Lifestyle

There are four places to go where you can sponsor a child online:

1. Sponsor a child with World Vision

2. Sponsor a child with Plan UK

3. Sponsor a child with Action Aid

4. Sponsor a child with Everychild

Burkina Faso is one of the world's poorest countries. This is due to a variety of factors, foremost of which are the drought conditions which regularly occur, and the turbulence of the political scene. Hundreds of thousands of people migrate during the dry season to neighbouring countries, such as Ghana and the Ivory Coast, to find work. Economic hardship is such that 60% of people in Burkina Faso live on less than 55 pence per day.

Women have an especially difficult time in Burkina Faso, as the law provides them with very few rights. They are unable to work for themselves, and arranged marriages and female circumcision are still common. The death rate in childbirth is also very high. 75% of Burkina Faso's people are illiterate, and the average life expectancy is 46 years.

ActionAid is a development charity with a strong commitment to working alongside local people and organisations in order to establish better rights for the world's poorest people, and the provision of basic needs that most in the developed world take for granted. The charity is committed to tackling the root causes of poverty and has made education, HIV and AIDS, food, emergencies, women and girls their main priorities.

The people of Burkina Faso are in great need of the life-changing hope that child sponsorship can bring to their families and communities. There has never been a better time to sponsor a child in Burkina Faso. ActionAid has developed a child sponsorship scheme that links people in more affluent countries with individual children in developing countries around the world, including Burkina Faso.

In the 37 years since it's inception, ActionAid has reached many millions in Africa, Asia and the Americas, and developed a wealth of expertise in fighting poverty. The charity partners with local organisations and recognises the need to work with communities on their own terms, and not to impose solutions. By getting to know the culture intimately ActionAid workers have the best possible opportunity to affect a lasting end to poverty.

Sponsoring a child in Burkina Faso today will cost you just 50 pence per day, or £15 per month. Your money will also go towards development efforts in the town in which the child you sponsor lives. This will ensure the most efficient and effective use of your money.

As a child sponsor you will be able to communicate with your child, and you can look forward to receiving special letters and drawings from the child you sponsor. Additionally, you get to see where and how your money is being spent through regular editions of Common Cause, ActionAid's newsletter.

Support the vital work of ActionAid today, and sponsor a child. Your 50 pence per day will help to bring a lasting end to the indignity of poverty

You may also like to consider sponsoring a child through the following trusted agencies:

Sponsor a child with World Vision

Sponsor a child with Plan UK

Sponsor a child with Everychild