Sponsor an African Child!

People who sponsor a child in Africa understand one important point: that the most effective way to help has proven to be community sponsorship not big government to government aid grants or political rallies.

Most people seem to have learned that big aid grants to governments generate corruption, and that political intervention often produces unforeseen negative results. Over the last fifty years or so, the economic and political situation of most of the world has been steadily improving, but Africa has been getting worse.

SOS Children's results in Africa over the last forty years have been impressive. We must not forget in amongst all the political hype that there are real people like us suffering serious hardship. In Africa (as elsewhere) SOS Children has a core policy of "deep local rooting". This means in the 44 African countries where we operate we have a well established local association who partner with other local organisations to change children's lives. The main way of helping is to give children a childhood, either by carefully supporting families on the brink of collapse (for example where the breadwinner has died of AIDS) and or as a last resort giving children a new family in a children's village. But deep local rooting means that that local associations can highlight other specific community needs, and we run 89 schools in Africa), many hospitals (for example the only obstetrics hospital in Somalia, since maternal death at childbirth causes street orphans), micro-finance schemes and so on. SOS Children have been "tracking footprints" looking at "outcomes" of how African children do when they set out on their own. The results are impressive.

Childhood in Africa

Although 90% of the children SOS gives a chance of childhood to in Africa are living in the community in fragile and fragmented families, you cannot sponsor those children. There are all sorts of reasons for this which may occur to you. It is only possible to sponsor children who are actually living in an SOS Children's Village. The funds from their sponsorship primarily pays for the child's home, family, food, clothes and education but is managed as a pooled fund which is also used for children in the nearby community. It is possible to make additional contributions into a savings account just for that child. It is better to pool funding, it would be bureaucratic when the Village has a vegetable allotment to work out who ate what. The children themselves care about those around them and we often see comments in "letters to Santa" and so on wanting to help those near.

Choosing where to sponsor a child in Africa

This is a list of current locations where sponsorship is available. Locations marked "Stop" are currently nearly fully sponsored. Locations marked project are where SOS Children is working but has not started a sponsorship programme. If you just put "Africa" on the instructions when you sponsor we will choose whereever the need it greatest. For more information on the locations concerned please see the Africa Sponsorship Directory.

