Child Sponsorship Program - FAQs

Hope Force continues to focus on the community of Sous Savanne, Haiti, and the Child Sponsorship Program (CSP) is rapidly becoming a cornerstone of the work in the village. 

What are the immediate goals of the CSP?
We have approximately 100 high priority families we would like to see sponsored. Many of these families have a number of children. At the moment, we are looking for one child to get sponsored in each family -- essentially one sponsor per family. As the program grows, we hope to find additional sponsorship for multiple children in larger families. It is not uncommon to find families with eight to ten people in them; these families undoubtedly require more than one food portion through the program each month.  

Where is Sous Savanne?
It is about two hours from Port-au-Prince or 30 minutes from Leogane. Click here to see a map of the region.

How many families are you helping? 
Out of the 100 high priority families we have identified, we currently have 80 who are benefitting from the Child Sponsorship Program.

What does the sponsorship pledge of $29 cover?
At this time, the funds are broken down as follows:

• Food: 42%
• Health and sanitation: 24%
• Field support: 14%
• Program management: 20%

What do the families receive each month through their sponsored child? 
Each child receives rice, beans, maize (corn meal), cooking oil, soap, toilet paper and sugar, which benefits their whole family. Some sponsors have elected to give $40 instead of $29 each month and this enables us to double the food allowance to the beneficiary. The Child Sponsorship Program is also addressing healthcare, water and sanitation. For example, one deployment included a door-to-door cholera prevention campaign. Medical teams are also addressing Community Health Education and basic health needs in Sous Savanne and in surrounding communities. 

How can I communicate with my sponsored child? 
At this time, the mail system is virtually non-existent between Haiti and the United States, so we rely on deployment teams traveling to and from the country to carry correspondence. Once a person signs up as a sponsor, they will be notified of windows of time when they can write to their children and send pictures. The children also write back to their sponsors so sponsors can expect to hear from them several times a year. Our staff handles all of the translation. 

How do we know the children get the money? 
We have an in-country team and we have also worked with consultants from a partner agency with Sponsorship Program experience who were key players in helping us start our program.  As a result we have been able to establish a very good system for ensuring that the food is distributed to the correct families each month. Hope Force has completed extensive assessments of the village, creating detailed maps, dossiers on each family, food vouchers, and contracts for each benefiting family to sign. Hope Force also has a stable supplier for food each month ? and the team on the ground is very capable with the distribution each month. 

What is the duration of the Child Sponsorship Program?
We are asking each sponsor to make a one-year pledge to the program. 

I am unable to give $29 a month - can I still help? 
Our Child Sponsorship Program is a great way for families and churches to pitch in together. Why not find a friend or family member or church group who can collectively sponsor one child? 

Can I sponsor more than one child?
Absolutely! As our program grows, we are looking at more opportunities to sponsor more than one child per family.

How can I find out more?
Please contact children@hopeforce.org for questions or comments about the new Child Sponsorship Program. It's not much - $29 a month. Once we hear from you, our staff will connect you with one of the children in the program and send you a biographical profile along with photographs. You will have the opportunity to correspond with your sponsored child on a limited basis over the first year of the program. At the end of the year, we will be assessing the feasibility of an ongoing program and notify you at that time of the future direction we will be taking. Click here to see the Child Sponsorship Program video.