Compassion’s holistic child development model is designed to help the most vulnerable and marginalised children on our planet grow up to become thriving followers of Jesus who are positively influencing their world. Poverty is complex and has a devastating impact on every area of life. Compassion seeks to address the different dimensions of a child's development simultaneously, rather than applying a one-size-fits-all solution. Holistic child development takes an individual child through a process of growth and fulfilment in all dimensions by seeking to address their physical, social, emotional, spiritual and economic needs. It sees each aspect of a person in an integrated way and resists the common practice of treating one area of life as independent of the others.

Therefore, our programs are tailored to meet the specific needs of individual children through all stages of their development. Compassion sees holistic child development as a contextualised, long-term approach that begins before a child is born and continues through to school age and beyond. Our Child Sponsorship Program and Critical Needs work in partnership to provide holistic development to children living in poverty.

Find out more about:

• Our Child Sponsorship Program

• Critical Needs

• How Critical Needs works with Child Sponsorship