Activities
World Vision provides emergency relief to people whose lives are endangered by disasters or conflict and who need immediate assistance. It attempts to respond to all major emergencies around the world themselves or in cooperation with their partner agencies. For example, World Vision responded to famine in Ethiopia and North Korea, hurricanes in Central America, the tsunami in the Indian Ocean nations, earthquakes in El Salvador, India, Taiwan, Turkey and the Sichuan earthquake in China, Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar and war refugees in Kosovo, Chechnya, Sierra Leone, Angola, and East Timor.
World Vision encourages public awareness about the needs of others, the causes of poverty, and the nature of compassionate response. These efforts include collaboration with media and community participation in fundraising. In all its communications, World Vision claims it upholds the dignity of children and families in presenting explanations of the causes and consequences of poverty, war, neglect, and abuse.
World Vision spends a considerable amount of time advocating to the U.S. government. In 2010, director of advocacy and government relations Robert Zachritz gave a testimony on global hunger to the human rights caucus. In his speech Zachritz states that in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights it lays the foundation for food as a right by saying in article 25 that "everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food..." He went on to state specific statistics on the issue such as 1 and 6 people currently suffer from hunger. Zachritz even proposes that out of the major global challenges addressing malnutrition and hunger would offer the most cost effective solutions. "The January 2007 Lancet series reviewing the literature on child development showed that beyond the short-term consequences of increased mortality, morbidity and disability, childhood malnutrition has debilitating long-term consequences of stunted physical and cognitive development, lower economic productivity, and greater susceptibility to disease." Currently 1/3 of children are stunted. Zachritz stressed the importance of a proper diet for children, especially under the age of two, to avoid stunting.
On March 1, 2011 World Vision, along with 29 other faith-based groups sent a letter to Senate petitioning cuts made to foreign disaster assistance, global health, and food aid in the 2011 fiscal budget. In the letter, U.S. World Vision President Richard Stearns stated, "We believe it is morally unacceptable that the deepest cuts have targeted programs that are saving lives and investing in our own national security. The cuts reverse broad bipartisan support behind these programs and jeopardize lives across the world." Humanitarian relief currently represents less than 1/2 of 1 percent of the federal budget.
World Vision is a leading member of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, a Washington D.C.-based coalition of over 400 major companies and NGOs that advocates for a larger International Affairs Budget, which funds American diplomatic and development efforts abroad. World Vision is also a member of the Global Coalition Against Pneumonia and supports World Pneumonia Day on November 2, 2009.
The humanitarian organisation has a sponsorship programme that helps needy children, their families and communities. Focussed chiefly on Child Sponsorship, World Vision’s child sponsorship programmes helps needy children get access to clean drinking water, sanitation, education, skills for future livelihood, nutrition, health care and participate in an age-appropriate in development processes. By changing the lives of children, the child sponsorship programmes also facilitate overall growth and development in the community, as it helps communities to build a better future through empowerment, education, income generation, and self-sufficiency.
Child Sponsorship programmes seek equitable, just, peaceful, productive and inclusive relationships within households and communities, responsible relationship with the environment, a culture of participation with families and whole communities empowered to influence and shape their situation through coalitions and networks addressing systemic issues towards ensuring access to basic needs in a sustainable manner. It is different than donation and anybody interested to be part of this sponsorship process can be involved
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