What We Do
Learn more about our work
Agriculture ›
Most of the world doesn't have the benefit of picking up food from the corner store — they grow it themselves. A family's plot of land has to provide for their nutritional and economic needs. Mercy Corps works with families to ensure quality inputs, a good crop yield and a fair price at local markets.
Children ›
Children are remarkably imaginative and resilient — but also heartbreakingly fragile and vulnerable. Mercy Corps works with communities to shelter and nurture children through innovative education, health and nutrition programmes. Teaching the next generation and keeping them healthy are essential to tomorrow's strong, vibrant societies.
Citizen Involvement ›
Societies are more peaceful and prosperous when citizens are actively involved in decision-making. Mercy Corps helps create safe spaces where various stakeholders can discuss and debate the choices that affect their lives and communities.
Civil Society ›
Mercy Corps believes that responses to emergencies and development must, at their core, focus on strengthening the bonds between the public, private and civic sectors. Our approach aims to build and improve societal relations based on the principles of peaceful coexistence, accountability and participation.
Climate Change ›
Climate change is worsening an already unprecedented scarcity of resources, including water and arable land in some of the world's most volatile and impoverished regions. Mercy Corps sees climate change as a threat to the communities we serve, but we also view it as an economic opportunity, particularly for youth.
Conflict & War ›
War tears at every fiber of society, but conflict doesn't have to be violent to harm communities. Mercy Corps works to not only help families rebuild after the destruction of war, but also manage friction points and find solutions so shots are never fired.
Disability ›
Individuals with physical and mental disabilities often struggle for visibility and a voice within their communities. Mercy Corps helps empower them to organise, address their common challenges and advocate for the changes they need to gain access to education, services and jobs.
Displacement ›
Imagine having just minutes to take what you could from your home before fleeing from disaster or war. This is the reality for millions of displaced families, who languish in overcrowded camps or lonely city streets with no idea when — or if — they can return home. Mercy Corps helps these families with basic supplies and shelter, temporary jobs, makeshift classrooms and preparation for a hoped-for return.
Economic Development ›
Mercy Corps fosters market-driven economic development in some of the world's most challenging places. We make use of already existing relationships — among buyers, sellers, producers and consumers — to bridge social and political divides via business and trade.
Education ›
Education is the foundation of progress, but it is often interrupted by extreme poverty, war and other crises. As a result, individuals and their communities often can't reach their full potential. Mercy Corps works to bring access to education to women and men of all ages and economic groups to help ensure a better future for all.
Emergencies ›
Life can change for millions of families in an instant: natural disasters can take loved ones and the outbreak of war drive families from their homes. When the unthinkable happens, Mercy Corps delivers rapid, lifesaving aid to hard-hit communities.
Environment ›
The environment underpins and defines all aspects of human society. Environmental degradation most strongly impacts vulnerable communities, primarily because these places lack the coping mechanisms that normally protect lives and livelihoods. Mercy Corps is committed to helping these communities address and adapt to environmental changes.
Financial Services ›
In most developing countries, the gap between a good idea and opening the doors of a small business is a huge chasm. Mercy Corps helps bridge that gap with high-quality, low-cost financial services so the poor can manage life's risks and take advantage of life's opportunities.
Food/Nutrition ›
Distributing food is sometimes necessary, especially during times of crisis — but Mercy Corps believes in teaching people to fish, plant gardens and raise livestock for their household needs. This holistic approach not only ensures that families don't go hungry, but also looks out for their health needs and long-term economic prospects.
Global Engagement ›
We believe that educating and engaging the public about global issues is paramount to turning the tide against poverty. Mercy Corps raises awareness of what it means to live on $1 a day — and how that affects access to education, health care and economic opportunities — while providing specific actions that empower concerned citizens to make a difference for people in need.
Governance ›
Government should never hinder progress and prosperity. But communities around the world are often faced with leaders who are unwilling to listen or cooperate. Mercy Corps helps facilitate collaboration between government officials and the people they serve, leading to more accountable and productive leadership.
Health ›
Our work to build healthy communities, families and individuals is at the heart of Mercy Corps' vision for social change. By partnering with a range of partners, from village health committees to government agencies, we help build the means to improve maternal, newborn and child health, ensure proper nutrition and combat infectious diseases.
