Child Sponsorship - Compassion International

Child sponsorship is critical. In a world where more than a billion children live on less than $2 per day, child sponsorship, connecting one child with one sponsor, is the most strategic way to end child poverty.

Through monthly financial support, prayer and letter writing, sponsors invest directly in the lives of children living in extreme poverty.

The children attend church-based child development centers where they receive life-changing opportunities that would otherwise be out of their reach, and which build on, add to and extend their school lessons.

All Compassion-sponsored children have the opportunity to develop their God-given potential and be released from the poverty that has trapped their families for generations.

Child sponsorship offers:

• ongoing Christian training through a local church.
• educational opportunities to defeat illiteracy.
• key life skills training and vocational programs to provide a brighter future.
• health care to prevent and fight disease and sickness.
• supplements to protect against malnutrition.
• recreational activities to development self-confidence and social skills.
• protection from crime, violence and danger.

In 2008, Dr. Bruce Wydick, a professor of economics and international studies at the University of San Francisco, along with two colleagues, conducted a study of our child sponsorship program to determine its impact on the adult life outcomes of formerly sponsored children against those of children who were not part of the ministry’s programs.

Wydick and his colleagues concluded that our child sponsorship program has large and statistically significant impacts on the educational, employment and leadership outcomes of our children. The peer-reviewed research was published in the April 2013 issue of the Journal of Political Economy.

Q: So what are the best ways to help the poor in developing countries?

To answer this question, I [Dr. Bruce Wydick] polled top development economists who specialize in analyzing development programs. I asked them to rate, from 0 to 10, some of the most common poverty interventions to which ordinary people donate their money, in terms of impact and cost-effectiveness per donated dollar. …

Of all the long-term development interventions, child sponsorship received the highest rating. Sponsors typically pay $25 to $40 per month, which covers a child’s educational fees, school uniforms, tutoring, health care, and, in faith-based sponsorship organizations, spiritual mentorship. Many development economists today favor interventions like child sponsorship that remove practical constraints to education while building a child’s self-esteem, aspirations and goals. In this way, sponsorship relieves both external and internal poverty constraints.