Happy New Year! Oh wait — it’s February.
We’re one month in to 2020 and God is already using our advocacy to create change! In January, we started advocating on a new bill and saw some long-awaited progress on a familiar one. Plus, we got to see some of the results of our work with USAID and the Global Fund — work that our advocates have helped protect. We hope the January report encourages you as much as it encourages us!
Old (but not boring!) business:
To start (drumroll, please), we were thrilled to see the Keeping Girls in School Act pass in the House on January 28. A HUGE thank you to everyone who advocated for this bill. We’re one step closer to helping break down the barriers that keep girls from accessing quality education! We started mobilizing around this legislation in March of 2019, and while progress is not always as quick as we’d like, we won’t stop speaking up for justice. (You can help keep progress going by asking your senator to support this bill, too!)
New business:
The Global Child Thrive Act is new on our docket for 2020, and while we’ve only just begun talking about the bill to include early childhood development programming into existing foreign assistance programs, we’ve already seen advocates get excited about helping kids get a strong start!
In fact, when World Vision Policy Advisor Nate Lance met with staff from a senator’s office about the Thrive act, the staff were already aware of the bill and interested in supporting it thanks to the calls and emails they’d received from World Vision advocates! Thank you for paving the way for this bill! Thrive already has 45 cosponsors and we’re hoping it will go to a vote soon!
Your favorite action of the month:
You had something serious to say in January: Protect U.S. foreign assistance! The 1% of the federal budget that goes to assistance helps improve maternal and child health, provide clean water, improve food security, and many other amazing things you might not know about!
Thank you for taking 7,841 actions (emails, tweets, and phone calls) in support of the poverty-fighting power of U.S. foreign assistance!
Please stay tuned …
The White House is expected to release the president’s 2021 federal budget soon. While it’s the job of Congress to set the budget, the White House’s priorities may influence their decisions. In the past, the president has recommended huge cuts to the foreign assistance budget. As always, World Vision will continue to advocate for robust funding for this account so we can continue to fight the root causes of poverty with strong support from the U.S. government.
Bonus stats: Impact of working with USAID and the Global Fund
Speaking of foreign assistance, we wanted to share just a few examples of the impact our partnership with the U.S. government has had. When we work together, we not only help more people, we make the world a healthier, more peaceful place for everyone.
Here are a few encouraging stats from 2019:
- Through USAID grants, more than 311,925 beneficiaries were reached with clean water.
- In partnership with the Global Fund (funded in part by U.S. foreign aid), we distributed 16.7 million insecticide-treated bed nets to prevent malaria, covering more than 30 million people.
- In Mozambique, USAID and World Vision worked together to establish Girls Clubs and Boys Clubs to help educate over 49,000 young people about HIV, gender inequality, poverty, the value of education, and gender-based violence (from 2009 to 2019).
- Between mid-2018 and mid-2019, World Vision and the Global Fund worked with the National Malaria Control Program in Angola to train 1,080 community health workers and reach more than 50,000 people with messaging on malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV.
- And much, much more!
We’re stronger when we work together. That goes for World Vision and government grants as well as the body of Christ. We are all different, and we’re all called to work against injustice (Isaiah 58:6) and share with those in need (Romans 12:13). And God has gifted us each uniquely to be able to answer that call.
We’re deeply grateful to everyone who has chosen to lift their voice with World Vision Advocacy — together, we’re working to end poverty and help every child reach life in all its fullness (John 10:10)!
If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
— 1 Corinthians 12:26-27
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Top photo: Six-year-old Sydeny smiles in Zambia. (©2019 World Vision/photo by Laura Reinhardt)