Village Partnership
Overview
Children of the Nations focuses on serving orphaned and destitute children, raising them to transform nations. Our Village Partnership Program was designed to specifically meet the needs of children (some who are orphans, some who are not) living with destitute families or caregivers who are unable to fully provide for them.
Our Village Partnership Program is unique in that it is not a relief or “handout” program, but rather a “hand up.” This community-based ministry provides opportunities for partnership, empowering local people with the resources and training to raise and provide for their own children and improve their communities.
Working through the local village leadership (chief, pastor, elders, etc.) to provide a coming-alongside type of assistance, our in-country staff identify the unique needs of the most desperate children in a community and develop a strategy for the best ways to help meet these needs.
Because Village Partnerships are developed to address the unique needs of a community, program components vary by village. Implementation and development of additional components are directly dependent upon funding provided through child sponsorship.
When COTN begins partnership with a community, the most urgently assessed needs are addressed first. This usually includes provision distribution (blankets, clothing, soap, etc.), nutrition, medical care, and education.
As children in the community are individually sponsored (generating funding for the collective program) additional program components are added accordingly. A ministry center is often built in or near the community to provide services such as education, medical care, a feeding center, and Christian mentorship.
COTN currently has 12 Village Partnerships in five countries, serving about 4,000 children daily and more than 10,000 throughout each year:
Sierra Leone: Ngolala and Mokpangumba
Malawi: Mtsiliza, Mgwayi, and Chilombo
Uganda: Anai-Okii
Dominican Republic: Algodon, Altagracia, Don Bosco, Los Robles, and Pueblo Nuevo
Haiti: Bellevue
