World Vision Canada has announced a C$30 million ($22.4 million) gift from the Barrett Family Foundation in support of youth in Africa and the organization’s Vision for Vulnerable Youth Initiative.

The largest private gift in the organization’s history also will help maintain the program’s momentum and boost its impact in Latin America, where nearly 128,000 young people in seven countries have benefited from the program’s training, mentoring, peer support, internships, and seed capital to help empower them with economic opportunities. The Youth Ready program was originally developed in Africa to improve the lives of vulnerable youth and develop life and livelihood skills in the face of the continent’s sky-rocketing unemployment. The gift will enable the program to reach a total of 30,000 direct beneficiaries and 120,000 indirect community beneficiaries in Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Peru, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Colombia, Bolivia, and Ecuador.

“World Vision Canada is a tremendous partner because it brought international experience and a global network to help us transform our vision to create new academic and entrepreneurial business opportunities for vulnerable youth into reality,” said Barrett Family Foundation co-founder Bob Barrett. “Beyond programming, our family wanted World Vision to leverage our donations to bring in other donors, so we could impact the lives of even more young people living in poverty. We are delighted that more than 50 institutional and private donors have invested over $80 million in the Youth Ready program to support more than 240,000 vulnerable youth. We have seen the results first-hand and we are keen to collectively help even more youth.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/zeljkosantrac)