generation to the next. But Dinah’s story is proof that extreme poverty isn’t inevitable.
Through mindset shifts, practical skills, and community involvement, families can learn new ways to lift themselves and others above the hardships of poverty. World Vision’s THRIVE approach equips families to leave extreme poverty and move up the economic ladder. Our four evidence-based tools are proven to empower families to improve their incomes and become more resilient in the face of life’s unexpected challenges.
With your help and God’s grace, we’re committed, by 2030, to 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. 
Please consider giving a gift today and helping families like Dinah’s break the cycle of extreme poverty. Powered by Jesus’ love, we can equip families with access to the tools they need to meet their full potential. Thanks to a generous donor partner, your gift to the Economic Empowerment Fund will be matched up to $1,000,000, helping even more families leave extreme poverty behind.