Benin SOS Children Village ABOMEY-CALAVI PUSH
Benin SOS Children Village DASSA-ZOUME
Benin SOS Children Village NATITINGOU
Botswana SOS Children Village FRANCISTOWN
Botswana SOS Children Village SEROWE close to STOP
Botswana SOS Children Village TLOKWENG STOP
Burkina Faso SOS Children Village DAFRA STOP
Burkina Faso SOS Children Village OUAGADOUGOU STOP
Burundi SOS Children Village BUJUMBURA PUSH
Burundi SOS Children Village CIBITOKE PROJECT BI Burundi SOS Children Village GITEGA
Burundi SOS Children Village MUYINGA
Burundi SOS Children Village RUTANA
Cameroon SOS Children Village DOUALA NEW
Cameroon SOS Children Village MBALMAYO PUSH
SOS Children Village Cape Verde SOS Children Village ASSOMADA STOP
SOS Children Village Cape Verde SOS Children Village SAO DOMINGOS
Central Afr.Rep SOS Children Village BANGUI PUSH
Central Afr.Rep SOS Children Village BOUAR PROJECT
Chad SOS Children Village NDJAMENA
Congo, Dem.Rep. SOS Children Village BUKAVU PUSH
Congo, Dem.Rep. SOS Children Village KINSHASA PROJECT
Congo, Dem.Rep. SOS Children Village UVIRA PUSH
Côte d'Ivoire SOS Children Village ABOBO-GARE
Côte d'Ivoire SOS Children Village ABOISSO
Equator. Guinea SOS Children Village BATA PUSH
Ethiopia SOS Children Village ADDIS ABEBA
Ethiopia SOS Children Village AWASSA
Ethiopia SOS Children Village BAHIR DAR
Ethiopia SOS Children Village GODE
Ethiopia SOS Children Village HARRAR
Ethiopia SOS Children Village MAKALLE
Gambia SOS Children Village BAKOTEH PUSH @
Gambia SOS Children Village BASSE
Ghana SOS Children Village ASIAKWA
Ghana SOS Children Village KUMASI PROJECT
Ghana SOS Children Village TAMALE PROJECT
Ghana SOS Children Village TEMA PUSH
Guinea SOS Children Village CONAKRY PUSH
Guinea SOS Children Village KANKAN
Guinea SOS Children Village N'ZEREKORE
Guinea-Bissau SOS Children Village BISSAU PUSH
Guinea-Bissau SOS Children Village CANCHUNGO
Guinea-Bissau SOS Children Village GABU
Kenya SOS Children Village MERU close to STOP
Kenya SOS Children Village MOMBASA PUSH
Kenya SOS Children Village NAIROBI PUSH
Lesotho SOS Children Village MASERU PUSH
Lesotho SOS Children Village QUTHING PROJECT
Liberia SOS Children Village JUAH TOWN
Liberia SOS Children Village MONROVIA PUSH
Madagascar SOS Children Village ANTSIRABE
Madagascar SOS Children Village MANGARANO
Madagascar SOS Children Village VONTOVORONA
Malawi SOS Children Village BLANTYRE
Malawi SOS Children Village LILONGWE
Malawi SOS Children Village MZUZU
Mali SOS Children Village SANANKOROBA
Mali SOS Children Village SOCOURA
Mauritius SOS Children Village BAMBOUS
Mauritius SOS Children Village BEAU BASSIN
Morocco SOS Children Village AIT OURIR
Morocco SOS Children Village DAR BOUAZZA PUSH
Morocco SOS Children Village EL JADIDA
Morocco SOS Children Village IMZOUREN
Mozambique SOS Children Village INHAMBANE NEW
Mozambique SOS Children Village MAPUTO
Mozambique SOS Children Village PEMBA
Mozambique SOS Children Village TETE
Namibia SOS Children Village TSUMEB
Namibia SOS Children Village WINDHOEK
Niger SOS Children Village NIAMEY
Niger SOS Children Village TAHOUA NEW
Nigeria SOS Children Village GWAGWALADA PUSH
Nigeria SOS Children Village ISOLO PUSH
Nigeria SOS Children Village JOS PROJECT
Nigeria SOS Children Village OWU-IJEBU
Rwanda SOS Children Village BYUMBA
Rwanda SOS Children Village GIKONGORO
Rwanda SOS Children Village KIGALI PUSH
Senegal SOS Children Village DAKAR
Senegal SOS Children Village KAOLACK PUSH
Senegal SOS Children Village LOUGA
Senegal SOS Children Village ZIGUINCHOR
Sierra Leone SOS Children Village BO close to STOP
Sierra Leone SOS Children Village FREETOWN
Sierra Leone SOS Children Village MAKENI close to STOP
Somalia SOS Children Village MOGADISHU STOP
Somaliland SL SHEIKH SS PUSH
South Africa SOS Children Village CAPE TOWN
South Africa SOS Children Village ENNERDALE
South Africa SOS Children Village MAMELODI PUSH
South Africa SOS Children Village MTHATHA @
South Africa SOS Children Village NELSPRUIT
South Africa SOS Children Village PIETERMARITZBURG PUSH
South Africa SOS Children Village PORT ELIZABETH
South Africa SOS Children Village RUSTENBURG
Sudan SOS Children Village KHARTOUM
Sudan SOS Children Village MALAKAL
Swaziland SOS Children Village MBABANE PUSH
Swaziland SOS Children Village NHLANGANO
Swaziland
Tanzania SOS Children Village ARUSHA
Tanzania SOS Children Village DAR ES SALAAM
Tanzania SOS Children Village ZANZIBAR
Togo SOS Children Village KARA PUSH
Togo SOS Children Village LOME
Tunisia SOS Children Village GAMMARTH
Tunisia SOS Children Village MAHRES
Tunisia SOS Children Village SILIANA
Uganda SOS Children Village ENTEBBE
Uganda SOS Children Village GULU PROJECT
Uganda SOS Children Village KAKIRI
Zambia SOS Children Village KITWE
Zambia SOS Children Village LIVINGSTONE
Zambia SOS Children Village LUSAKA
Zimbabwe SOS Children Village BINDURA
Zimbabwe SOS Children Village BULAWAYO
Zimbabwe SOS Children Village WATERFALLS