World Vision

Even before the earthquakes, Venezuela's displacement crisis was considered the larget humanitarian crisis in Latin America. Now with the significant damage from the back-to-back earthquakes, more children and families have lost their homes. Our staff tell us that children are staying with their families in schools, churches, and with friends due to their homes being damaged or destroyed, or the threat of collapse. School has been interrupted, and many children are traumatised. While World Vision is in place with over 200 staff and the operational capacity to respond, we cannot do it on our own. If you'd like to help, please go to the website on the last page of the document below.

Within two hours of the first earthquake in Venezuela, we activated our emergency response team. We're poised to distribute food, hygiene kits, menstrual dignity kits, and portable sanitation. Our response will prioritise child protection, because when disasters strike, children are particularly at risk. Many get separated from their families or are left without shelter and get exposed to harm. The scale of what Venezuela needs right now, on top of its pre-existing humanitarian needs, far exceeds what a single organisation can deliver alone. We must all act together to respond. Please share this with those who may be able to help.

When a 'double double' crisis hits a country where systems have already broken down, you can expect that responding will be a challenge. We're already in place in Venezuela, with over 200 staff and existing operational capacity to respond. Since 2019, we've reached over 2 million people despite the shortage in funding. We will continue to provide child protection, psychosocial support, shelter, and WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene). While the situation remains fluid, we're assessing the needs to determine the impact and best way to respond. Our primary concern, of course, is the protection of children, particularly those who are at high risk of displacement, family separation, injuries, and psychosocial distress. Watch to the end to see how you can help.

Here are first-hand accounts from when the earthquakes struck Venezuela. These are not from the communities we serve, but from our staff. They fled damaged buildings. Brought children to safety. Endured a long night of aftershocks. They know first-hand that life can change in an instant. Swipe through to read their personal accounts. World Vision is assessing needs and preparing our response to the Venezuela earthquakes. Check back to see how those affected are being supported in the days ahead.

When a family can feed itself, it can also better protect its children. This is one of the key findings of our recent report, In the Shadow of Hunger, done in partnership with World Food Programme for World Refugee Day. It reframes how we think about child protection in conflict and forced displacement settings. Today, one in five children around the world is either living in or fleeing a conflict zone. In this context, self-reliance means the difference between a child who drops out of school and one who doesn't. Our report shows that "self-reliance" is not just a development buzzword. It's an essential strategy to protect children. Swipe to see what some of the people we interviewed have told us. This is research your network needs to see. Please share it.

Hunger doesn't just leave children without food. It leaves them without protection. A new World Vision report, done in partnership with World Food Programme, finds that when forcibly displaced families lose humanitarian assistance, children become dramatically more vulnerable to abuse, child marriage, family separation, child labour, and school dropout—all at the same time. It's not just one additional risk, but multiple risks compounding. This is the hidden cost of funding cuts that rarely makes headlines. Aid reduction is a child protection crisis. The data confirms it. What do you see as the most overlooked consequence of humanitarian funding cuts on children? Tell us below.

We gave Rohingya children crayons and paper and asked, "Where do you feel safe? Where do you feel scared?" One child drew a house with a blue roof and wrote below it: "This boy is crying for food." The drawings make clear what kind of life have and what they're hoping for. The boy crying reflects their experience with hunger and food insecurity. The house with a blue roof and red door symbolises the home they long for. For them, a real home means not just walls and a roof, but food on the table and family meals that bring comfort. They also envision a backyard with fruits and vegetables. A community meeting about ration cuts where their voices are heard. This World Refugee Day, let's pay attention to what refugee children hope for, as expressed through these drawings. This activity was part of our research, "In the Shadow of Hunger," which we carried out in partnership with World Food Programme. These drawings express the feelings, hopes, and dreams behind the study results. If these images stayed with you, pass it on.

A child in Burundi said it plainly: when a parent can work, everything improves for children. That single observation sits at the heart of new research we conducted in partnership with World Food Programme. It's research that should change how our sector designs humanitarian response to forced displacement. In eight countries and nearly 3,500 households, the findings are clear. When displaced families build self-reliance, children are less likely to beg, drop out of school to work, be forced into marriage, and be separated from their parents. Yet 64% of the households we surveyed depend on external assistance to meet their basic needs. And that assistance is shrinking as humanitarian funding hits a decade low. Emergency relief keeps families alive. But on its own, it does not keep children safe, in school, or thriving. Swipe below to see what the evidence says needs to change and what we're calling on governments, donors, and agencies to act on before more children pay the price. What does self-reliance programming look like in your context? And where are the biggest barriers to funding it? UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency

For refugees, returning home doesn't mean returning to normal. Or even safety, for that matter. That's the finding of our latest research among returnees in Ukraine and Syria. We found that: - In Ukraine, returning children continue to live under threat of missile and drone attacks - In Syria, families return home to severe food shortages and inadequate healthcare and education facilities - In both countries, women bear the weight of their family's survival while coping with their own economic and psychosocial pressures "Return should be a pathway to recovery and hope for children, not the beginning of a new chapter of hardship," says Eleanor Monbiot, OBE , Regional Leader, World Vision Middle East and Eastern Europe. World Vision is calling on donors, governments, UN agencies, and humanitarian partners to invest in the conditions that make return safe, dignified, and sustainable. Read the full report below.

This World Refugee Day, let's consider whether the system is working. Over 117 million people worldwide have been forcibly displaced from their homes. They fled war, persecution, climate disasters, and other situations that have made staying unbearable. But they did not expect they would end up in places where the food, the funding, and the political will to support them are running out. Our report, "In the Shadow of Hunger," completed in partnership with World Food Programme, points us towards a critical element of responding to the refugee crisis: self-reliance. One actor working alone cannot make self-reliance a reality for displaced individuals and families. Host governments, donors, UN agencies, NGOs and civil society, and the private sector each carries a share of the responsibility. Swipe to see our calls to action for each sector. Then share this with someone in your network who has the power to act.