Our Approach to Ministry
Children Have a Voice
We listen to the children in our care. At the core of our program is a system for feedback we call the Voice of Youth. Starting at age 11, the children we serve get to share their experience with our poverty relief program through an anonymous survey.
Our Child Champions use the children’s feedback to adjust the program. We gather feedback on diverse topics, including conflict resolution, feeling seen and known, and the effectiveness of activities and programs at Hope Centers aiming to break the cycle of poverty.
Hope Centers’ Stories From Child Champions
“For the children at our Hope Center, it was a fun learning time as the questions were interesting and also because they were given an opportunity to express how they feel being part of the sponsorship program in our hope centers.”
“Taking part in the survey made the children feel that they are cared for and that their voice is important and is being heard. With these surveys, the children develop confidence and self-assurance, and it also helps us immensely in understanding the impact we have in every individual child’s life.”
We Mobilize Local Resources
We believe local challenges are best solved by local leaders. On an international scale, our local staff identify and establish partnerships with ministries and organizations that already exist in each community, including churches and schools. In order to qualify as a partner, organizations must demonstrate their commitment to family and child engagement, committed leadership, and a focus on holistic child development programs.
We Create Sustainable Programs
We partner with existing organizations that share our vision, mobilize resources, and encourage community participation and responsibility. Ultimately, it means we have a global child poverty relief program that is sustainable and deeply impactful for the children, their families, and the community we champion. Our Hope Centers are established in these partners’ churches and schools, and our local partners make decisions about what children learn, the materials they use, and the activities in which they participate.
We Offer Individualized Care
Local partners in our global community help identify and recruit staff and Child Champions within the community so that each child is given individual care, support and attention. Our Child Champions visit each child and meet with their parents or caregivers to assess learning and growth challenges, provide health and hygiene screenings, and determine individualized programmatic interventions and care. Every child in our program is known, loved and cared for by a well-qualified adult.
We Seek Self-Sufficiency
Our shared goal is to establish Hope Centers in communities that are entirely supported and run by local partners and staff. However, transformational and sustainable development takes intentionality and time. We created and use a Partnership Development and Maturation Model that consists of four stages:
- Envisioning: OneChild staff assess the potential of a partner to establish shared vision, mission and passion for transformational aid.
- Emerging: OneChild staff and the local partner start the process of launching and opening a new Hope Center with a small number of impoverished children.
- Thriving: Once the Hope Center has implemented consistent, effective programming, the Child Champions there are given the opportunity to grow and register more children for maximum community development.
- Reproducing: Local partners who have shown a commitment to excellent programming are encouraged to replicate and train other local churches, schools and communities. A reproducing Hope Center continues to serve children in their community without OneChild support which effectively creates generational change.
