Nancy's Child Sponsorship Story

With the help of child sponsorship, Nancy became one of the first girls in her community to graduate high school and was inspired to become a humanitarian.

When Nancy was 11 years old, World Vision started working in her community. This was when Georgie began sponsoring her.

Georgie is amazed at the impact that her child sponsorship has had on Nancy's life.

Nancy credits her sponsorship with supporting her education, saying that if it weren't for World Vision, she would not have even gone to High School. Nancy shares that "it was rare to find girls who had made it to High School. My sister is the first graduate lady from that location, and then I'm second." Nancy graduated top 3 in her class and went on to Nairobi University, eventually getting her Master's degree.

Now, at 34 years old Nancy believes her child sponsorship also played an important part in her career choice of humanitarian work. "If it were not for World Vision I would not have made it this far," Nancy shares.

Nancy now helps adults in her community who didn't have the chance to go to school with access to education. People in her community now see her as a role model, and community leaders talk about how they encourage young girls in the community to follow a similar pathway. Nancy said, "I was shocked. There are girls I met, they are young like 15 years and they are like you have always been my role model, and finally, I can see you".

Child sponsorship has had a lasting impact on Nancy's sense of wanting to help others. "Child sponsorship made me appreciate a second chance in life so I like giving people second chances. So I help people who never had a chance to go through high school".

When you sponsor a child like Nancy, you change their life, for good.

Child Sponsorship empowers children, their families and their communities to help break the cycle of poverty. Your donation of $50 a month will help bring essentials like clean water, nutrition, education, healthcare and hope to a vulnerable child. It will help strengthen their entire community, caring for every child along the way and enabling the community to become resilient and self-sufficient.

We partner with communities.
We partner, plan and work alongside children, families and local community members to help build healthy, sustainable communities. This ensures the greatest possible impact and allows all children to thrive.

You connect with a child in need.
Each child is matched with only one sponsor. You can build a relationship with your Sponsored Child and your child's community through letters, videos, prayer, updates, encouragement and more.

You'll see your gifts at work ...
Your monthly gift is combined with other donations for maximum impact. Your support funds long-term resources for your Sponsored Child's whole community, like access to clean water and quality education.

... and celebrate the progress!
Your love, prayers, letters and donations result in real, lasting change for your Sponsored Child, their family and their community. Enjoy sharing the journey and celebrating with them along the way.

Child Sponsorship transforms lives.

Child sponsorship helps break the cycle of poverty by transforming communities.

Our decades of experience have proven that the most effective way to help a child is to strengthen their entire community, caring for every child along the way. In fact, because of our community-focused solutions, for every child you sponsor, 4 more benefit, too! Your sponsorship will help enable a community to lead their own development and become resilient and self-sufficient.

Your sponsorship keeps children safe. Children that are sponsored are regularly monitored, which protects them from dangerous situations and exploitation like child marriage and child labour. Sponsored children also are more likely to go to school and receive regular healthcare check-ups.

Child Protection

We work alongside communities to protect children who are vulnerable to abuse or exploitation like child marriage, child labour and trafficking.

Clean Water

Reaching 1 new person every 10 seconds, World Vision is the largest non-government provider of safe water in the developing world.

Education

Every year we provide millions of children with an education so they can reach their full potential and contribute to their communities.

Nutritious Food

Every year, we provide more than nine million people with life-saving food assistance, including five million children.

Family Income

Breaking the poverty cycle with economic empowerment, by strengthening families' capacity to provide for their children.

Healthcare

We ensure the most vulnerable have access to healthcare services to help children and their families live long and healthy lives.

Emergency Relief

We respond to disasters with life-saving speed and then stay to ensure the lives of disaster-affected families and communities are rebuilt.

Advocacy

We relentlessly advocate for an end to violence against children and ensure the voices of the world’s most vulnerable children are heard.

Climate Action

We are mobilising communities to mitigate their impact on the environment, adapt to changing weather patterns, and to build resilience to shocks that impact their homes, water supply and livelihoods.

FAQs

What is Child Sponsorship?
Child Sponsorship changes children's lives by transforming the community where they live. Using your donations, we identify the causes of children's poverty and vulnerability and create development projects to address them. Child sponsorship pairs one sponsor with one child and allows you to connect through letters and photos.

Why sponsor a child?
When you sponsor a child, you build a special relationship that encourages your child with hope for the future. Your donations join forces with other sponsors to lift your child, their community, and other vulnerable children out of poverty for good. Your support helps pursue the physical, emotional, spiritual, and social well-being of vulnerable children.

If I sponsor a child where does my money go?
Your money does not go directly to your sponsor child, or their family, but enables World Vision to work with their entire community to have an even bigger impact and make long-term sustainable change for everyone. As a member of this community, your Sponsor Child receives the benefits of this incredible change and their own lives are transformed.

How long will I sponsor my child?
In most cases, it will be throughout their childhood and into their teens. Most children will be in the sponsorship programme until their community has begun to reach most of its goals, and become self-sustainable. As a project comes to a close we will let you know of the achievements in the community so you can celebrate with us.

More Child Sponsorship FAQs

As part of an international partnership working in nearly 100 countries, World Vision New Zealand pursues the highest standards of stewardship and accountability.

In 2019, 83.3% of World Vision New Zealand's total operating expenses were used for international program support that benefited children, families and communities in need. Learn more about our impact.

Thank you for choosing to change a child's life.

How does Child Sponsorship work?