A Typology of Child Sponsorship Activity

Abstract

Critique of international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) is often framed by comparisons of efficacy, accountability and transparency, culminating in broad conclusions about their legitimacy as change agents. For Fowler (2000, p.220) ‘The most important factor for NGDO [non-governmental development organization] credibility and legitimacy is demonstrating effective performance’. Mindful of this emphasis on performance and impact, the Bond Network (2006, p.6) emphasizes that the quality of an INGO’s work ‘…is primarily determined by the quality of its relationships with its intended beneficiaries’. Although Riddell (2008, p.307) has wisely cautioned against ‘drawing overall, general conclusions about the impact of different NGO development initiatives’ it is important to clarify the nature of specific approaches to helping children through Child Sponsorship (CS) rather than to assume that CS is much the same everywhere and similar today when compared to CS practice in the past. Mindful about ongoing critique of CS, this chapter seeks to position CS INGO interventions in a landscape of contested ideas and argues that informed critique of CS is best achieved through a typology of CS funded interventions.