This House Would sponsor children in developing countries. (Junior)

Over the years $30 a month, or perhaps even more, adds up to thousands of dollars’ worth of aid spending - this is different to other forms of charity because the main focus here is on “long-term changes"[2]. Unlike a one-off donation, this method of giving ensures that poor people get support for a long time without costing people too much in one go. It also ensures that people keep giving to these needy causes, and makes people realise that they can afford to make a difference.

The long term nature of sponsorship implies that it does not fix the problems that cause poverty. Instead, many argue it can create dependency[3], meaning that the child and family will come to rely on their sponsor. This may discourage them from using their own efforts to escape poverty. For example, even if leaving their village to find work elsewhere could be best for them, they may stay where they are to keep receiving the sponsorship money and other benefits. By linking a single child to a single wealthy (rich) person it also creates a situation in which it is easy for the child to compare their own lives with those of their sponsors. This could make them unhappy or even jealous [4]. In the end it is still possible to help children through charitable giving, but sponsorship schemes create a more complicated relationship that could sometimes go wrong.

Personal letters, charity reports, photographs and even visits help to build a bridge between the developed and developing world[5]. More and more people are able to talk to each other around the world, and it is important that less fortunate people in poor countries are connected to the rest of us and have the opportunity to communicate with us. Sponsorship creates a personal connection - the children get to learn about their sponsors and the sponsors get to learn how their money helps people. This continued attention to the positive effects of sponsorship is really important to help poorer countries, especially at a time when worldwide economics are in trouble and charities are most at risk from begin forgotten [6].

Whilst it is important for people to remember the terrible troubles people have surviving in very poor countries, we must also remember that direct sponsorship is perhaps not the best way to help people out of poverty - there are a lot of downsides [7]. Would it not be better to hear of how an entire community was improved rather than just a single child or family? Ultimately you can’t force people to give to charity, and at times like these when even in wealthy countries people have trouble getting enough money it must be expected that charitable giving will drop.

This includes drinking water, food, education, medical care, shelter and sanitation - often charitable donations are more specific (they only provide for one of these aspects of life). By putting children at the heart of charity programs it is hoped that a stronger foundation will be made for the future - the young people who are helped today can maintain a better lifestyle in the future [8]. Giving all this to an individual child also produces more tangible results than giving to a vast organisation, whose work is can often over-ambitious and more open to corruption [9].

The problem once with this form of giving is that it only provides for a single child, not an entire community - this is why many organisations refuse to offer single child adoption, and instead spend the money they receive on developing poor places for everyone that lives there [10]. By sponsoring a child rather than giving the money directly to a cause or organisation you add a layer of uncertainty to the process – you can't be sure exactly how your money is being spent, or if it really is being used to help all aspects of life. Some organisations only work through missionaries and churches [11]. Although giving to a single child may produce more tangible and immediate results, the work done by large charity organisations is likely to have more important long term benefits to many more people.

Unlike most other forms of charity, sponsorship creates a direct link between the person giving money and the person receiving it. People are able to see the ways in which their money is helping others, and this makes them feel good about it – as World Vision International says - “You get to see and feel the difference your support makes" [12]. Although this is probably not the best reason for people to give their money to those in need, practically speaking (in the real world) it is one of the most effective (it works very well) in encouraging people to give.

People should not need this kind of “feel good factor” in order to give to charity – it is very selfish. People all over the world need help from richer people, and instead of helping just one they have the ability to help many. By focusing in on one single example, people may also get a very narrow view of life in poorer countries – they may feel that the developing world can't look after itself and as a result won't support very important changes to things like government that could actually help the people more than their sponsorship. The “personal connection” is also sometimes made up by the charity organisations, who translate and edit letters sent between the rich and poor to make sure they do not get too emotionally attached to one another [13].

Over the years $30 a month, or perhaps even more, adds up to thousands of dollars’ worth of aid spending - this is different to other forms of charity because the main focus here is on “long-term changes"[2]. Unlike a one-off donation, this method of giving ensures that poor people get support for a long time without costing people too much in one go. It also ensures that people keep giving to these needy causes, and makes people realise that they can afford to make a difference.

The long term nature of sponsorship implies that it does not fix the problems that cause poverty. Instead, many argue it can create dependency[3], meaning that the child and family will come to rely on their sponsor. This may discourage them from using their own efforts to escape poverty. For example, even if leaving their village to find work elsewhere could be best for them, they may stay where they are to keep receiving the sponsorship money and other benefits. By linking a single child to a single wealthy (rich) person it also creates a situation in which it is easy for the child to compare their own lives with those of their sponsors. This could make them unhappy or even jealous [4]. In the end it is still possible to help children through charitable giving, but sponsorship schemes create a more complicated relationship that could sometimes go wrong.

Personal letters, charity reports, photographs and even visits help to build a bridge between the developed and developing world[5]. More and more people are able to talk to each other around the world, and it is important that less fortunate people in poor countries are connected to the rest of us and have the opportunity to communicate with us. Sponsorship creates a personal connection - the children get to learn about their sponsors and the sponsors get to learn how their money helps people. This continued attention to the positive effects of sponsorship is really important to help poorer countries, especially at a time when worldwide economics are in trouble and charities are most at risk from begin forgotten [6].

Whilst it is important for people to remember the terrible troubles people have surviving in very poor countries, we must also remember that direct sponsorship is perhaps not the best way to help people out of poverty - there are a lot of downsides [7]. Would it not be better to hear of how an entire community was improved rather than just a single child or family? Ultimately you can’t force people to give to charity, and at times like these when even in wealthy countries people have trouble getting enough money it must be expected that charitable giving will drop.

