Water and Sanitation

FAQs

• Can I give to Critical Needs if I do not sponsor a child?

  Yes, you can give to Critical Needs if you do not sponsor a child. Although Child Sponsorship remains our focus, Critical Needs is essential to overcoming obstacles for children living in poverty and your donation to Critical Needs will go towards helping thousands of children. Choose an area of need that you are most passionate about meeting, and then all you need to do is decide whether your donation is a once-only or a recurring gift. Thank you for your partnership to share a hope more powerful than poverty!

  You can:

  • Give to Critical Needs
  • Sponsor a child
• How does Critical Needs work with Child Sponsorship?

  Compassion's Child Sponsorship Program and Critical Needs work side-by-side to release children from the four forms of poverty: spiritual, socio-emotional, physical and economic. Together, they equip Compassion's local church partners with the resources to provide long-term, customised solutions for children, their families and communities.

  While the Child Sponsorship Program connects one child with one sponsor, Critical Needs giving is not directed to one child, but provides essential support to thousands of Compassion registered children when they need it most. You can choose to give to Critical Needs supporting children globally, or fund an entire project in a specific community. These projects are both reactive and proactive, and could include things such as water filters to provide safe water to a community, reconstruction of homes after natural disaster, or income generating activitites for adolescents and children's caregivers. Every child in Compassion's program will benefit from funding through Critical Needs at some point during their time with Compassion.

  You can:

  • Give to Critical Needs
  • Sponsor a child
• Can I sponsor a specific mother and child in Compassion Mums and Babies?

  While you can now sponsor a child from age one through Compassion's Child Sponsorship Program, we cannot offer one-to-one sponsorship of mums and babies before a child's first birthday. Compassion Mums and Babies provides urgent survival support for young families in crisis situations. In a child's first year of life, Compassion staff are focused on helping babies survive and families adjust to life with their new arrival. Once the critical first year is over, Compassion staff can turn their attention to child development and establishing the invaluable one-to-one sponsorship relationships that help children grow in confidence and have hope for their future.

  Donations of any amount to Compassion Mums and Babies are graciously received. You will be providing young families with critical support during the vulnerable prenatal months and first year of life.

  Alternatively, Compassion's Child Sponsorship Program is specifically designed for one-to-one sponsorship, offering children and sponsors the opportunity to benefit from a two-way relationship.

  You can:

  • Give to Mums and Babies
  • Sponsor a child
  • Learn more about the Child Sponsorship Program
• What is Compassion's Highly Vulnerable Children fund?

  Compassion's Highly Vulnerable Children fund offers a lifeline to children in Compassion's programs facing unthinkable hardship and living in high-risk situations.

  This includes: children who have been orphaned (or youth-headed households), children whose primary caregiver is incapacitated, children who have suffered abuse or exploitation, and children with special needs.

  Together with the local church, Compassion identifies children in highly vulnerable situations and provide them with specialised care and assistance to ensure they are stabilised and can continue to participate in Compassion's program.

  Examples of help given to these children can include: immediate housing arrangements, trauma counselling, nutritional support and provision of every day needs, legal assistance and renovations to structures and shelters.

  The Highly Vulnerable Children fund goes beyond the response of sponsorship to ensure children are kept safe and continue to be given opportunities to grow and develop without facing immediate risks to their safety and well-being.

• What is Critical Needs?

  The effects of poverty are devastating and affect every area of a child's life. Compassion's Child Sponsorship Program sets the foundation for life-changing opportunities for every registered child. But every child will, at some point, require help beyond sponsorship's reach.

  Critical Needs provides the additional support necessary for Compassion assisted children to be released from poverty in Jesus' name. Through Critical Needs, supporters like you who are passionate about particular issues, such as safe water, or caring for mothers and babies, can help children most in need worldwide, or support specific projects in vulnerable communities. There are nine Critical Needs areas that you can choose to support, each area addressing an essential aspect of a child's health and development.  

  The nine Critical Needs are:

  • Water and Sanitation
  • Mums and Babies
  • Health
  • Education and Training
  • Infrastructure
  • Highly Vulnerable Children
  • Income Generation
  • Disaster Relief
  • Where Most Needed

  Because we believe that poverty is best addressed through the transformation of the individual child, Critical Needs provides support alongside Compassion's Child Sponsorship Program, not as stand-alone community development activities.