Every day, millions of families facing hunger make impossible decisions about food, education and health. Yet across communities affected by conflict, drought and displacement, we continue to see a different story emerge: when people receive timely support and opportunities to build resilience, children survive, families recover, and communities begin to thrive.
From emergency food assistance in Lebanon to cash support in Somalia and long-term nutrition programmes across multiple countries, World Vision Ireland is helping children not only survive today’s crises but build resilience for tomorrow.
The impact is measurable. Communities are strengthening local food systems, families are adopting climate-smart agricultural practices, and more people are gaining the knowledge needed to improve nutrition and wellbeing. These changes show that while hunger remains widespread, lasting progress is possible when emergency response is combined with long-term investment in resilience.
The Impact of Rapid Humanitarian Response
World Vision Ireland works at the intersection of emergency and endurance. Funded by Irish Aid, World Vision Ireland's acute response mechanisms have enabled us to respond to emergencies in some of the world’s most fragile places: Somalia, Myanmar, Syria, the West Bank, and Lebanon. World Vision Ireland delivered emergency food, clean water, protection services, and cash assistance to families who had lost everything.
In Lebanon, as renewed hostilities displaced nearly one million people, roughly 20% of the country’s population, World Vision Ireland launched an emergency food assistance project within weeks. Through emergency food assistance delivered alongside local partners, 180,000 hot meals were provided to families sheltering in collective shelters, and nearly 7,000 internally displaced people received support. Priority was given to children, female-headed households, older people, and people with disabilities.
In Somalia, where consecutive failed rains have pushed 3.4 million people into crisis-level food insecurity, World Vision Ireland delivered emergency cash assistance to 510 vulnerable households - 3,060 people in total in Dangorayo district, Nugaal region. Each family received USD 70 per month for three months. This preserved not only lives but dignity, allowing parents to make choices for their children.
When a 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck Myanmar in March 2025, killing over 2,700 people and affecting 6.2 million, World Vision Ireland responded in Amarapura and Tada-U townships. Through local partners, 5,235 people received multipurpose cash assistance and emergency water supply. This support helped families meet immediate needs of food, shelter materials, and medical care while local markets began to recover.
Helping Families Recover Beyond the Crisis
Emergency food keeps children alive. But it does not keep them fed forever.
Long-term change happens when families can strengthen their own resilience and build a future free from chronic hunger. This is where programmes like NOURISH are making a measurable difference.
As a result of NOURISH, in 2025, 83.8% of individuals improved knowledge regarding the consumption of locally available nutritious foods, a 17.6%-point increase from 2023 and 4.4%-point increase from 2024. At the same time, 90.3% of targeted households reported using climate-smart, nutrition-sensitive approaches to food production, while 70.1% adopted appropriate adaptation measures for sustainable management of natural resources.
The results show that communities can move from vulnerability towards resilience when they have access to practical knowledge, resources and opportunities.
Building Resilience Against Future Hunger
Addressing hunger requires tackling its underlying causes.
Across countries including Tanzania and Uganda, World Vision Ireland supports climate-smart agriculture initiatives that help families adapt to changing weather patterns. Farmers are using drought-tolerant seeds, backyard gardens, and sustainable pest management to improve food production. Biofortified crops, including iron-rich beans and orange-fleshed sweet potatoes, are helping combat micronutrient deficiencies while improving household nutrition.
Women’s leadership is also a powerful driver of sustainable impact. Through savings groups, leadership training and gender-transformative programmes, women are strengthening their role in household and community decision-making. In 2025, 50% of women with disabilities in target communities held leadership positions, nearly double the rate among non-disabled women.
Communities are also reducing food losses after harvest, an often overlooked contributor to hunger. Across NOURISH countries, World Vision Ireland trains communities in storage, drying units, preservation, and value addition. In Mauritania, solar refrigerators and grain mills are reducing spoilage and cutting travel time for women. In Vanuatu, families are turning local produce into simple products such as cassava chips and coconut jam, improving shelf life, food safety and creating small income streams.
Amplifying Children’s Voices on the Global Stage
Lasting change requires more than programmes. It requires policies, investment and leadership that reflect the realities faced by vulnerable children and communities. World Vision Ireland helps bring the experiences of vulnerable children and communities into international decision-making spaces.
Ahead of the Nutrition for Growth Summit in Paris, World Vision Ireland co-hosted a high-impact side event at the Embassy of Ireland, uniting policymakers, donors, and civil society partners to rally support for Global Nutrition Targets. Importantly, youth advocates including Sunischita from Nepal and Williams from Sierra Leone brought their lived experiences to the decision-making table, ensuring that discussions about malnutrition included the voices of those most affected.
At the United Nations General Assembly, World Vision Ireland co-hosted a High-Level Ministerial Breakfast Meeting with Irish Aid and the SDG2 Advocacy Hub, convening international partners to accelerate progress toward SDG2: Zero Hunger and prevent backsliding on global nutrition targets. Senior representatives from UN agencies and international organisations joined the call for strengthened political commitment, domestic financing, innovation and better alignment across systems.
World Vision Ireland also supported youth-led advocacy at COP29 in Azerbaijan, highlighting how climate change is increasing child hunger in Solomon Islands, and sharing solutions to build resilience and adaptation. These efforts help ensure that the experiences of vulnerable children are represented where important decisions are made.
The Road Ahead
The challenges are immense. Conflicts are multiplying. Climate shocks are intensifying. Funding gaps are widening. Humanitarian needs are rising while aid budgets are facing unprecedented cuts.
But we have not lost hope. Because we have seen what happens when communities are empowered, when women lead, when children are nourished, and when the world acts with urgency and compassion.
World Vision Ireland will keep responding to emergencies. We will keep building resilience through programmes like NOURISH. We will keep advocating at the highest levels for the policies and funding children need. And we will keep listening to the communities we serve, adapting our approaches to meet their evolving needs.
Hunger is not about scarcity. It is about justice. And justice demands action.
Written by Junmin Hu, Programmes Intern, World Vision Ireland