Ripples, and the beat of a butterfly's wings

World Vision’s head of Policy and Public Affairs answers the question ‘What’s the point of Party Conferences anyway?’

By Gavin Crowden, Head of Policy and Public Affairs

You might ask me ‘why does World Vision go to political party conferences’? And I would say one word to you: ripples.

Throw a stone into a lake and, alongside the satisfying ‘plop,’ ripples spread out far and wide. So too does World Vision’s work.

We help a child, maybe it’s your sponsored child, and one child is helped. And through our work with that child’s community, a community is helped. And our work with that community helps them to raise their voices to their political leaders, and then whole populations are helped.

World Vision is committed to making the lives of the world’s most vulnerable children better – and there is so much that we can do. But we are realistic and humble enough to know that we can’t do all of it on our own, so it is through the work of the Policy and Public Affairs team that these ripples reach UK shores.

The UK government is in a position to lead the world and improve the lot of children everywhere. So our team shows politicians what really works - whether it’s ending child marriage in Sierra Leone, looking after Syrian refugees in Lebanon, or tackling child labour in Bangladesh.

And this year is really significant. There’s a general election next May and any of the political parties – or any combination of parties - could be making those decisions by this time next year.

So we’ll be spending time with political leaders at their Party Conferences over September and October to let them know what we do and how their decisions can help the world’s most vulnerable children.

We’ll be talking about our humanitarian efforts to support Syria’s children and the Lebanese communities which host them. We’ll be highlighting the lessons from the Ethiopian famine 30 years on. And we’ll be explaining what needs to happen to protect children and to keep them safe.

All of this is firmly rooted in what we do with sponsored children’s communities, and with other communities we work in around the world.

Of course the path to achieve change is rarely smooth - perhaps more akin to that chaos theory maxim: 'when a butterfly flaps its wings in one part of the world, it can cause a hurricane in another.'

We are working to ensure that the cry of just one child is enough for politicians in the UK to take actions that can lead to better lives for children everywhere. Chaotic process it may be – but it’s a prize worth going for.

So when I’m asked why we go to party conferences in the future perhaps I should simply say: a butterfly’s wings.