Viva is an international children’s charity passionate about releasing children from poverty and abuse.

We grow locally-led networks who are committed to working together so that children are safe, well and able to fulfil their God-given potential.

We were founded in 1996 by Patrick McDonald.

As a volunteer in Bolivia he found different churches in an area of a city providing food for street children but all on a Monday.

Children feasted once a week but starved the rest of the time. This simple act of connecting churches ensured that more children were fed more often.

So began Viva’s vision to bring lasting change to vulnerable children by growing locally-led networks of churches and organisations.

We help people achieve more together than they can alone – allowing us to dream big dreams for whole cities!

All of  Viva’s programmes unlock local resources and inspire churches to serve children and families, in partnership with others.

We are lean, creative and efficient, making our work highly cost-effective. We prioritise quality improvement through training in areas such as child protection.

Last year we reached 2.2 million children in 27 countries through our 38 partner networks, which comprise a total of 3,500 churches and community organisations.

Click here to see our map of where in the world we work.

Click here to find out more about Viva’s programmes and added value.

Click here to find out 10 reasons why our work is effective.

Click here to see our introduction to Viva leaflet.

Watch the short video here which introduces how Viva is helping to fulfill the potential of children across the world (and a children’s version is available by clicking here).