Are Poverty Reduction Projects Through GFA World Effective?
Poverty reduction projects through GFA World are making life-changing impacts. Through our faithful national pastors and missionaries, we are able to help people in physical and spiritual ways. Help may come to an entire community through providing a clean water well, called a Jesus Well. Or maybe the community desperately needs toilets, so those are installed. Disaster relief is also available to communities who need it.
Children are helped through our sponsorship program. They receive the items they need most to succeed, like nutritious food, education support, basic medical services and other vital assistance.
Adults and families may receive help in the form of income-generating gifts, like livestock. Or they may receive skills training, where our workers teach things like literacy, sewing or candle making. Trainings like these are life-changing and can be permanent solutions to poverty. Other gifts, like BioSand filters for clean water, bicycles and warm blankets, are also very effective at maintaining health and saving time, all of which helps fight against poverty.
At GFA World, our gift distributions are facilitated by our national pastors and missionaries, who live and work in the countries where they serve.
We report, “While 42% of the world’s population waits to hear about a God who loves them and only 3% of the world’s missionaries are working in these areas, GFA World focuses its prayer, work and finances into these very places. For over 40 years, GFA World has trained more than 100,000 workers to take the Gospel to people with the least access to the Good News.”[1]
Ashima is a great example of the effectiveness of GFA programs.
Before GFA came along, she was rarely in school and received very little support from her parents, who struggled with alcoholism. They had little understanding of why education could help their little girl. When GFA set up a sponsorship program in her community, Ashima was invited to participate. She started receiving tutoring and was able to quickly catch up on her schoolwork. The most important part was that Ashima learned how to hope and dream of a life outside of her current circumstances.
“Especially I want to serve the poor from our society because … once we were very poor, and because we were poor, we were not able to buy so many things. It affected us very badly. And now, because [child sponsorship] is here, this is helping poor and the needy people like us; I also want to help and serve all the poor children and poor people who are suffering.”[2]
We invite you to join us in our poverty reduction projects that are happening right now in Africa and Asia. God is doing amazing things, and we’re grateful to be a part of His work.
Learn more about our poverty reduction strategy at GFA World[1] “2024 Special Report.” GFA World. Accessed March 25, 2025. https://gfamedia.org/downloads/special-reports/2023-GFA-World-Special-Report.pdf.
[2] Psarris, Emily. “Fighting Global Poverty with Ideas.” GFA World, October 14, 2020. https://www.gfa.org/special-report/solutions-extreme-poverty-line-poor-impoverished/#:~:text=Ashima%2C%20a%20young%20girl%20in%20Asia.