World Vision

Our child sponsorship program addresses the root causes of children’s vulnerability, empowering children, their families, and their communities to break free from poverty. We take a comprehensive and integrated approach to community development, using evidence-based interventions in our programming that are externally validated. When we partner with communities, we start by inviting them to identify their greatest needs. Then we work together to develop a plan, equipping them with resources to address their specific challenges—like improving water and sanitation, health and nutrition, education, child protection, and spiritual nurture.

And it’s effective! Our holistic, community-empowering approach is helping kids and families transform their own lives.

In places where we work:

• • Kids are healthier: Over a five-year period, 89% of the severely malnourished children we treated in severe relief environments made a full recovery. This expertise informs our nutrition programs in all the communities we work.
  • More children have local health services: In Zambia, moms in areas where we run health and nutrition programming are 6X more likely to get healthcare that is designed to boost newborn survival compared to mothers in areas we haven’t yet reached.
  • Kids are thriving in school: In Bangladesh, children’s reading comprehension was measured at 68% in schools using our literacy program, compared to 4% in schools without the program.
  • Water solutions are long-lasting: A study conducted by the University of North Carolina’s Water Institute found that 8 in 10 of our wells drilled in Ghana were still functioning at high levels after nearly two decades. This is 33% higher than the industry average of 6 in 10.
  • Young people are growing in their faith: In our sponsorship programs in Central America, 85% of children say they experience God’s love and almost 90% of children and youth are taking part in activities like Sunday school and youth ministry.

We go to some of the world’s hardest places and serve the most vulnerable people. Serving the poor in Jesus’ name, we go to the world’s most fragile places—where life is toughest for kids, and where many other organizations can’t go. Through child sponsorship and other critical projects, we work in eight of the 10 poorest places in the world, as measured by the United Nations’ Multidimensional Poverty Index. Our community-empowering approach impacts more children. We work hand in hand with families and local leaders to achieve community-wide solutions like clean water, healthcare, and education—so all kids can benefit, not just those who are sponsored. Our work has lasting impact. Our community development projects lead to sustainable change because we rely on local resources. Families and individuals co-own project leadership and activities from the start, which helps the change last. We serve all people. Our staff in nearly 100 countries serve those of all faiths and none, demonstrating our faith in Jesus in culturally appropriate and respectful ways. We help create change for children at every level. Our goal is nothing less than children’s complete well-being—spiritual, physical, emotional, and social. We partner with individuals, organizations, and governments to change systems and structures that keep people trapped in poverty.

Each child in our sponsorship program is matched with one sponsor. You are the only sponsor for your sponsored child. They’re real children with real stories. You can get to know your sponsored child through letters and photos, packages, and email. You can even visit your sponsored child and see how your donation is helping transform their community.

When you first sponsor a child, you will receive a letter from them introducing themselves. After that, they will write to you in response to letters you send them, up to four times a year. If you don’t write to them, there is nothing for them to reply to! Because praying for and encouraging your child is just as important as the tangible help your donations provide, please write often and let your child know you’re thinking of them. It’s quick and easy to send your child an email through My World Vision – learn more about how to email your child.

There might be delays with letters due to the pandemic but a message to show you care, even if it takes some time to get there, is powerful.

Through World Vision child sponsorship, you’re connected with one specific child, but your monthly sponsorship donations are pooled for maximum effectiveness. This means that instead of giving direct cash benefits to one child, you join forces with other sponsors to fund long-term community development programs that benefit your sponsored child, their community, and other children in need so they can overcome poverty and thrive. Some organizations focus on providing handouts or only helping individual sponsored children, but we’ve learned this can divide communities and slow progress. In other parts of the world, societies are much more communal and less individualistic than western cultures, so a community-based model is more effective.