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1.09 million children, youth and elders worldwide have benefitted from sponsorship since Unbound began
11,578 parent support groups worldwide,largely led by mothers
35,756 families started or enhanced their small businesses with the support of sponsorship benefits or microloans
100% of children and youth have the opportunity to access education once they are sponsored
2,000+ community-driven development initiatives funded through Agents of Change since 2017
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Our Nine Program Characteristics
Our nine program characteristics are the fundamental attributes we strive to achieve in partnership with the individuals, families and communities we serve. Recognizing that no single approach to poverty works in all locations, our program characteristics are interdependent and allow our local teams to take personalized approaches that respond to an individual's or family's unique needs.
Our program pillars are embedded within Unbound's nine program characteristics and serve as the primary focus for our global evaluation efforts.
Our Nine Program Characteristics
Our nine program characteristics are the fundamental attributes we strive to achieve in partnership with the individuals, families and communities we serve. Recognizing that no single approach to poverty works in all locations, our program characteristics are interdependent and allow our local teams to take personalized approaches that respond to an individual's or family's unique needs.
Our program pillars are embedded within Unbound's nine program characteristics and serve as the primary focus for our global evaluation efforts.
Empowerment
Empowerment is the process of enabling or authorizing an individual to think, behave, take action, and control work and decision-making about their job in autonomous, independent, self-directed ways. It is the state of feeling self-empowered to take control of one's owndestiny.
In Colombia, women face many challenges. … Being able to have a space, a place, a moment for us to [be heard], it is as if we are freed.
— Leidy, mother leader on the personal impact of her mothers group
Goal Orientation
Sponsored members and their families have clear personal goals and realistic plans to achieve those goals.
You have a goal — it is your engine, and thanks to it, you can move forward because you want to change the quality of your life.
— Andrea, sponsored youth and Unbound scholarship recipient in Colombia, who completed her college degree
Decentrailized Decison-Making
Sponsored members and their families have the primary voice in selection of personalized benefits and services as well as other key program decisions, within a solid framework of staff support and internal controls.
When I receive the funds, I am the manager. I distribute it according to [our needs]. I buy the food. The whole family gets to eat and go to school. That's why I am so grateful.
— Jane, mother of sponsored child Victor in Kenya
Capacity Building
Families develop their own capacity for personal and economic growth rather than a focus on the distribution of material goods.
I learned to lose fear, to speak up, to achieve my goals and my dreams, to become the person I am today. This year, I graduate in public accounting — I'm going to be a public accountant!
- Yudis, mother leader and Unbound scholarship recipient from Colombia, who didn't get to finish school as a child
Sustainabilty
Sponsored members and families are the primary agents in their development, even self-managing many aspects of the sponsorship program with support from Unbound staff. Ultimately, the community develops programs independent of Unbound.
I applied for a loan from Unbound SACCO [savings and credit cooperative] and [built] our house. We depend on farming; I [bought] goats and a cow. I sell the milk to pay back the loan. We didn't have good bedding, now we do. Nowadays, I have no stress.
- Mary, mother of sponsored youth Joshua in Kenya
Economic Self-Sufficiency
Sponsored members and their families meet their basic needs through a combination of incomegenerating activities, access to capital and sponsorship benefits. Over time, families rely more on their own initiatives to meet their needs.
I found the way out of how I was living; [Unbound] opened a door. I dreamed of being independent. I think I am achieving it.
— Emilia, mother of sponsored child in Peru, who used an Unbound small business grant to boost her bookstore
Mutual Accountability and Support
Sponsored members and families form a support network in which they encourage and are accountable to one another.
Whenever we say, 'We will do it together,' it is done. [Our group] meetings make us have accountability and help us to know what each are responsible for. We see the problem and we fix it.
— Immaculate, mother leader in Uganda, on how group members keep each other accountable
Worldview
Sponsored members and families are agents of positive change in their communities. They see themselves as part of a worldwide movement with opportunities to share their lives with their sponsors, who they recognize are walking the path with them.
Because of the things we've learned … our lives have improved. We became more disciplined and more cooperative, most especially in the community where we belong.
— Fe, mother leader in the Philippines, on the impact to members of her Unbound small group who worked with their community on an Agents of Change initiative to renovate a playground
Culture of Learning
Sponsored families, together with program staff, balance reflection and action, define and measure outcomes, and utilize results for continuous program improvements.
The situation I was living in before, I think even my brain had become frozen. But Unbound taught us how to do [sustainable] farming, they taught us how to save, but most of all, they taught us that we ought to have a purpose. That reawakened my brain.
— Immaculate, mother of sponsored child in Uganda