GERSON PACHECOChildFund Brasil’s National Director

With the arrival of 2012, it is time to propose new goals. Thus, why not think about those who live in a situation of deprivation, exclusion and social vulnerability? Hence, it is worth briefly conceptualizing this rating: human beings, children above all, who live in what we call a situation of deprivation, exclusion and vulnerability (DEV) experience the lack of material conditions and services considered to be essential to their full potential. Before this reality, ChildFund Brasil, former Christian Children’s Fund, institution which has dedicated itselt to the community and social development of the Brazilian families over the last 45 years, has as a goal to change the reality of thousands of children who fight against extreme poverty. In order to achieve this goal, the Organization believes in the child sponsorship program and invites society to participate in this initiative. Among the 16.2 million people in a situation of extreme poverty in Brazil, half are children and adolescents. Considering this scenario, it becomes essential to understand that each child, besides the basic needs, has skills and capabilities that can and must be developed. The challenging context of child poverty

is the same as that which inspires citizens and institutions to protagonize a change in the country’s social framework. The lives of thousands of Brazilian children are changing thanks to the dissemination of the ChildFund Brasil’s sponsorship culture. Donors, so-called sponsors, participate voluntarily in the institution’s sponsorship program by means of regular contributions. Over 10 thousand Brazilians, a contingent composed of people from various socioeconomic classes and different regions, contribute monthly with the amount of R$ 52,00. This amount is reverted for the development, execution and monitoring of social programs and projects which afford improvements in the living conditions of children, their families and the community in which they live. In Brazil, the Organization operates in over 800 communities of 54 municipalities of the states of Minas Gerais, Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, and Pernambuco, chiefly in semiarid regions and isolated rural communities. Approximately 220 thousand people benefit from the social programs. Of this total, over 140 thousand are children, adolescents and youth. Even with all the effort to mobilize resources, the numbers are still worrying when we refer to the donations. In 2011 ChildFund Brasil carried out a survey on the profile of donors in Brazil, in partnership with the company RGarber Statistics and Innovations. The survey was founded

on the data of the two last editions of the Family Budget Survey (FBS) of 2003 and 2009 and on preliminary data of the Demographic Census of the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) in 2010. The result of the work was the confirmation of the significant change in the behavior of the Brazilians in relation to the donations. The social classes showed expressive fall in the donations. The exception was the class C, the only portion of society that increased their regular donations. The class A showed a fall of 37%. What is even more worrying is that the increase of contributions by class C did not compensate for the fall verified in the other social classes. The situation puts in risk those who really need help. In 2012 the challenge is issued: to increase the number of people who are committed to the change of this scenario. The child sponsorship program is an invitation so that each citizen may support in an authentic manner the development of a child and effectively promote social impacts in vulnerable communities as a result of poverty. In the case of the investment in children, the gain is invaluable, as by sowing values and opportunities one reaps adults prepared to start other cycles of life with dignity and, consequently, contribute towards the building of an equitable and fair society.

Help to children in extreme poverty