Providing Bridges Out of Poverty: GFA World’s Child Sponsorship Program

According to World Bank’s global director of poverty and equity, Carolina Sánchez-Páramo, “Extreme poverty deprives hundreds of millions of children of the opportunity to reach their potential, in terms of physical and cognitive development, and threatens their ability to get good jobs in adulthood.”1 These children typically inherit poverty, and its disadvantages, from their parents. To break out of what is often a generational cycle and have hope for a better future, these children need help. Fortunately, there are bridges out of poverty, such as GFA World’s Child Sponsorship Program.


Impoverished children struggle against various obstacles that stem from their poverty and threaten to keep them entrenched in it. They “often lack the food, sanitation, shelter, health care and education they need to survive and thrive,” says UNICEF.2

GFA World helps kids in need in places such as Asia and Africa by strengthening the child’s entire community. Living in the communities they serve, GFA missionaries, in partnership with local leaders, determine how to best meet the unique needs of each individual community. Through a community development approach, GFA World helps provide practical solutions like basic health care, food, clean water and educational and community service opportunities. The program, with its long-term, community-wide solutions, empowers children, their families and their entire communities to improve their lives in transformational ways.

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