A personal reflection on sponsorship

Manuel Manuel, the Sponsorship Grants Support Manager of Plan Sudan, shares his views on child sponsorship from the perspective of someone working in the field.

The following is from an internal communication Manuel sent to Plan staff in the U.S. office and other offices describing his feelings about child sponsorship and his commitment to building relationships.

Greetings from Khartoum! We in the field continue to strive for excellence in sponsorship program in order to achieve meaningful relationships between our children, families, communities, sponsors and supporters.

We remain inspired by the fact that throughout our history, we have been a living organization, connecting people and creating relationships through a vibrant sponsorship program.

We shall ensure that through active, accurate, timely, creative and innovative communications with our sponsors and supporters, we will continue to strengthen the linkage and relationships. In doing so, we shall ever remain closer to our children, families, and communities as our communications reach out to everyone, including our sponsors and supporters.

As we work with communities, our efforts to build relationships go beyond the spectrum of the one-to-one relationship of sponsors with children and families to include the government, local institutions, civil society and other organizations. We realize that it is their trust of, and relationships with, Plan (more than our financial support) that communities and other partners respect, appreciate and acknowledge.

In this regard, key to achieving our mission is the contribution from communities and other local actors of their time, knowledge, skills, and human and other resources.

We believe that sponsorship provides children the opportunity to realize their full potential, thereby take charge of their life to lead their own communities and societies as young citizens and future leaders.

The value of this opportunity is never diminished in the understanding of our staff, volunteers, families, community leaders, partners and above all the children themselves.

We shall continue our efforts.

Child sponsorship is the best way to help children, families and communities build a future free from poverty. Sponsor a child today!