About who we are, and how we work
THE CAUSE Kids program takes community development seriously and has designed a holistic program that strengthens local culture, is non-discriminatory, provides educational opportunities for both sponsors and beneficiaries; it achieves concrete improvements, and operates efficiently for maximum benefit for our friends.
Who We Are
CAUSE Canada is a Christian-motivated international relief and development agency working in West Africa and Central America. Our development priorities include:
- Education
- Primary Health Care
- Water and Sanitation
- Small Business Development
CAUSE Canada works with people from all faiths and cultural backgrounds. We celebrate the diversity of humankind while at the same time recognizing the equality and dignity of all peoples.
CAUSE Kids, a program of CAUSE Canada, is a child sponsorship program that takes a holistic approach to helping children break free from the cycle of poverty. CAUSE Kids operates in the Koinadugu District of Sierra Leone, working with communities to provide school meal programs, gardens, uniforms, school supplies, healthcare, infrastructure, and more.
Meet the Team
Our Schools
The CAUSE Kids Difference
- CAUSE Kids is school-centered – Sponsorship that supports one child while ignoring the others isolates that child from her peers. For this reason, CAUSE Kids works on a whole-school basis. School supplies, books, infrastructure, teacher training, and uniforms benefit each child in the school equally, regardless of religion, politics or ethnicity. This strategy means that for every student sponsored, the entire school benefits.
- CAUSE Kids emphasizes the girl-child – Girls with higher education marry later and have fewer children, higher income, and a longer life expectancy. Yet, when resources are slim, it is usually girls who lose their educational opportunities first. By covering the costs of school uniforms, meals and basic healthcare, while offering improved livelihood opportunities to students’ families, CAUSE Kids directly addresses the main reasons girls are kept out of school.
- CAUSE Kids is community-oriented – Programs that are owned by the community are sustainable and maintain a sense of dignity rather than contribute to dependency. CAUSE Kids implements programs that are articulated and directed by the community, and for which they donate land, materials and labour.
- CAUSE Kids is holistic – A rural community in West Africa has many of the same needs as a community in Canada. Social, economic, and environmental health are all necessary for a viable community. CAUSE Kids starts with education while addressing all factors that contribute to breaking the cycle of poverty for children and their communities.
- CAUSE Kids is efficient – Over the past 10 years, CAUSE Canada has averaged less than 9% on administration and fundraising combined. CAUSE Kids is committed to reducing administration expenses in Canada in order to maximize benefits to children in Sierra Leone