This includes drinking water, food, education, medical care, shelter and sanitation - often charitable donations are more specific (they only provide for one of these aspects of life). By putting children at the heart of charity programs it is hoped that a stronger foundation will be made for the future - the young people who are helped today can maintain a better lifestyle in the future [8]. Giving all this to an individual child also produces more tangible results than giving to a vast organisation, whose work is can often over-ambitious and more open to corruption [9].

The problem once with this form of giving is that it only provides for a single child, not an entire community - this is why many organisations refuse to offer single child adoption, and instead spend the money they receive on developing poor places for everyone that lives there [10]. By sponsoring a child rather than giving the money directly to a cause or organisation you add a layer of uncertainty to the process – you can't be sure exactly how your money is being spent, or if it really is being used to help all aspects of life. Some organisations only work through missionaries and churches [11]. Although giving to a single child may produce more tangible and immediate results, the work done by large charity organisations is likely to have more important long term benefits to many more people.

Unlike most other forms of charity, sponsorship creates a direct link between the person giving money and the person receiving it. People are able to see the ways in which their money is helping others, and this makes them feel good about it – as World Vision International says - “You get to see and feel the difference your support makes" [12]. Although this is probably not the best reason for people to give their money to those in need, practically speaking (in the real world) it is one of the most effective (it works very well) in encouraging people to give.

People should not need this kind of “feel good factor” in order to give to charity – it is very selfish. People all over the world need help from richer people, and instead of helping just one they have the ability to help many. By focusing in on one single example, people may also get a very narrow view of life in poorer countries – they may feel that the developing world can't look after itself and as a result won't support very important changes to things like government that could actually help the people more than their sponsorship. The “personal connection” is also sometimes made up by the charity organisations, who translate and edit letters sent between the rich and poor to make sure they do not get too emotionally attached to one another [13].

Sponsoring a child is a costly way to do good. More of the money given is taken up with administration (organising) compared to other ways of helping poor people, and although the cost of this administration varies greatly but often as much as 20% of the money donated does not reach the people who need it, and some of that loss is through high executive salaries. [14] For example, keeping track of each child and family needs time from an aid worker, who has to be paid. Organising and sending letters, photographs, school reports, etc. to the donor takes time and money. Translating letters and reports between both donor and child can be particularly costly. Giving the same amount of money to an aid charity would do much more for poor people.

Stories about ridiculous administration costs are not only rare but are often untrue. For example, in the case of one of the largest sponsorship organisations - World Vision - “Of the funds given in 2010, 81.1 per cent went directly into programs that help children, 13.9 per cent went to fundraising services, 5.0 per cent was allocated to administration". Charities are not out to rip people off, their aim is to give money to people who need it most. There are always going to be some administration costs in any organisations, and even if those charities who offer child sponsorships have higher costs than others, the positive long term effects of this giving are far more important. Often it may be a choice between giving a sponsorship and not giving anything at all - helping some people is surely better than helping no-one at all.

There are better ways to help people. Helping single children, or even villages, treats the symptoms of poverty - it makes life better for a small minority. It does little to address the actual causes of poverty such as war, unclean water, bad government, HIV/AIDS, unfair world trade rules, etc. As these statistics show the problems of poverty and disease are truly massive in scale, and even if many thousands are helped by sponsorship schemes, many millions more are still left with nothing. If we really want to help lift people out of poverty for good, we should give to charities which focus on these bigger development issues - for example Christian Aid believes that “it is better to help whole communities through our partner organisations rather than sponsor individuals" [16]. We should also join campaigns to make rich world governments do more to help the developing world by increasing spending on aid [17], forgiving debt, and making the global trade rules fairer for developing countries.

Many of the organisations that run child sponsorship schemes are dedicated to improving all of these aspects of life – indeed the way in which these schemes focus on the improvement of a specific area or community make it perhaps a more complete way of giving money to the poor. Charities can hardly be expected to incite political change or cure deadly diseases instead of helping those who are sick. More than eight million children around the world are sponsored by Western sponsors [18] - giving this large number of children the basis for a good future and the possibility of them learning enough to get themselves and their future families out of poverty is surely a good enough reason to encourage the sponsoring of children to build for a better future alongside other charity projects.

Some schemes have a clear cultural and religious motive – a desire to give aid in such a way that it will affect and even impose (force) foreign ideas onto a vulnerable (weaker) society. Any organisation that has such a clear overlap between their own ideas of faith [19] and the practical side of helping people is ultimately imposing its ideas onto people without giving them any choice in the matter. Families may even come to think that they have to show belief in order to keep receiving sponsorship. For example, sponsored children may be encouraged to send cards at Christmas, even if they are not Christians. At the end of the day this comes down to a very serious question of choice – many would argue that by offering aid with the intention of turning children into adult Christians [20], organisations like “Compassion” are effectively manipulating charity into part of a conversion campaign.

In an ideal world it would be easy to say that charities should not try to change the religions and cultures of poor people, but given the dire nature of the situation for the poorest people in the world, surely we do not have the luxury to argue over what ideas should or should not be given to these people. Is it not better that they survive as Christians rather than die from hunger and disease? Religion provides the incentive many people need to think about giving money to charity. We must also consider that only a minority of organisations seek to change the people they help in this way – there is a lot of choice out there for people who don't want to impose cultural change [21] so this does not work as an argument against the idea of child sponsorship as a whole.