The results of the study show that children who participated in Compassion's holistic Child Sponsorship Program stayed in school longer, were more likely to have salaried employment and were more likely to be leaders in their communities and churches than their peers who did not participate in Compassion's program.
Compassion Australia CEO Tim Hanna says:
"I'm very excited about the results of this research. We have known for many years that Compassion child sponsorship is making a deep and lasting difference in the lives of individual childrenâ€"now we have world-class independent research to support this."
The researchâ€"carried out from June 2008 to August 2010â€"was conducted by Dr Bruce Wydick and a team of researchers from the University of San Francisco, University of Minnesota and University of Washington.
The research focused on six nations (Bolivia, Guatemala, India, Kenya, the Philippines and Uganda) and involved studying more than 10,000 people, including 1860 adults who were registered in Compassion's Child Sponsorship Program during between 1980 and 1992.
Compassion's Child Sponsorship Program was also identified as a "great equaliser", meaning that the program levels the playing field for children seeking an education in the developing world. In countries where there was a greater need or where children face greater obstacles to achieving an education, Compassion tends to have to have a greater impact.
Compassion International's Program Effectiveness Research Director, Alistair Sim says:
"Compassion places great value on measuring program effectiveness and transparency, so we appreciated the opportunity to have our Child Sponsorship Program independently and robustly evaluated. The research conducted by Dr Bruce Wydick and his team provided Compassion with the opportunity to have the long-term impact of the Child Sponsorship Program on individual children measured. These results will help guide our ongoing internal research and program developments into the future."
About Compassion Australia
Compassion Australia is part of a global network of both funding countries and 26 developing countries that is Compassion International. Together we are a Christian holistic child development and child advocacy ministry committed to working in partnership with local churches to foster the spiritual, economic, social, physical and emotional development of children living in extreme poverty.
About Dr Bruce Wydick
Dr Bruce Wydick is Professor of Economics and International Studies at the University of San Francisco. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley in 1996, studying under 2001 Economics Nobel laureate George Akerlof. Professor Wydick teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in development economics, international economics, microeconomics and game theory. He currently serves as co-director of the master's program in International and Development Economics and is active in both research and development-practitioner work in western Guatemala. Wydick has served as a consultant and collaborator with the World Bank as well as faith-based development organisations including Compassion International, World Relief and Opportunity International.
About Dr Alistair Sim
Prior to joining the Program Division of Compassion five years ago, Alistair was a full time academic and Assistant Dean for Research in the Faculty of Health, The University of Newcastle, NSW, where he still holds a conjoint Professorship. During that time Alistair published over 60 peer reviewed papers in biomedical science and health research and in medical education, jointly developed three medical patents, sat on numerous national and international medical research grant review committees and was a review editor for The Biochemical Journal. As a sponsor of several Compassion-supported children, Alistair was interested for many years in the degree to which the programs achieved their desired outcomes and was ultimately given the opportunity by Compassion to be responsible for finding the answers. Now as Director of Compassion International's Program Effectiveness Research, Alistair is responsible for managing numerous internal and external research studies into the outcomes and impact of Compassion's Child Sponsorship Program and other Compassion programs.