The Power of Local Partnership
Local people always know their own communities best.
Our success is built on strong partnerships with local organizations. These partners bring invaluable insights and connections, enabling us to tailor our programs to the specific needs of each community.
We begin work in a community by selecting a local grassroots organization that supports children in its vicinity. We then provide funding, guidance and resources for that local partner and enroll children who need extra support in our programs. All enrolled children are eligible for sponsorship, in which they are matched one-to-one with a caring person from somewhere in the world who makes a monthly donation to support their community and can also write letters of encouragement, send financial gifts for special occasions and become a lifelong friend and source of support. Contributions from these generous sponsors support the programs that all enrolled children, whether sponsored or not, have access to.
In addition to sponsorship, we also implement various grant-funded projects in the communities where we work.
Why local partners?
Together, ChildFund, its local partners and the children and families we work with are cocreating societies that recognize children’s worth, protect their rights and nurture their potential. Because local people know their own communities best. Families know their own dynamics best. And children know what it’s like to be them better than anyone.
Through local partner organizations, we have a more direct relationship with children and communities that are experiencing poverty and other challenges, as well as the governments that serve them.
Strong, well-established local partners understand their communities and work with them to identify priority issues to address through programs that they tailor to local needs.
Given their roots in the community, local partners can promote stronger local decision making and have a greater effect on the local power base. They are also best positioned to check up on the children on a regular basis: Every six months, local partners make sure each enrolled child is still living in the community and participating in our programs, and check on their health and education status.
Local partners can more ably sustain efforts to support kids’ well-being over successive generations, long after ChildFund’s financial commitments to them end.
Working through local partners allows us to share resources for maximum impact in kids’ lives.
“Baragoi is one of the places in Kenya where many NGOs have feared to go because of the perpetual incidences of insecurity. But ChildFund dared to come here and work with us. That was back in 1975. And they continue to walk this journey with us today, touching the lives of so many children and families. This partnership has shown us that when we unite for a common cause, our impact multiplies, and no challenge is too great.”
~ DAVID DADIO, CEO, SAMBURU CHILDREN’S PROGRAM