Global leaders have committed to eradicate extreme poverty by 2030.  And for the first time in modern history, the world is coming to the collective realization that it is possible to completely end extreme poverty in our lifetimes.  World Vision is leading the charge on a variety of fronts, including equipping, educating and empowering smallholder farmers break the cycle of generational poverty that has held their families back.  Until now.

Hope is empowering, infectious, even healing. But sometimes our world can make hope hard to find. Here are 5 reasons you can have real hope right now — and how to pray for continued progress.

“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” —Jeremiah 29:11

It is possible to end extreme poverty in our lifetime. And you can be part of it.

Poverty can be overcome when people join together. In the last 20 years, the number of children dying from preventable causes — from hunger and poverty and disease — has nearly halved, going from more than 30,000 a day to just over 16,000. For the first time in modern history, the world is coming to the collective realization that it is possible to completely end extreme poverty in our lifetimes.

Supporting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, World Vision is dedicated to keep this momentum going to help end poverty in all its forms, everywhere, by 2030. Together, our work is delivering lasting water, sanitation, and hygiene solutions to more than 10 million people; building improved and resilient livelihoods for 4 million smallholder farmers and their families; and eliminating preventable deaths among 4 million mothers and their beloved children.  

So in honor of the 25th annual United Nations International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, World Vision U.S. President Rich Stearns reflects on how we can all take steps to help people lift themselves out of poverty.

After a generation of massive global progress, aid and mission efforts are pointing the same direction. In this article for Christianity Today, World Vision U.S. President Rich Stearns writes about his belief that the best way to bring the good news of the gospel to the most difficult-to-reach nations is to weld their physical needs with their spiritual ones.