The following is a list of the most commonly asked questions about World Vision and the work we do. Answers provided here are to general questions; answers to questions about our specific solutions, such as
can be found on their own pages.
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What is World Vision and what does it do?
World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organisation working to create lasting change in the lives of children, families and communities living in poverty.
Inspired by Christian values, World Vision is dedicated to working with the world’s most vulnerable people. We provide help on the basis of need and serve all people regardless of religion, race, ethnicity or gender.
Over a billion people in poor countries around the world live in poverty and struggle every day simply to survive. World Vision's work helps improve the lives of those children, families and communities living in poverty.
World Vision is Australia's largest charitable group. More Australians entrust more money to World Vision than any other charity in the country. With the support of over 400,000 Australians, World Vision helps over 20 million people every year. As well as providing relief in emergency situations, we work on long-term community development projects that address the causes of poverty and help people move towards self-sufficiency.
We depend on the support of the Australian public for funding, with the majority of income coming from child sponsorship. Other avenues include emergency relief appeals, Government grants, cash donations and the 40 Hour Famine Appeal.
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Can I make a difference?
World Vision is all about making a difference. Whether it's helping through sponsorship to help meet the basic needs of a child, their family and community, helping rescue children from exploitation, funding vital development work, helping people in emergency situations or participating in advocacy campaigns, every person who supports our work is making a positive difference in someone's life.
Around 400,000 Australians now contribute to World Vision's work around the world. As a part of a broader movement against global poverty, this is creating broad-ranging changes to the living standards of those living in desperate poverty, such as:
- improved healthcare, resulting in lower child mortality - down from 15 million in 1980 to 11 million today for children under five
- extensive immunisation campaigns, freeing more than 175 countries of polio
- a halving of child deaths due to diarrhoea, which have dropped from 3 million in 1990 to 1.5 million in 2000.
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How can I undertake a fundraising event?
World Vision has fundraising guidelines in place to help groups, individuals and organisations who wish to undertake a fundraising event. If you're hosting an event to raise funds for World Vision, we ask that you familiarise yourself with our requirements to ensure accountability to donors.
Please read the
WV Fundraising Guidelines (PDF: 60KB).
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Does World Vision use food and seeds from genetically modified grains?
Where possible, World Vision does not distribute genetically modified food. However, because of the difficulty of verifying the GM content of donated grains, we can't guarantee that our food is not genetically modified.
World Vision believes that starvation is a more immediate risk to human health than eating genetically modified food. Although the long-term effects of planting modified seeds are not yet known, the World Health Organisation has certified that genetically modified food can be eaten safely.
When it comes to seeds, World Vision does not use genetically modified seeds for planting. We prefer to distribute conventionally bred seeds for planting.
We're committed to taking the most appropriate action towards food security and poverty alleviation and this includes building robust and diverse agricultural environments. This approach is resulting in moderate to high, but stable yields each year, despite the constantly changing, multiple environmental, social and economic challenges faced in developing countries.
We encourage farmers to analyze their problems, understand root causes, collaborate with government departments, researchers and NGOs and, as conditions change, adjust their practices. Results in the field have borne out the wisdom of this approach.
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Does World Vision provide hybrid seeds?
Most seed World Vision supplies is from open pollinated crop varieties, as opposed to seeds of varieties conventionally termed as Hybrid. This gives farmers living in complex, high risk contexts, the flexibility to save their own seed and use it year after year. This flexible approach is critical for the survival of these vulnerable and resource-poor farmers.
Most communities World Vision works with don't have access to fertilisers or improved seed. There is little government technical support, loans at reasonable rates are often not available, and markets are poorly developed. In such settings World Vision’s aim is to build the resilience and self-sufficiency of vulnerable communities. In some situations, where there is no conflict with this goal, World Vision does supply Hybrid seed.
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Does World Vision support the use of contraceptives?
World Vision programs support modern contraceptive methods as part of an integrated approach to effective family planning. World Vision’s family planning guidelines encourage both men and women to take equal responsibility for their children’s birth and development. With both maternal and child mortality rates at alarming levels in many developing countries, individuals and couples are provided with the knowledge and the means to determine the number and spacing of their children to ensure the survival and wellbeing of both mother and child. These objectives are consistent with the UN
Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5, which are to reduce child mortality and improve maternal health respectively.
All contraceptive methods promoted by World Vision are reviewed with respect to ethical, medical and development standards. World Vision programs are also designed and implemented in partnership with communities, and in collaboration with national health policy, the local health system, local faith-based organisations and other non-government organisations undertaking similar programs.
Contraceptive needs and preferences may vary depending on the cultural context. That's why our programs providing integrated voluntary family planning services offer a range of natural and artificial methods. Given the high risk for sexually transmitted infections (including HIV), dual protection methods are encouraged. Examples of protection methods include abstinence, consistent and correct use of condoms, use of a contraception method, and mutual monogamy.
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Does World Vision support women to have abortions?
World Vision defines family planning as the provision of information and services to assist individuals and couples to responsibly determine the number, timing and spacing of their children. From World Vision’s perspective, family planning does not include abortion services and World Vision does not provide, recommend or support abortion.
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