In January 2021, Tamworth-born Daniel Wordsworth became Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Australia’s largest international non-government organisation (NGO), World Vision Australia, after 25 years working in the world’s conflict hotspots.
Prior to joining World Vision Australia, Daniel spent 12 years as the CEO of the US-based NGO Alight (formerly known as the American Refugee Committee), providing healthcare, clean water, shelter, protection and economic opportunity to more than 2.5 million people in 15 countries each year.
Before this, Daniel spent 12 years with the Christian Children’s Fund (CCF). During this time, he built the foundations of CCF’s emergency response programs in Timor-Leste, Sierra Leone, India, Afghanistan and northern Uganda.
Daniel has lived and worked with the urban poor in Australia, Hong Kong, China, India, Vietnam and Thailand and has written numerous publications on children and poverty. He started his career in the Royal Australian Navy.
When announced as CEO of World Vision Australia in December 2020, Daniel said he felt “compelled and called” to work with World Vision, an organisation dedicated to helping the world’s poorest children and which has reached more than 200 million children worldwide. He said he was also greatly inspired by the strength of the organisation’s faith-based mission.
“We can look in the news and see what is supposedly wrong in the world, but after having worked in what some people would call the worst places in the world, I can tell you there are many more good people in those places than bad.
“Each time something happens in those places, there are hundreds of people rushing to actually help and get people back on their feet, so the World Vision story is actually one of an amazing world, of a beautiful world and a world full of people doing good things. Our job is to connect Aussies to that spirit.”
To find out more about Daniel, visit LinkedIn.