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Food

Child hunger is a thief. It robs children of their one chance to grow up healthy. It steals their energy and sabotages their school days. And it gives disease the upper hand. Together, we partner with families to claim back healthy childhoods, providing emergency food today and securing food sources for the future. 

The noodle factories we supported in North Korea last year nourished more than 42,000 young school children.
Read the report >

We assisted more than 4 million people last year for whom El Nino had made living off the land impossible.
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“Farming First” highlights World Vision’s work in their Climate-Smart Agriculture in Action segment.
Learn more >

Our approach
Food crises affect the most vulnerable people in the world. Food prices rise, meaning subsistence farmers whose crops have failed may not be able to buy food. Transportation costs increase, making travel to market prohibitively expensive. And changes in weather patterns mean seeds can’t grow, making repeat attempts at planting futile.

In a food crisis, we provide short-term food aid to make sure children and families get essential nutrients. Children don’t get a second chance to grow up strong and healthy, and every month counts. 

World Vision is the United Nations World Food Programme’s (WFP) largest implementing partner in delivering food to the neediest populations. While the WFP provides emergency food like rice or grain, we ensure that it gets to the people who need it most.
 
These include groups like:
  • Children
  • Pregnant and nursing mothers
  • The elderly
  • People with disabilities
  • Refugees
  • People who are chronically ill
  • Child-headed households
Food security means knowing where your next meals are coming from – not just this week, but for weeks and months to come. It means knowing the food will be nutritious and hearty enough to fuel a healthy and active life.

We empower families with the means to fight hunger and achieve food security. We help families strengthen and improve their ability to produce or purchase their own food. This approach helps families become more resilient and better equipped to handle future food challenges.
 
World Vision works on many levels at once:
  • increasing productivity through improved seed and farming practices
  • helping families diversify and integrate farming systems e.g. introducing livestock, which provide fertilizer as well as nutrition and profit
  • improving access to markets so farming families can sell their surplus food
  • teaching families and communities about dietary diversity and how to improve nutrition
  • managing resources in a sustainable way to prevent soil erosion, maintain soil fertility, use water more efficiently and protect the environment
In a food crises, families in our partner communities are far less likely to have to migrate to find work and food. That’s because we enable families to work closely together for food security:
 
  • We help communities develop systems like grain banks, to last through periods of crisis.
  • We bring together farmers in associations and cooperatives, so they have more bargaining power and better access to markets and business development services.

We support communities in microfinance ventures, including community banking and credit, so farmers can graduate from subsistence to commercial farming.

Rural families often grow or raise their own food, relying on crops and animals that grow well locally. They may also prefer traditional recipes that, while satisfying, may not create meals that are nutritionally balanced.

In many cases, making a few changes or additions to diet can boost children’s nutritional intake. Adding eggs to the diet, for instance, can help the body absorb iron and zinc from plant-based foods. 

Here are some of the ways that we help families:

  • focus on ensuring nutrition for pregnant and lactating mothers, so babies get the best-possible start
  • work with mothers of children under age five, as they’re most vulnerable to the long-term impact of malnutrition
  • train volunteers to help families and communities learn about:
    • nutritious, appropriate crops to grow
    • small animals that are easy to raise
    • the nutritional benefits of varying traditional recipes, or adding new recipes
    • recognizing the signs of malnourishment among their children, and how to respond


Thanks to programs like these, children and families are healthier, have more energy and get sick less often.

Resources
Report: From famine to forests in Ethiopia
Our Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration work made a visible difference during the 2015 drought in Ethiopia.  See the difference for yourself and learn how it worked!
 
Report: Leveraging food assistance for a Hunger-Free World
Read the stories of World Vision’s experience working with families in six countries: Uganda, Lesotho, Niger, Zimbabwe, Myanmar, and Kenya.
 

Ways to give to Food

Eradicate Child Hunger: $25+

Help eradicate extreme hunger and poverty for children in need.

We believe a hunger free world is possible – where everyone has enough food for today and for tomorrow.

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Sponsor a Child: $39/Month

Child sponsorship empowers children, their families and communities to help break the cycle of poverty. When you sponsor a child, you provide access to basic necessities such as food, clean water, education and health care.

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Together, we work to help communities develop the perfect recipe for sustainable success.

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Where We Work


Together with your support, we are bringing about real change for children, families and communities in more than 50 countries.
From Canada to the world. With love.


children walking through brush