::. Unnayan Uddog -- Helping the poor in a Sustainable Way .::

	Child sponsorship quite in a different, innovative and sustainable way Child Sponsorship Program for Children who are Dropped-out or Never Been Enrolled in School by Unnayan Uddog through Partnership of Local NGOs
	In short: Unnayan Uddog Child Sponsorship Program (UUCSP)

	The Context
	In spite of various initiatives and support services from the national governments, especially in the developing countries, a large number of children cannot enroll in school. In 2007, 72.1 millions children remained out of school and many more attended irregularly or dropped-out around the globe. The ILO identifies the Asia-Pacific as the region where the majority of working children (60% of the global 211 millions) are found. It means that about one in five children (19%) in this region are involved in economic activities. The situation is not any illuminative to Bangladesh. The number of child labor in the country was 6.3 millions in 1996 that is 18.3% of this age group (Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics). The number was about 10 millions in 2007 (ILO), which has been increasing at a growth rate higher than that of the country population!
	Everybody knows that these unfortunate children are being deprived of their rights to education and cannot enjoy their childhood mainly for three reasons. *First,* the families of those children cannot afford the minimum additional educational expenses, such as examination fees, extra curriculum cost, uniforms, etc. (Tuition fee is free at primary level in Bangladesh); *second,* the families of those children think that the primary level education for their children is meaningless as they have no ability to provide higher education. So, they are not interested and do not send their children to school; *third,* the families need the earnings (even if small) of their kids to buy additional food due to the extreme poverty. Thus, millions of children have to engage in economic activities- sometimes at the risk of their life.
	The Government of Bangladesh has withdrawn tuition fees at primary level (and partially at secondary level) and sometimes provides benefits to encourage children to enroll in school. But all these efforts cannot work properly because of extreme poverty. Unless addressing it, children of the ultra-poor families cannot be enrolled in the school and Millennium Development Goal (MDG) in education will not be achieved.
	In this situation, child sponsorship program is urgent but not in the present form through which most of the child focused national or international NGOs provide financial support to the children to meet up the direct educational expenses on yearly basis. Usually it happens for a single year, sometimes for an extended period, but without any commitment to provide support for a longer period such as for 10-12 years, so that the sponsored children might have a chance to complete higher education that can help in getting better jobs and to eradicate the family poverty as well.
	In the present form of sponsorship program, a child is given between $300 and $400 per year (Please see the advertisement/website of the INGOs). Whereas, if this money (even less in Bangladesh) can be given to a family of a sponsored child to start any small business, with a promise that the family will send their child to school and manage the educational expenses from the income of the business that may have a tangible and sustainable impact.
	If a family has a regular income for its survival, it can meet up the educational expenses of the children easily and thus a single time sponsorship can guarantee higher education of a child. Reviewing the child sponsorship programs of the INGOs everybody will agree that the money they expend to sponsor a child for a year can be enough to start a small business in a developing country like Bangladesh. The other issue that should be considered here is to look after and promote the business started by the family. This problem could be easily solved involving small NGOs/CBOs working at grassroots level. They can do the job easily and voluntarily if they are taken under a proper network or management (Unnayan Uddog has already developed a network for the purpose). Therefore, the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) – basic literacy for all by 2015, will remain an elusive target, if no effective action is taken to cope with the situation. We believe that this is the appropriate moment to review the global literacy policy. To the given context, UUCSP is designed to sponsor the children of the ultra-poor families. The target of Phase I is to provide sponsorship to 10,000 (ten thousand) children by 2012.

