Poverty exposes children to significant vulnerability in almost every area of their lives. Compassion’s holistic model of development aims to reduce this vulnerability felt by both children and their families through improved nutrition, physical and mental health, income generation support and education.

However, in times of crisis, like during the COVID-19 pandemic, more support is needed than what sponsorship alone can provide. The learning crisis for children in poverty is currently an urgent concern for our local church partners.

Before the pandemic, about 258 million children and youth were not attending school. This number has only been exacerbated by the effects of COVID-19. In many developing countries, teachers lacked the resources and training to adapt to remote learning while families in poverty often had no internet access—or sometimes even electricity—to allow their children to continue learning from home.

Handoko, the Compassion Indonesia Country Director, explains that “the reality is, we have lost a generation because of the impact of COVID-19 on education.”

UNESCO reports that if all adults received just two more years of schooling or completed secondary school, it would lift nearly 60 million people out of poverty. By donating to our 2022 End of Financial Year Appeal, you can help restore a generation through education.