SAO Child Sponsorship in the field
1. As a SAO Sponsor, how does my support help the child I sponsor?
Your sponsorship supports the community development activities that benefit the child partner with whom you are connected and their family. This support allows the child’s whole community to have the opportunity to take part in training and other activities to improve their community and to help families lift themselves out of poverty.
2. How long do SAO Child Sponsorship programs run?
Generally, SAO Child Sponsorship programs will run for a period of ten years. In the second year of the program, child partners will be selected by a nominated committee of community members, partner staff and parents. These children will spend at least five years in the program and will leave the program either when they reach adulthood or when the program concludes in the area. Some children may leave the program earlier if circumstances change, for example, their family may move to a different region.
The last three years of each program will focus on building the knowledge and skills of the community to continue to provide for and nurture the development of their children and young people without input from the partner staff. When the partner organisation is able to move away, it is a good sign that the project has made a real difference. In most cases when a child leaves the program, we automatically link the SAO Sponsor with a new child unless they have informed us to the contrary.
3. Do the children go to school?
Not all sponsored children will go to school, but promoting education and its value is a part of SAO Child Sponosrship programs.
Progress towards the Millennium Development Goals means that school is now free in many of the countries where we work. In line with this change in the global context, our program focus has also shifted. SAO Child Sponsorship assesses and responds to the gaps in children’s development — whether it is the quality of primary education, causes of high drop-out rates, or the need for early childhood activities or vocational training.
Our experience has taught us that children’s development requires many forms of learning, including formal and non-formal education from early childhood through to adolescence. At all stages, it is important that children develop life skills to improve their future opportunities.
The communities themselves determine what is lacking in the lives of their children, and through SAO Child Sponsorship, our Christian partners will help communities address these issues.
4. What about spiritual outcomes?
Baptist World Aid Australia believes that the best and most appropriate way to spread the gospel in our work is by our local Christian partners engaging with communities and serving them through the program activities.
In many countries where we operate, Christians are a minority and child partners are often from non-Christian families or other faiths. Our partners show Jesus’ love in practical ways and build relationships within the community, creating a long term basis for dialogue and the sharing of faith.
We also encourage the ministry and enhance the witness of local churches who are best positioned to engage in contextual ministry and sharing of the gospel.
In line with our ‘no strings attached’ policy, child partners are not chosen on the basis of their religion, nor are they required to attend church, Sunday school, or other Christian activities in order to participate in the program. SAO Child Sponsorship funds are not used for evangelism activities.
5. How are sponsored children chosen?
Not all children who participatein the program are linked with a sponsor, instead, those who will be linked with a sponsor in Australia are selected by their community as representatives of the program and play a role in communicating the positive changes that are happening for them, their family and community. Each child is linked with only one SAO Sponsor.
A community selection committee is formed to ensure the children chosen are from among the most needy and those most likely to benefit from the community development activities. Local school teachers, health workers, village elders and church representatives know their community best and are able to ensure a fair process is followed in selection of children to be sponsored. In line with the Convention of the Rights of the Child, non-discrimination is a key principle in selection of which children will be linked with overseas sponsors, who must not be excluded on the basis of their political, religious, or ethnic group or because of disability.
6. Does the child receive any money?
No money goes directly to sponsored children, other children in the program or their families. It may be tempting to rush in and try to provide everything they lack, but giving money directly to children or their families only solves their problems for the short term, and produces long-term dependence. When the program ends, the family is left virtually unchanged, and they will struggle without the hand-out they have come to rely on.
The funds for SAO Child Sponsorship go towards long term transformation of families and communities so that all the children in the community can thrive. Whilst no money goes directly to the child, our experience has shown that the best way to help the child is to help their family and their community to gain the resources, knowledge and skills to provide for and protect children.
7. Why doesn’t the child receive any money?
There are a number of reasons why the child and their family, does not receive any money:
- Families can start to rely on the cash ‘hand-out’ rather than seek ways to increase their income.
- If the program ends or pulls out of the area for any reason, the parents have no way to make up for the lost hand-out. They are left unchanged and will continue to struggle, adding further strain to family and community relationships.
- Handouts can also lead to jealousy between family members and neighbours.
- If parents or families are given money directly, our partners will have no control how that money is spent, and it may not always be for the benefit of the child.
By supporting a community and its children through development activities rather than cash hand-outs, your contributions to SAO Child Sponsorship can make an enormous difference to lives of many children in the community, not just one. And as a sponsor you will receive letters from your child partner and other reports that will show how this is happening in their community.
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