CB BureauIn 1947, when for India the idea of independence had just been realised, Robert (Bob) Pierce, a war correspondent in the Korean War, was moving around reporting in China.
Pierce’s last stop was at the University of Amoy on Amoy (now Xiamen) Island in the Formosa Strait, where he was speaking to college students. Upon hearing him, a tall Dutch lady named Tena asked him to stay over and speak to the 400 children attending her school.
Pierce spent another four days talking to the school children. On the morning of the day he was leaving Amoy, Bob stopped by the school to say goodbye to Tena, only to see a distraught woman at the front door. In her arms was a sobbing little girl named White Jade. It seemed Jade was beaten and whipped. Her thin dress was soaked with blood.
Tena thrust the traumatised little girl into Bob’s arms and said, ‘I have six other children already sharing my rice bowl.’ Bob held the child awkwardly and realised that the incredibly vulnerable child in his arms was very precious and needed care.
‘All I have is five dollars,’ he said meekly. The bold and confident Pierce was humbled by the need of the precious child he held. He gave all he had to Tena and requested her to admit White Jade in her school. He promised that he would mobilise more money for her when he reached his home.
And thus, with five dollars and the will to make a difference to one child was born an organisation that has grown over the years and is dedicated to caring for the White Jades across the world. Moved by the prayer that Pierce wrote in the flyleaf of his Bible, Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God, he launched a movement called World Vision.
The present
World Vision has grown into an international partnership helping children around the globe. Today, World Vision India is an important member of this partnership, which works in 97 countries and is a leader in ‘transformational development’ for the poor, as also in emergency relief and food distribution.
Spread across 174 locations in India, World Vision works through long-term sustainable community-development programmes and immediate disaster-relief assistance. Primarily it is focused on building the community around children. The organisation claims that their staffs live with the communities at the grassroots and works along with them to find solutions to issues of poverty.
Initiatives
Area development programmes
World Vision’s primary approach to poverty alleviation through transformational development is called ‘area development programme’ (ADP). Each ADP focuses on a geographical area and covers a population of 20,000 to 100,000 people. It is a long-term involvement of 12-15 years, rooted in the community and implemented in partnership with the civil society, NGOs and the government.
World Vision India focuses on people groups and areas in the country that are socioeconomically vulnerable. Hence, the majority of the ADPs in rural and isolated tribal areas specially target the unreached, marginalised
and disadvantaged people.
ADPs focus on the needs of children, tackling child mortality rates, their health and education. Other priority areas include providing access to water for drinking and agriculture, and building food security and household resilience through income generation and access to credit, all of which directly impact the well being of children.
The chief aim of the ADP is to empower the people so that they can eventually own/self-manage their development process. The organisation places ownership and resources in the hands of the community-based
organisations (CBOs). The CBOs include women federations, development committees, yuvak mandals, child parliaments, self-help groups, child-protection committees and children’s clubs.
Influencing through advocacy
World Vision India’s advocacy initiatives are focused on creating an environment ‘societal, legislative and temporal’ that facilitates children reaching their fullest potential. While rights awareness and rights education at the grassroots level help communities claim what is rightfully theirs, national-level advocacy around issues of children, especially those in crisis, are focused on bringing about equitable implementation of policies as well as influencing policy debates.
World Vision India is part of the Planning Commission Working Group on Women’s Empowerment and Child Development. This group provides input to the Planning Commission on issues of children and women, to be
incorporated into the 11th five-year plan.
The organisation is also part of the NGO steering committee of the National Disaster Management Authority, the premier agency dealing with disaster relief and preparedness in India.
Relief
World Vision has responded to every major disaster in India since 1977, including the Bhopal gas tragedy, the Latur earthquake, the super cyclone in Orissa, the Gujarat earthquake, the tsunami, the Kashmir earthquake, and the recent floods in Bihar.
With a capacity to respond quickly to disasters, World Vision is usually one of the first humanitarian agencies on the ground. It continues to stay with the people throughout their rehabilitation and helps them rebuild their lives.
In these relief situations, World Vision works in coordination with the government, other NGOs, and the communities affected by disasters. The programmes include emergency assistance, community rehabilitation, psychosocial care, economic recovery and infrastructure building.
For AIDS
World Vision has initiated programmes that strategically address HIV prevention among children between 10 years and 18 years, care and support for orphans and vulnerable children and women who are made destitute by
HIV and AIDS, as well as prevention programmes among vulnerable groups.
World Vision in all its HIV programmes works to advocate for and ensure the rights of children affected by HIV and AIDS as well as those marginalised due to HIV and AIDS.