Advocacy progress we made together in 2025
Speaking up for school meals, engaging election candidates and standing with Sudan’s children—2025 proved what Canadians can achieve.
Written by Simon Lewchuk
on October 30, 2025
Advocacy is central to World Vision’s mission to protect and promote the well-being of children. From local accountability initiatives in our partner communities to shaping policies with governments in Canada and around the world, we work to ensure children’s voices and needs are heard.
In fiscal year 2025, our advocacy took new and innovative approaches as we responded to global challenges. Here are three highlights.
A seat at the G20 table: School meals for every child
World Vision Canada joined our global Partnership’s ENOUGH campaign to end child hunger and malnutrition. For the first time, we invited Canadians to help shape our policy positions through an online consultation. More than 1,500 supporters shared their perspectives on childhood hunger and school meals, an unprecedented level of two-way engagement.
Emails to our supporters spread the word and mobilized them to act. (Photo: World Vision)
An additional 1,800 Canadians added their voices to the campaign through petitions and emails urging the Government of Canada to champion investment in school food programs at the G20, the annual gathering of the world’s largest economies. Their collective action mattered. Canada joined the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty and reaffirmed its commitment to sustainable, scalable hunger-reduction efforts, including expanding programs like school meals.
Election season: Reimagining the way we engage
Federal elections bring both challenges and opportunities for World Vision Canada’s advocacy priorities. At a time of political uncertainty and growing skepticism about international assistance, we piloted a new approach in 2025—one that strengthened ties with our supporters and built credibility with political candidates ahead of the election.
We identified ten ridings and cities from across Canada—home to nearly 18,000 World Vision supporters—and invited the supporters to share personal stories about why they partner with World Vision. These testimonies were paired with local supporters’ program results data to create customized riding impact reports, showing the good World Vision donors in each riding had accomplished collectively through their generosity. We shared these reports with candidates from all major parties, inviting them to respond to their constituents with messages of appreciation.
The customized riding impact reports shared achievements made possible thanks to each riding’s supporters. (Photo: World Vision)
Of the roughly 70 candidates who received reports, more than 20 per cent responded. One in seven candidates shared personal messages celebrating the compassion of World Vision supporters in their communities.
“One day, I hope we can build a world where no one is dependent on the charity of others, but until then you fill a vital need in so many lives,” one candidate wrote to their constituents.
Another wrote: “Your commitment to helping the world’s most vulnerable children reflects the very best of our community. You are showing that you choose empathy and compassion over hate and anger. Your generosity is creating ripples of change and restoring hope at a time when the world needs it most.”
These results were encouraging: not only did the initiative energize our supporters, it signaled to future decision-makers that Canadians continue to care about the world’s most vulnerable children.
RESPOND: a bold new campaign speaking up for Sudan’s children
As the fiscal year closed, World Vision Canada launched one of its boldest advocacy efforts yet: a national campaign to protect children in Sudan. With an estimated five million children displaced by conflict, hospitals bombed and food convoys blocked, Sudan is among the most severe yet under-reported humanitarian crises in the world.
Our RESPOND campaign calls on Canada to take two urgent steps:
1. Close arms export loopholes that risk fueling atrocities.
2. Lead a global humanitarian access initiative for children to ensure lifesaving aid can reach those in need.
Sudanese refugee children wait at a World Vision school feeding program in Farchana Refugee Camp, Chad. World Vision runs emergency feeding in 69 schools across six provinces, feeding 65,000 children—for some, their only meal of the day. (P
To mobilize Canadians, we are using digital storytelling, social media and even a solidarity phone line ( 1-877-25-RESPOND ) where people can hear directly from children and families directly impacted by the conflict. They can also leave messages of support that will be shared with political decision makers.
Through the campaign, we’re testing our supporters’ journey experiences, evaluating how advocacy actions—from signing petitions to leaving solidarity messages—can lead to deeper, long-term engagement with World Vision Canada.
RESPOND offers Canadians a chance to speak up for children in Sudan and other conflict settings and demonstrate Canada’s values on the global stage.
The way forward in 2026
World Vision Canada will continue to build on the momentum we gained in 2025—strengthening the ways we connect Canadians to the world’s most vulnerable children and refining our approach as we give voice to God’s call for compassion, justice and hope.
As we look ahead to the coming year, advocacy will play an even greater role in living out that vision. It’s how we give expression to our values in the public square—helping Canadians turn compassion into change through actions that are accessible, relational and rooted in love.
Join our VOICES for Children community and be part of a growing movement of Canadians using their influence to shape a better future for every child.
Simon Lewchuck is Director of Advocacy and Government Engagement at World Vision Canada.