Partnering with parents: A key to ending child hunger

Oanh, 9 with her mother from Vietnam
Tuesday, September 3, 2024

It’s hard to believe that in this modern world,  hunger remains the biggest threat to children today. Despite there being more than ENOUGH food in the world, children remain especially vulnerable to hunger because of their unique nutritional needs, developing bodies and reliance on others to be fed. That’s why partnering with parents is central to how child sponsorship works to tackle hunger globally. 

Here are four reasons why when you sponsor a child, you partner with parents:

  1. Parents are the most invested in their children’s health
    Featured programme: Go Baby Go

It goes without saying that no one cares more about a child’s health than their parents. They are the frontline caregivers and they understand their children's needs the best. When you sponsor a child, you empower parents with the knowledge and resources to support their child to grow up healthy. Programs like Go Baby Go (GBG) help parents and caregivers learn about nutrition, early childhood development, and other essential skills and parenting strategies through playgroups, training sessions and one-on-one support, helping to give kids a strong foundation from the very beginning.

2) Parents are children’s first line of defense against hunger

Featured programme: Community Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM)

Putting an end to malnutrition isn’t a quick fix - things like nutrition supplements can help a child get back on track, but really solving the problem happens at home. To do that, parents need to know how to recognise the warning signs of malnutrition and head it off at the pass. When you sponsor a child, you power programmes like Community Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM), which empower communities to act locally to detect and address malnutrition early on. Working through local health centres, children who are experiencing malnutrition visit the centre each week and are monitored, cared for, and given ready-to-use therapeutic food and medical treatment so that they can recover at home, rather than having to be admitted to a hospital or health facility. 

3) Parents will find a way wherever they can

Featured programme: PD Hearth and Savings for Transformation (S4T)

When resources are limited, knowing the best way to use what you’ve got can be a game-changer. Our PD Hearth programme helps parents and caregivers to learn from each other about how to help their children grow up healthy. Recognising that despite stark poverty and food scarcity, some caregivers find ways to raise well-nourished children, this programme brings people together and gives these caregivers the opportunity to share what they are doing differently with others. This can be anything from Vietnamese mothers collecting shrimp for their children while working in rice paddies to mothers in Democratic Republic of Congo feeding their children dried and powdered caterpillars in their porridge. 

Supporting parents with nutritional interventions like PD Hearth is one step but another critical step is helping parents have the economic resources they need to provide for their children and prevent hunger in the future. This is where livelihoods interventions, like savings groups, come in. Through S4T Groups, men and women set up their own groups which enable them to save money together in small amounts and lend to each other when needs arise, such as family members’ illness, children’s education, and falling income due to crises like droughts.

4) Parents who know more can do more

Featured programme: Nurturing Care Groups

Knowledge is power. World Vision’s Nurturing Care Groups (NCGs) mobilize community-based volunteers to educate caregivers on essential health practices. These groups promote proper infant and young child feeding, home management of illness, and disease prevention strategies. By improving parents and caregivers’ knowledge about children’s health and nutrition, NCGs help children grow healthier from the very beginning, setting a stronger foundation for life.

Together we can end child hunger

At World Vision, our commitment to ending child hunger is unwavering. But this is only made possible with sponsors. Through innovative programs and community-driven initiatives that are sponsor funded, we empower parents to be champions for their children’s health and well-being. With sponsors investing in sustainable solutions and fostering supportive communities, we believe every child can grow up healthy, nourished, and ready to reach their full potential.

At World Vision, we believe in the power of partnerships—with parents, communities, and supporters like you—to transform lives and end child hunger for good.

Join us in our mission to partner with parents and communities worldwide. Together, we can create a future where no child goes to bed hungry.

Enough is enough. You can help break the cycle of hunger so that more children can grow up with enough nutrition and enough love and care to thrive. Sponsor a child today. 

Learn more about the featured interventions:

ENOUGH Child Sponsorship