HIV/AIDS ›
The spread of HIV/AIDS threatens to take millions more lives, reverse development gains in dozens of poor countries and imperil progress on critical global issues. From Central Asia to Central America, Mercy Corps is not only supporting awareness and prevention, but also helping people with HIV/AIDS in their fight for dignity, justice and economic opportunity.
Hunger ›
Millions of families around the world experience hunger every day. Food shortages due to poverty, disasters, conflicts and economic collapse lead to malnutrition, disease and death. Mercy Corps' food programmes concentrate on those who are most vulnerable — children, the elderly, pregnant women and the displaced.
Livelihoods ›
Families are uncertain and vulnerable as they return to their communities to rebuild homes and lives after a crisis. Mercy Corps help them transition from relief to recovery through innovative programmes that get them back to work quickly, which restores dignity, puts pay in workers' pockets and injects cash into ailing local economies.
Marginalised Groups ›
In nearly every country, there are groups that suffer discrimination, displacement and poverty solely because of their ethnicity, beliefs, language or social class. Their path out of poverty is especially challenging. Mercy Corps helps them to be heard and recognized so they can exchange oppression for opportunity.
Microfinance ›
Offering small, affordable loans to people not served by traditional banks has been called "a weapon against poverty and hunger" by the United Nations. Mercy Corps-sponsored microfinance institutions, savings and credit cooperatives, loan-guarantee programmes, and technical support reach more than one million people in over a dozen countries.
Migrants ›
Every day, many families face a grim choice: endure another surefire cycle of poverty at home, or search for better opportunities somewhere else. Those who remain struggle to make ends meet and preserve traditional ways of life, while those who leave can face bewildering challenges in new environments. Mercy Corps helps in both cases by strengthening rural economies and assisting those who have already migrated far from home.
Peaceful Change ›
Many of poverty's root causes can be found in conflict over resources, philosophies and goals. Mercy Corps believes that engaging potential adversaries in productive dialogue can lead to mutually beneficial solutions for change. Conflict resolution today can help avoid tomorrow's wars and other crises.
Rural ›
Many of the rural communities where we work are among the most isolated places in the world. Mercy Corps helps these villages connect to wider opportunities economically and socially, raising the fortunes of all.
Social Innovations ›
Mercy Corps constantly strives to combine lessons and methods from the worlds of business and philanthropy to create innovative solutions to social issues. These social innovations introduce sustainable large-scale improvements that provide economic opportunities and peaceful change in some of the world's most challenging places.
Sports ›
Mercy Corps recognizes that sports can transcend difference. We sponsor tournaments, build athletic fields, and, thanks to a strong partnership with Nike, outfit teams and equip schools. We also use sports to help children recover emotionally from trauma caused by conflict or disaster. In these and other ways, Mercy Corps is uniting former adversaries on the playing fields and teaching youth important lessons about teamwork, responsibility and leadership.
Technology & Internet ›
New technologies and the Internet offer the potential to connect diverse populations as never before, creating many opportunities for peaceful collaboration, productive dialogue and economic cooperation. Mercy Corps works to bring these opportunities to some of the world's poorest people and most far-flung communities.
Urban ›
Overcrowded and environmentally stressed, today's megacities are home to millions who live in extreme poverty. Mercy Corps works to bring education, health and economic opportunity to families who have fallen through the cracks.
Water/Sanitation ›
Water is essential for life, good health and economic development — yet more than one billion people lack access to clean water. Mercy Corps' work fulfills the water needs of vulnerable populations: We pipe clean drinking water to rural communities, help solve resource-based conflicts and deliver water to families during emergencies.
Women's Empowerment ›
Women are the foundation of every society. Yet for many women in the world's poorest regions, life is extraordinarily difficult. Through innovative health, agricultural, business and education programmes, Mercy Corps builds on the courage and resourcefulness of women to help them realize their potential and improve their families and communities.
Youth ›
Youth have a bigger stake in the future than anyone. Mercy Corps is helping mobilize youth in the U.S. and abroad to influence a better tomorrow, while also offering education and job training to impoverished youth to give them a place in the changing global economy.
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