An organization originally founded to stop child labor, WE Charity has since shifted its focus to addressing the leading causes of child labor and poverty, such as health care, education and job opportunities. Since 1995, WE Charity has helped millions of people both domestically and internationally by providing opportunities to make an impact on social issues around the world. WE Schools, WE Day, WE Villages and ME to WE are all sub-organizations that help to promote WE Charity’s mission to empower all people to help change the world. These are seven ways that WE Charity is making an impact.

7 Ways WE Charity is Making an Impact

1. WE Charity aims to end child labor and poverty by focusing on the underlying causes, such as lack of access to clean water and health care, food insecurity and lack of education and job opportunities. WE Schools works domestically to help students understand social issues by providing curricular resources and professional development opportunities for educators as well as mentorship programs for students. WE Villages works internationally in developing countries to provide opportunities for improved independence in local communities.
2. WE Charity provides various programs to ensure that communities have access to a wide range of educational backgrounds and career opportunities. These programs are offered to everyone—although they do focus more on women and girls—and include areas like animal husbandry, vocational training, leadership skills training, business and financial literacy and artisan projects. Over 30,000 women have been given the tools to maintain financial independence and provide for their families.
3. WE Charity provides access to preventative health care and works to enhance health care programs that are already in place. It has helped to provide medical supplies, health awareness workshops and clinical resources. Over 130,000 patients have been helped in Kenya alone.
4. WE Villages is a modern, sustainable development model that focuses on five pillars they claim are imperative for community development. These pillars are education, water, health, food and opportunity. WE Villages partners with communities in over nine countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America to provide sustainable community development.
5. WE Villages has provided over 1,500 schools in partnered communities, allowing more than 200,000 children the opportunity to receive an education. One million people have better access to safe water and sanitation. Farmers located within WE Villages have helped to deliver over 15 million meals to local families.
6. ME to WE is an offshoot organization that has created employment and economic opportunities for over 2,000 people in WE Village communities. Not only does it help provide financial opportunities in the communities, but it also provides a sustainable source of funding for WE Charity. Over the past five years, ME to WE has donated an average of 90 percent of profits to WE Charity, which is then reinvested into the charity and its programs.
7. WE Charity hopes to double its impact over the next five years. Currently, it has impacted 12,300 schools and 2.3 million youth participants through the WE Schools program, but it hopes to reach 24,000 schools and 4.8 million students over the next few years. WE also hopes to double the amount of WE Villages from 50 to over 100 within the same timeline.

Together with its partner charities, WE Charity is working to raise awareness for a variety of social issues as well as focusing on putting an end to poverty and child labor. WE Charity has already helped millions of people by providing sustainable communities, access to healthcare, better education and safe water. Over the next several years they hope to double the number of people they have reached and make an even bigger impact around the world.

– Jessica Winarski
Photo: Unsplash