World Vision Acting CEO, Graham Strong, today welcomed award-winning journalist and presenter, Del Irani, as the organisation's newest goodwill ambassador.
"We're excited to announce that Del Irani will be working with us to raise awareness of our work with children in some of the world's most dangerous and hard-to-reach places," Mr Strong said.
"Del Irani's background and insights make her an ideal global champion for our work, shining a light on the work that our teams do in working alongside local communities. Her public profile is also a wonderful platform to give a voice to the forgotten, ignored, marginalised and disadvantaged members of our global society."
Ms Irani was born in India and regularly visits her home. She is eager to use her storytelling skills to empower women and children to break the cycle of poverty.
"My ultimate goal as Goodwill Ambassador is to inform, educate and empower people to participate in the global projects by World Vision Australia," Ms Irani said.
"For me it's personal. I was born in India and even though my family emigrated to Australia when I was 8 years old, we returned regularly during my formative years. During these visits and my travels overseas, I was always struck by the disadvantage confronting some of the world's most vulnerable people, particularly women and children.
"I found it shocking to see children my age running around with no shoes, barely any clothes, no clean water, living in slums. I would worry about whether they went to school or could break ever free from the cycle of poverty."
Ms Irani's relationship with World Vision began by participating in initiatives like the 40-hour famine and purchasing Animal and Agriculture gifts as Christmas presents. She later visited the World Vision offices in Kathmandu, Nepal, when on a trekking holiday and toured of the collaborative working environment established as part of World Vision International Nepal's Earthquake Response in 2015.
"They showed me some of the cutting-edge technologies they were creating and explained how this space enabled them to innovate and develop break-through solutions for the humanitarian challenges facing their communities," Ms Irani said.
"It immediately became clear to me that the work that World Vision does is about empowering people to lead the change that they want to see in their own communities. After that visit, I was even more energised and inspired about how I can work with World Vision to help them achieve their mission globally."
