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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.

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THRIVE 2030 
According to the World Bank, two out of three people living in extreme poverty are smallholder farmers. Limited access to information, resources, markets, and financial services can keep families trapped in cycles of poverty for generations. 

In response, World Vision developed Transforming Household Resilience in Vulnerable Environments (THRIVE), an evidence-based economic empowerment approach that helps rural households build resilient and sustainable livelihoods. Rather than relying on stand-alone livelihood activities, THRIVE uses a sequenced set of interventions that address the social, financial, and market barriers that prevent families from moving out of poverty. Its success is grounded in years of implementation, research, and learning across multiple country contexts. 

Over its first phase, World Vision implemented and refined THRIVE in 27 area programs across five countries. Core elements of the approach include Empowered Worldview, financial inclusion through Savings for Transformation groups and Finance Accelerating Savings Groups Transformation (FAST) loans, local value chain development, and market systems approaches that strengthen access to markets and economic opportunities.  

Results have been significant. In Tanzania, participants’ incomes increased to nearly ten times their baseline levels. Families invested in education, housing, health care, and business growth. The evaluation also found that the share of farmers with diversified income sources increased from 44% to 95%, 95% of participants were able to absorb shocks without resorting to harmful coping strategies, and food insecurity declined by 51%.  

Building on these results, World Vision launched THRIVE 2030 in 2022 — an eight-year initiative to scale the approach and reach 10 million people across 11 countries with the tools and opportunities they need to lift themselves out of extreme poverty. 

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 (2024–2026), led by World Vision in partnership with seven local organizations and a research partner, supports 5,796 households (23,052 individuals) in Baidoa — 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.

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