Latin America and the Caribbean

Sponsorship programmes

Child sponsorship is a transforming relationship by which sponsors enter into a commitment to help meet the needs of a specific child or children, contributing to their transformational development and that of their families and communities. Through child sponsorship, World Vision is pursuing its vision of life in all its fullness for every child.

Child sponsorship responds to many challenges of poverty which are faced by children, families and communities throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, and elsewhere in the world, and which prevent them from experiencing full and productive lives.

Such challenges range from shortages of potable water, classrooms and decent housing, to malnutrition, child exploitation and natural disasters that are compounded by poverty.

Sponsorship funds are invested into development projects that benefit entire communities. They also contribute to the specific well-being of sponsored children and their families who are encouraged and enabled to become self-sufficient and productive in the future.

Nearly 700,000 children in Latin America and the Caribbean are currently sponsored by individual donors throughout the world. World Vision designs and carries out its sponsorship programmes in close collaboration with local partners including churches, government departments and other non-governmental organizations. World Vision also works with local leaders, youth groups and other representatives to identify specific concerns and needs within poorest communities, and develop projects that respond to them on a prioritized basis. Such projects typically encompass:

• health care (including the training of midwives, improving nutrition, preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS, prenatal care and primary health care)

• water and sanitation;

• education;

• promotion of justice (with a focus on child and human rights);

• formation of spiritual values and vocational skills;

• micro-enterprise development;

• development of infrastructure (water, sanitation, housing, etc.)

• sustainable agriculture; and

• community organization and leadership development

How sponsorship works

Child sponsors initiate a relationship with a specific child, family and community through a monthly voluntary donation. The donation directly benefits the sponsored child and his or her family, as well as their community. This relationship allows sponsors to positively transform the lives of children and families in need, while being positively transformed themselves, through this relationship.

There are two approaches to child sponsorship. Individuals can sponsor children in Latin America and the Caribbean through a World Vision office in their own country, located in another part of the world. Or they may have the opportunity and interest to sponsor a child in their own country – as sponsors can currently choose to do in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and Mexico.

After about 10 years of sponsorship, on average, children, their families and communities are expected to have reached a targeted level of self-sufficiency. After carrying out a comprehensive evaluation of the community's capacity and well-being, World Vision is normally able to withdraw its direct support. Sponsors who have completed this transformational journey with World Vision may also choose to sponsor another child.

For more information on how to can sponsor a child in Latin America and the Caribbean, please visit any of the following World Vision web sites:

www.visionmundial.com - Costa Rica

www.worldvision.cl - Chile

www.visionmundial.org.mx - Mexico

www.visaomundial.org.br - Brazil

www.visionmundial.org.co - Colombia