What is Child Sponsorship and what does it achieve?
World Vision Child Sponsorship changes the lives of children living in extreme poverty. By sponsoring a child, you will help give a child and his or her community the chance to reach their full potential to become independent and provide for themselves.
With more than 60 years of international experience, World Vision has found that the most effective way to help change a vulnerable child's life is to transform his or her entire environment. We work alongside communities for up to 15 years to develop an area in need. With your help, we equip poor communities with the necessary knowledge and resources to break the poverty cycle and become self-sufficient. We also help to empower community leaders with relevant skills, so they can plan for the future. Once a community is able to take responsibility for its own development, World Vision will move to another community in need, and so can you. Changing the lives of children in need takes time, but it's worth it.
Connecting lives through Child Sponsorship
A word from child sponsor Frania Walls
"I've known Paulina for a few years now. When I first started sponsoring her, she did not go to school. Now she is, and one thing that was really special was when we heard that Paulina wanted to be a teacher when she grew up. You can just see how much it changes a child's life by giving to them."
Issues covered: Child Sponsorship helps to change the world and future of children living in extreme poverty, and equip poor communities with the necessary knowledge and resources to take responsibility for their own development.
Focus countries: Through Child Sponsorship, World Vision works in 47 areas across the following
13 countries: Bangladesh, Cambodia, Honduras, India, Malawi, Mali, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Niger, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
How does Child Sponsorship work to help children in need?
A child's health and well-being is closely connected with that of his or her family and community. By sponsoring a child, your regular contributions will help fund projects that address long-term development needs in your sponsored child's community. These projects may include:
- Providing education and the chance to go to school
- Providing clean water for drinking, cooking and washing
- Improving healthcare and health education
- Producing enough food so children can enjoy a nutritious diet
- Improving household income through vocational training
Each Child Sponsorship programme is unique, and designed to align with a community's strengths to address their challenges. One of the most effective ways of bringing about change is by building partnerships with local community leaders, organisations and governments to develop skills and knowledge in a specific geographical area. Together, we design and implement projects tailored to the needs of the community that will have a long-term positive impact on the well-being of all children and families in the area.
What happens when you sponsor a child in need?
- Within a week, we will post you an information pack about the child you have chosen to sponsor. The pack will include a photo of the child and some important information about the child, his or her family, and their community.
- You will receive an introductory letter from your child within two to three months, but you may begin to write to your child straightaway. Your sponsored child would love to hear from you and about life in New Zealand.
- Each year, we will send you an update on your sponsored child's progress, as well as a report on how your sponsored child's community is benefiting from your contribution. You will also receive two greeting cards to send to your child, including information on World Vision's achievements around the world.
- Your sponsored child will reply to any letters you send, and he or she will also send you a card around Christmastime.
How can you get involved?
Sponsor a child in need today and help bring hope for a brighter future to an entire community in need. With your help World Vision works.
Robert Ndoma and his wife, Suzane, (back) and their two children, Scholastica and Joseph.Thanks to the generous support of Kiwi child sponsors in Budekwa, Tanzania, an entrepreneurial father in Mbaragane village and his family are reaping fruits beyond expectation, and uniting an entire community in its pursuit of a better life. Robert Ndoma, 37, and Suzane, his wife, obtained a relatively small loan of about NZ$1000 from a community credit and savings society, established with the assistance of World Vision. Robert attended small business training sessions and invested the loan in a grocery shop, a poultry project, and growing cotton, maize and groundnuts. He is now selling his produce, as well as items from the grocery shop, at a considerable profit. The family has sufficient food, and the children, Scholastica and Joseph, are able to attend school. Robert is also proud of the new house he is building. He is generously sharing his knowledge with fellow villagers to help put them on the road to success, too. "I want to thank World Vision for bringing the project to our area, and encourage all community members to participate in projects, so they can increase their family's income and quality of life," says Robert.
"When I finish school, I want to be a teacher." Ten-year-old Paulina from Magugu, Tanzania
Key Facts:
- Through Child Sponsorship, World Vision works in 47 areas across 13 countries
- Child Sponsorship helps provide education and healthcare, and improve household income
- In 1990 34,000 children died every day before they reached the age of 5; that number is now 22,000
- Between 1990 and 2010, more than 1.8 billion people have gained access to clean drinking water
- Since 2000, vaccines have helped reduce the global number of deaths from measles by 74 per cent
