International child sponsorship schemes have come under attack for perpetuating racist thinking, as an apology by a charity to thousands of children in Sri Lanka has sparked a debate over the money-raising schemes.
Plan International last week said that it had made “mistakes” in its exit from Sri Lanka last year, following criticism from donors and former employees that it had failed 20,000 vulnerable children in the country.
It apologized to sponsored children, as well as to communities and partners, some of whom felt that the organization had left “abruptly” and without sufficient communication.
The controversy has reignited debate over international child sponsorship schemes and whether, amid growing calls to decolonize aid, the benefits that they offer can outweigh the north-south power relations they re-enforce.
Carol Sherman, an independent humanitarian consultant who has held senior director roles in international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for two decades, said that the schemes perpetuate “racist and paternalistic thinking” similar to the “poverty porn” images of poor black children used by charities in the past.
“For years, we didn’t talk about the white gaze, myself included,” Sherman said. “Child sponsorship is a small part of decolonizing aid, but it’s a part NGOs need to change. It is a relic of the past.”
Sherman said that many large schemes have evolved to provide benefits to communities, not individuals, while others, such as World Vision, allow the child involvement in choosing a donor.
However, “tweaking” the model is not enough, she said.
“Many agencies have moved away from sponsors of individual children to sponsors of communities, but they are still using individual children to ‘sell’ to donors,” Sherman said.
“Donors stick a picture of a child on their fridge and think of them as ‘our child’. They are well intentioned, but the parents of that child can’t refuse the money because they are living in poverty,” Sherman added.
The schemes remain a popular and lucrative method of fundraising with international NGOs, and do not have the same restraints as, for example, government sources.
For example, Compassion International raised US$755 million from child sponsorship, three-quarters of its total income of US$1 billion last year.
In the same year, child sponsorship accounted for nearly one-third (US$27 million) of World Vision’s US$99 million income, while Plan International raised US$439 million — more than one-third of its US$1.11 billion income last year.
World Vision UK public engagement director Graham Newton said that, unlike other forms of funding, child sponsorship allows it to provide communities with long-term support of 10 to 15 years.
He said that 99 percent of staff in the 57 countries where 3 million children are sponsored are local.
“World Vision staff from these communities know what the issues are and what needs done,” Newton said. “It is led by the communities and gives them the opportunity to deliver change.”
The “chosen” initiative, introduced in 2019 to allow children to pick a sponsor, aims to give children more of a voice, build a meaningful relationship with sponsors, as well as offer donors “a window” into their lives.
Newton rebuts criticism that the scheme is paternalistic, saying: “The child sponsorship model is about how we truly give children a voice to achieve change in their communities.”
Plan International spokesperson said: “We are constantly evolving our sponsorship model, and the impact of COVID-19, digitization and decolonialization of aid has challenged us to accelerate this evolution process.”
Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg was deported from Israel yesterday, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, the day after the Israeli navy prevented her and a group of fellow pro-Palestinian activists from sailing to Gaza. Thunberg, 22, was put on a flight to France, the ministry said, adding that she would travel on to Sweden from there. Three other people who had been aboard the charity vessel also agreed to immediate repatriation. Eight other crew members are contesting their deportation order, Israeli rights group Adalah, which advised them, said in a statement. They are being held at a detention center ahead of a
A Chinese scientist was arrested while arriving in the US at Detroit airport, the second case in days involving the alleged smuggling of biological material, authorities said on Monday. The scientist is accused of shipping biological material months ago to staff at a laboratory at the University of Michigan. The FBI, in a court filing, described it as material related to certain worms and requires a government permit. “The guidelines for importing biological materials into the US for research purposes are stringent, but clear, and actions like this undermine the legitimate work of other visiting scholars,” said John Nowak, who leads field
‘THE RED LINE’: Colombian President Gustavo Petro promised a thorough probe into the attack on the senator, who had announced his presidential bid in March Colombian Senator Miguel Uribe Turbay, a possible candidate in the country’s presidential election next year, was shot and wounded at a campaign rally in Bogota on Saturday, authorities said. His conservative Democratic Center party released a statement calling it “an unacceptable act of violence.” The attack took place in a park in the Fontibon neighborhood when armed assailants shot him from behind, said the right-wing Democratic Center, which was the party of former Colombian president Alvaro Uribe. The men are not related. Images circulating on social media showed Uribe Turbay, 39, covered in blood being held by several people. The Santa Fe Foundation
NUCLEAR WARNING: Elites are carelessly fomenting fear and tensions between nuclear powers, perhaps because they have access to shelters, Tulsi Gabbard said After a trip to Hiroshima, US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on Tuesday warned that “warmongers” were pushing the world to the brink of nuclear war. Gabbard did not specify her concerns. Gabbard posted on social media a video of grisly footage from the world’s first nuclear attack and of her staring reflectively at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. On Aug. 6, 1945, the US obliterated Hiroshima, killing 140,000 people in the explosion and by the end of the year from the uranium bomb’s effects. Three days later, a US plane dropped a plutonium bomb on Nagasaki, leaving abut 74,000 people dead by the
RSS