At the core of the organization is the belief that the suffering of people who live in extreme poverty can be reduced, and eventually eliminated. They are currently working in 28 countries and have reached 9 million people in the last year. Tom Moran, chairman of Concern Worldwide says “The organization is the embodiment of the, ‘Give a man a fish he eats for a day, teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime’ proverb.”

Moran goes on to explain that Concern Worldwide’s programs focus on emergency response, health, nutrition, HIV & AIDS, education, microfinance, skills training and income-generating initiatives; not just solving the problem at hand, but finding a solution, within the community, that will be the solution forever, and possibly inform the next solution needed.

With the knowledge that up to 70% of those living in absolute poverty are female, empowering women is a key priority within their livelihoods programs.   Improving women’s healthcare and education is a cornerstone in many of the programs that Concern Worldwide implements. Concern is helping mothers worldwide with it’s Child Survival Program (CSP) that is saving countless mothers’ and children’s lives in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean at a cost of just $5 per family per year. Per Concern’s website, “at the heart of CSP lies a radical departure from the traditional model of delivering health care to women and children in the poorest countries.”

Breaking the traditional model of the patient coming to hospital, CSP brings basic health care to the household level, saving mothers’ time and dramatically increasing the numbers of children treated for basic illnesses, thereby saving lives. Concern Worldwide has been uniquely effective in its 41 years in existence at changing the lives of millions of people in the world’s poorest countries, bringing hope to the hopeless, and trying to literally and figuratively teach a man to fish.

The primary concerns for the organization are: 

· Education

· Emergency Response

· Health (nutrition, maternal & child health, water & sanitation) 

· HIV&AIDS

· Livelihoods (including skills training, microfinance, income generation programs, and food security initiatives) 

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