Millions of women and children in underserved communities across Africa and Asia are receiving essential nutrition support, maternal healthcare and practical assistance to improve family livelihoods through a global humanitarian partnership that has secured a further $65 million in funding.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced the new commitment in August 2026, extending its Caring for Women and Children Initiative for a third year. The additional funding brings the church’s total commitment to the programme to $184.2 million.
Over the initiative’s first two years, participating humanitarian organisations reported reaching more than 52 million women and children across 12 countries, including Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Senegal, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Nepal and the Philippines.
The programme focuses on practical interventions that can improve health outcomes and strengthen families, including access to essential vitamins, maternal and newborn care, child nutrition, hygiene education and support for household food production.
The reported results include more than five million children and pregnant women screened for malnutrition and given nutrition guidance, 375,000 expectant mothers receiving prenatal care, and 85,000 health workers trained in maternal and newborn care, breastfeeding, child nutrition and vitamin administration.
The initiative has also supported families to improve their own food security. More than 231,000 families received seeds and training to grow home gardens with more nutritious foods, while 2.6 million women participated in mother-to-mother groups to share nutrition knowledge and practical advice.
These interventions are designed to address interconnected challenges facing vulnerable households. Better nutrition can improve children’s development, while access to prenatal care and trained health workers can help identify pregnancy complications and support safer childbirth. Home gardening and livelihood assistance can also help families improve their diets and strengthen their sources of income.
In Zambia, the consortium’s work was associated with a 50 per cent reduction in maternal deaths at a regional hospital, according to Save the Children’s International Programs Division. The initiative has also supported newborn resuscitation, with 357 newborns reported to have received the intervention at birth.
The programme brings together seven humanitarian organisations: CARE, Catholic Relief Services, Helen Keller International, The Hunger Project, iDE, Save the Children and Vitamin Angels. Each contributes different expertise, from nutrition and healthcare to agriculture, livelihoods and community development.
Rather than operating independently, the organisations work through a shared framework intended to strengthen coordination, pool knowledge and make better use of available resources. The approach recognises that the challenges facing women and children rarely exist in isolation and often require several forms of support to produce lasting change.
For example, a family may need nutritional guidance alongside access to nutritious food, while a pregnant woman may require both prenatal care and a properly equipped health facility. Coordinating these services can help address gaps that individual programmes might struggle to resolve alone.
The initiative’s impact can also be seen at the household level. In northern Ghana, one participant, Ramatu, received nutrition training and learned to produce nutrient-rich flour for sale. According to iDE chief executive Reed Peterson, she developed the business into a continuing source of income and gained confidence in speaking publicly about her work. Her experience illustrates how health and livelihood programmes can create benefits that extend beyond their immediate intervention.
The latest funding commitment will allow the partnership to continue its work while humanitarian organisations face growing demands on limited resources. Its long-term value will depend on sustaining these services, strengthening local capacity and ensuring that the reported gains translate into lasting improvements for families.
The initiative offers an example of how collaboration between donors and specialist humanitarian organisations can bring different resources and expertise together around shared development goals. For women and children in the communities being served, the ultimate measure of success is whether that collaboration leads to healthier pregnancies, better-nourished children, stronger livelihoods and improved opportunities for future generations.
Source: Deseret News — Relief Society adds $65 million donation to international aid consortium