Why We Don't Want You To Sponsor A Child Forever

Baptist World Aid’s Child and Youth programs are shaped by a three-phased approach—the last of which involves us handing programs over to the community and . . . leaving. Yes, leaving.

We share a goal with our Partners to equip communities with the skills, resources, and confidence to lead their own transformation and growth—without us.

Working In Partnership

Every Child and Youth program begins with listening. Our Partners don’t arrive in communities with ready-made plans. Instead, they sit down with local leaders, children, youth and their families to understand what their community sees as their greatest challenges and hopes for the future.

The Phases Of Change

This phased approach to child and youth programming is understood in the aid and development sector as ‘best-practice community development.’ It’s designed to be sustainable, locally owned and led, and impact driven.

Here’s how it works:

Before We Begin: Listening, Learning, Co-Creating Solutions

Before anything starts, our Partners gather information and talk with communities to understand their priorities. This is about building trust and ensuring the program reflects local realities.

During this time, an external consultant conducts a baseline assessment of the community’s strengths, needs, and resources—including consulting focus groups across the community. This means program design and priority decisions are based on good data.

Together with children, youth, and community leaders, our Partners co-design a program that addresses the challenges they themselves have identified. This collaborative process ensures ownership from day one.

Phase One: Laying Foundations

For approximately three years, our Partners work to help communities strengthen local groups, build capacity, and begin a variety of development activities that improve children’s lives. This phase is about setting strong roots for long-term change.

Phase Two: Growing Capacity

Programs run at full steam for around three years. Communities take on more leadership of groups as community members become more confident, and capable of running development activities, and preparation for handover begins. By now, local structures are strong and active facilitating all kinds of activities including Self Help and Savings Groups, Child and Youth Clubs, livelihood and agricultural training and much more depending on the program’s design.

Phase Three: Passing It On

Across these three years (approximately), our Partners step back as communities take full ownership of programs, groups and activities. Child and Youth Partners graduate from the Child Sponsorship program, and long-term sustainability becomes the focus. Our role, and the role of our Partners shifts from doing to supporting. And your role as a Sponsor shifts here too as you are given the opportunity to champion another child, their family and their community.

Why Follow This Approach?

This phased approach means your support as a Sponsor doesn’t just change lives today—it makes a deep and lasting investment that helps communities thrive for generations to come. By planning to leave from the very beginning, we ensure that transformation is not reliant on us and lasts long after we’re gone.

Your Role As A Sponsor

When you give, you’re supporting so much more than a child. You’re investing in a future where communities lead and are the real agents of change. What a privilege it is to know and walk alongside these communities—to help build futures not dependency.

Meredith Benson was the Communication Lead for Baptist World Aid Australia from 2020 to 2025.