	The Program Activities
	In UUCSP, fund is not given to meet up educational expenses like others, rather it is provided to the families of the sponsored children to start small businesses with a condition that they will send their children to school. Each family is given around $300 (its equivalent in local currency) to start a small business which meet up the educational expenses from the profit of it. UU-Partner NGOs provides necessary training and other technical assistance including marketing support to start and run the business so that it can earn profit continuously.
	Families of the sponsored children must have commitments that they will continue the education of their children up to a level (that may be graduation or advanced technical education after the completion of secondary level), which may be helpful in getting better jobs or to be involved in profitable economic activities so that they can eradicate their poverty themselves.
	In our program the parents have to be agreed to provide technical education to their children who will not obtain good result in Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examination and higher education for them who will score bright result in SSC examination.
	After the completion of the education of the sponsored children (after 10-14 years) the family will return the money by installments (within a period of 2 years) to the respective partner NGOs, which had taken care of the children and their family businesses for the long years. The money refunded will belong to the partner NGOs; subsequently they may use it as seed money to sponsor new children.
	It should be clear to everybody that under this child-sponsoring program the money is given to children and their families as credit exclusively for running small businesses without any interest or service charge for a longer period. Donation concept is avoided under this child-sponsoring program because it reduces the human creativity, undermines the self-reliance and dignity.
	A tripartite agreement is signed among the parents, the partners and Unnayan Uddog to run and monitor the progress, and to keep liaison with the sponsoring children and their sponsored individuals or donors in case of full support to a child or multiple. A provision is kept in arranging regular (minimum once a year) meeting among the children and their sponsors. The collected fund is disbursed among the PNGOs as and when a good amount is deposited.
	The other supportive activities/services would be rendered under the program are: developing a central database/website through which everybody (including donors, corporations, agencies and individuals) can see the ongoing activities, updates, status of the sponsoring children, and finally the generation of human resources. Job placement assistance will be provided after completion of education. Therefore, it is hope that the program will tremendously be helpful to reduce the poverty of the targeted families and will bring tangible impact in the life of the sponsored children. A tripartite agreement is signed among the parents, the partners and Unnayan Uddog to run and monitor the progress, and to keep liaison with the sponsoring children and their sponsored individuals or donors in case of full support to a child or multiple. A provision is kept in arranging regular (minimum once a year) meeting among the children and their sponsors. The collected fund is disbursed among the PNGOs as and when a good amount is deposited.
	Target Group The target group of the program is the children who are dropped-out or never been enrolled in school due to extreme poverty of their families covering all the districts of the country. They are the unfortunate children who are being deprived of their rights to education and to enjoy the childhood mainly for three reasons mentioned above.
	Priority is given to address the children of the ultra-poor and marginalized families, who have lost the income sources due to the recent devastating Cyclone Sidr (2007), Cyclone Aila (2008) in the coastal districts and the MONGA (a near famine situation) affected northern region of Bangladesh. Number of TG: 10,000 (Ten thousand) children. Duration As hope the First Phase (selection and distribution) of the Child Sponsorship Program would be completed by 2012. And the monitoring, supervision and caring will continue till 2025.
	Strategy Fundraising As the target of the program is to sponsor 10000 children by 2012, which is a big one, Unnayan Uddog has taken a strategy to raise fund from different sources and thus it has been approaching to individuals, donors, corporations, business entities, etc. Funds has been collecting by using different approaches, such as direct collection, event management, e-mail marketing, hiring fundraising companies, individual fundraisers, etc. throughout the world. Volunteers and support groups are working both in home and abroad for the purpose.
	Management of Funds Unnayan Uddog has been implementing the programme through its partner NGOs those are working at grassroots level. However, collected fund is provided to the partners as and when a substantial amount is gathered. PNGOs are committed to implement the programme voluntarily on fixed terms and conditions that have reduced the operating cost and ensure the sustainability of it. PNGOs get only 5% to the total sponsor money as administrative cost throughout the program period for its services to the next 10 to 14 years. Sustainability of the Program The program is designed to demonstrate and achieve the targeted result, i.e., ensure effective education to the sponsored children through long-term support so that the TG can be eligible to tear down the poverty trap. Second, as the credit is providing to the families of the sponsored children on the condition that they will return it after the completion of the education so that the funds would be intact and the program would be replicated in other areas for new beneficiaries.
	************** Become a Donor Donation can be made in either cash or kind. For details please contact to: info@unnayanuddog.org/uddog@hotmail.com Become a Volunteer Anybody, such as individual, organization, and online community can work as volunteer and can raise fund for the program. Volunteer position may be paid or unpaid. Awards** There is an award giving provision (SOCIAL HERO and CORPORATE HERO Awards), which will fully depend on the targeted achievement (Learn More).


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