On 17 October 2025, the international community marked the Day for the Eradication of Poverty. This year’s theme was “Ending social and institutional maltreatment by ensuring respect and effective support for families.”
ATD Fourth World hosted an event in the ECOSOC chamber at the United Nations Headquarters to examine the perduring reality of poverty and to reaffirm international commitment to put the furthest behind first and to end poverty in all its forms. Delegates spoke to the impacts of poverty on children and families, seeking to reveal the hidden dimensions of poverty. For example, poverty affects the very fabric of families and can lead to family separation in dire cases. It is necesary to take all actions available to us to eradicate poverty and create the structual conditions needed for families to thrive.
The IBVM-Loreto NGO and IBVM/CJ network works with families, especially women and children, across the world to address the root causes of poverty and to provide opportunities for education and economic empowerment to lift the most vulnerable out of the conditions of poverty. We are committed to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 1 (No Poverty) by working at the grassroots level through our schools, social centres, and community outreach.
As a Catholic faith-based NGO, we welcome the teaching of Pope Leo XIV on our obligation to the poor in his apostolic exhortation Dilexi te and the urgent call to resolve the structural causes of poverty.
Auteur: Sarah Rudolph, IBVM
