Lasting Impact: From Roots to Resilience

Today we released our 2024 Annual Results Report and I invite you to read about our impact here.

Sharing our impact is even more significant to me because I recently got to travel to eastern Africa to see our work in action.

After almost seven years World Vision Canada , this trip was a real highlight for me, and several stories stay with me.

There’s Joyce who has benefitted from a program called Farmer-Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR). This low-cost, sustainable land restoration technique has proven transformative, particularly in East Africa. I got to see how in Kenya, FMNR has revitalized degraded lands, leading to increased food security and resilience against climate change.

For Joyce it’s meant she (along with her husband) can now sell multiple products including oils, lotions, seeds, nutritional supplements, and more that provide income for food, and her children’s education. I was also blown away by her work ethic and that she plans to share her ingenuity and creativity in a book she is writing! I was privileged to see the draft of a manuscript. Joyce will someday add 'published author' to her long list of achievements! (You can read more about FMNR starting at page 98 in our report.)

I am immensely proud of the strides we've made in serving the most vulnerable children and their communities. In 2024, our programs reached over 7.6 million people, our generous donors sponsored 268,851 girls and boys across 32 countries, and we implemented 338 programs in 59 countries. We were able to invest $395.8 million in areas of need worldwide.

Yet the need remains dire in many tough areas where we serve – especially in light of the decline in aid funding. In 2024, 61% of our investments were directed toward the most  fragile countries, including Somalia, where I also visited and where I was also reminded of resilience and ingenuity. Nishant Das , Chief of Party for the Somalia Resilience Program (SomRep) sees the need and the innovation coming from various startups in this country,

Like when we saw local innovators at an invention hub working on creative solutions like an “Uber” for renting farming equipment to enhance the use of modern farming techniques and tools that increase yields and thereby income for local farmers.

As I consider how we explore impact perhaps it’s most uniquely catalyzed by “how” we work in addition to what we do, and how we communicate impact and the agency of those we serve.

I believe we must continually strive to improve how we deliver and communicate our impact. Simply – Ensuring we are leveraging data and best practices in how we deliver impact efficiently and sharing stories of transformation honours the resilience of those we serve and inspires others to join our mission.

To this end, we are committed to:

• Amplifying voices of those we serve and our staff, to provide authentic insight into our work.
• Sharing digitally to engage supporters in real-time conversations about issues that matter to them and where we serve and inviting them into community (online) to see and share their impact.
• Partnering with local communities to co-create content, ensuring their perspectives and cultures are accurately represented.
• Providing detailed reports and impact assessments, like our annual results report, with our partners and donors to showcase the tangible outcomes of our initiatives and programming.

We’re really aiming to build a deeper connection with our supporters and to show that together, we can work alongside those we serve and we can effect lasting change.

When people ask me how they can help, particularly during these uncertain times, I encourage them to follow our updates and stories of those we serve to stay informed on issues relevant to our work, look for opportunities we’ll share to advocate for those we serve, and, always, I invite their support whether through sponsorship, donations, or volunteerism.

As you can appreciate, I truly believe in operational excellence and wise stewardship and even more, I believe in those we serve. Stories like Joyce’s remind me that we must continue to strive for excellence in all we do – for those we serve, our supporters, and for our team members here and around the world. We are inspired to give our best to those who deserve our best!

*To learn more about our 2024 initiatives and impact, please visit our Annual Results Report.