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Sustainable Livelihoods

When families have the tools to thrive, not just survive, children flourish. Our livelihoods and resilience programs lay the foundation for lasting change, even in the most fragile environments.

Breaking the Cycle of Poverty for Good

Although the world has made dramatic gains in ending extreme poverty over the last half century, its impact on children’s development remains devastating. Millions of people — especially mothers — living at or below the poverty line face enormous challenges in their efforts to provide a better future for their children.

Effective economic empowerment initiatives can help families move out of poverty, but shocks like illness, disaster, or conflict can quickly reverse progress, with severe consequences for the most vulnerable. People living in extreme poverty need not only the tools to climb the economic ladder but also the resilience to withstand future shocks. To end extreme poverty by 2030, we must accelerate efforts that both enable people to climb out of poverty and strengthen their ability to stay out.

Change That Lasts

In response to this growing need, World Vision and Tulane University launched a multi-sectoral, systems-focused resilience framework and approach in 2024. This framework guides program design, implementation, partnerships, and research and learning. It emphasizes systems thinking and multi-sectoral adaptive management, integrating these elements into existing programs to strengthen resilience and maximize impact.

We will continue to strengthen and innovate our programmatic approaches — including our Inclusive Markets for Communities  model — to build resilience at the household, community, and food system levels. Emerging evidence on livelihood resilience highlights the importance of looking beyond traditional economic indicators like assets, income, and productivity, and also considering less tangible factors such as social capital, self-efficacy, and empowerment.

Sustainable Livelihoods FAQs

THRIVE
According to the World Bank, two out of three people living in extreme poverty are smallholder farmers. A lack of access to information, resources, and skills often fuels feelings of powerlessness and low self-worth, perpetuating the cycle of generational poverty. In response, World Vision developed Transforming Household Resilience in Vulnerable Environments (THRIVE) — a comprehensive, sustainable set of solutions designed to help farmers address the root causes of poverty and vulnerability in agriculture.

Over the past eight years, World Vision has implemented and refined THRIVE in 27 areas across five countries. By moving beyond ad hoc livelihood interventions, THRIVE offers a sequenced, scalable model to build secure livelihoods. Its success is grounded in a robust research and learning agenda developed in partnership with Technical Assistance to NGOs (TANGO) International.

Key components — such as Empowered Worldview training, financial inclusion through Savings for Transformation groups and microfinance, and value chain development — have proven especially effective. In Tanzania, for example, THRIVE participants’ incomes rose to nearly 10 times their baseline levels. Families invested their earnings in education, housing, health care, and business growth. The study also showed that 95% of farmers diversified their income (up from 44%), 95% could absorb shocks without harmful coping strategies, and food insecurity dropped by 51%.

Cambodia: Child-Sensitive Livelihood Assistance
In Cambodia, World Vision partnered with the U.S. government and Save the Children on the Child-Sensitive Livelihood Assistance project, helping families affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In collaboration with Hagar Cambodia, This Life Cambodia, Safe Haven, and First Step Cambodia, the project supported households in Siem Reap and Phnom Penh with training in livestock, small business development, and vocational skills such as tailoring, hairdressing, motor repair, and barista work. Ongoing coaching, mentorship, and home visits helped ensure sustained impact.

Somalia: Empowering Marginalized Groups through Economic Graduation (EMERGE)
The EMERGE program (2024–2029), led by World Vision in partnership with seven local organizations and a research partner, supports 26,453 households in Baidoa and Hudur — including extremely poor, socially marginalized internally displaced people and host communities. Using World Vision’s ultra-poor graduation approach, EMERGE strengthens food security, boosts incomes, and builds resilience so families can better withstand shocks and stresses.

Sustainable Livelihoods Research & Resources

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