Everyone with a moral compass agrees that poverty is bad. Many additionally argue that we have a moral obligation to end it. Jesus certainly points us in that direction. The key question is: how? What is the best way to help the poor?
Over the last thirty years, international child sponsorship has become one of many people’s favorite strategy. Large organizations such as Compassion International, World Vision and Save the Children and smaller organizations such as Life Builders, New Hope Intl, I.N. Network and HBI, annually funnel $5B per year toward 9 million sponsored children. Does it work? Is this an effective way to fight poverty?
I have assumed it does. Indeed, Sheri and I have not only sponsored a dozen children over the years, I’ve been a spokesman for one of the main groups, challenging people to give up a cup of coffee every day in order to feed, clothe, educate and evangelize a child.
But does it really work? Until recently we did not know for sure. Now we do. University of San Francisco economist Bruce Wydick just published the result of his team’s investigation into Compassion International. They studied the effects of child sponsorship in Bolivia, Guatemala, India, the Philippines, Kenya, and Uganda. The results? Child sponsorship proved to have a statistically significant impact in several areas.
- Sponsored children are more educated than their unsponsored siblings, neighbors, and peers from the same communities. (They are 27-40 percent more likely to complete secondary school and 50-80 percent more likely to obtain a university degree.)
- In areas where the education levels are lowest (such as sub-Saharan Africa) the impact of child sponsorship is the greatest. Similarly, in areas where boys have higher levels of education than girls the impact was greater among girls, and vice versa.
- When sponsored children finish school, they are 14-18 percent more likely to be hired for a salaried job, and they are 35 percent more likely to get a white-collar job. Many sponsored children decide to become teachers, and others take on different leadership positions in the community or in the church.
- Additionally, sponsored children were measurably more hopeful than their unsponsored siblings and neighbors. This hope is seen in higher levels of self-worth, more ambitious goals and greater aspirations. In short, sponsored children believe that they can change their own future – and the evidence shows that they do.
Can a small investment each month really make a difference? Yes. It’s an effective way of breaking the cycle of generational poverty in the poorest countries around the world. It’s not the only way, but it’s an effective way. Sponsor a child.