World Vision was founded in 1950 by the Reverend Bob Pierce in response to the needs of Korean War orphans.  Over the next several decades, World Vision expanded its work throughout Asia, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Resources raised from child sponsorship programming assisted poor children with food, education, health care, vocational training and income generation.

During the 1970s, a broader model of community development was adopted and an emergency relief division established. Efforts began to address the causes of poverty by focusing on community needs such as water, sanitation, education, health care, leadership training and income generating projects. At the same time, large-scale relief efforts were initiated on behalf of earthquake victims in Central America, cyclone survivors in India, and refugees adrift in the South China Sea.

In the early 1990’s, following the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, World Vision began operations in that region. Priority was placed on small loans for poor entrepreneurs, and support homes for children and youths with physical disabilities.  

Beginning in 1990 , a new model of ‘Area Development Programmes’ (ADPs) was introduced to thousands of communities in Africa and other regions. Currently, about 1,250 such ADPs are directly assisting more than two million children and their families while World Vision’s combined relief and development work impacts the lives of nearly 100 million people globally.
 
World Vision began the 21st century by strengthening our advocacy efforts, particularly on issues related to child survival and poverty alleviation. We have become more active and intentional in our work with governments, businesses and other organisations to address issues such as child labour, children in armed conflict and the sexual exploitation of women and children.

Over the decades, World Vision has become a leading humanitarian organisation. Today, some 31,000 staff are implementing programmes of community development, emergency relief and promotion of justice in nearly 100 countries.

Our Core Values

The World Vision Partnership has six core values that are central to our identity and what we aspire to be:

• We are Christian
• We are committed to the poor
• We value people
• We are stewards
• We are partners
• We are responsive