SOS Africa

Children's Charity

(UK Registered NGO: 1188705 / SA Registered NPO: 183-821)

How Child Sponsorship in Africa Works

Sponsoring a South African child through the SOS Africa children’s education charity is a very simple and incredibly rewarding process, but how does it work?

It takes a matter of minutes to sign up to a holistic sponsorship plan which will change a child’s life forever. Our grassroots organisation invests 100% of all child sponsorship into holistic education programmes for the children in our care whilst providing a personal and interactive sponsorship experience for our sponsors. Here is how it works…


STEP 1:   Children Awaiting Sponsorship

View the profiles of children awaiting education sponsorship to enable them to join SOS Africa’s Education Programmes. Children are selected after consultation with local educational institutions and an assessment of household income, attendance, attitude and parental/guardian commitment.


STEP 2:   Select A Sponsorship Plan

Select a child sponsorship option which works for you. SOS Africa offers child sponsorship plans ranging from ÂŁ20 to ÂŁ50 per month. Each sponsorship option funds a different level of support for the sponsored child and provides different amounts of feedback to the sponsor.

How Sponsoring a Child's Education in Africa Works Sponsorship Process

 Whilst we prefer sponsors to support children for as long as possible, there is no official minimum term of sponsorship. Unless in exceptional circumstances, SOS Africa supports all sponsored children until they complete their schooling, usually at the age of 18.


STEP 3:   Contact SOS Africa

Contact SOS Africa founder Matt by email: matt@sosafrica.com with your preferred sponsorship option and we will reply with the profile of a child currently awaiting sponsorship and payment instructions within 24 hours. Please feel free to include any questions you might have regarding the sponsorship process.

Contact the SOS Africa Charity about Sponsoring a child in Africa...


STEP 4:   Set Up Sponsorship Payment

If you are happy to proceed with the sponsorship, please set up the monthly standing order or annual sponsorship payment and contact SOS Africa to confirm. In the meantime, we will arrange the sponsorship and contact you when the first payment arrives.


STEP 5:   Sponsored Child Starts School

 Once this process is complete, your sponsored child will start his or her schooling and receive school tuition, transportation, school clothing and equipment as well as holistic and extra-curricular support at an SOS Africa Aftercare Centre each afternoon.

How Sponsoring a Child's Education in Africa Works Sponsorship Process

Since SOS Africa was founded in 2003, our oldest children graduated from High School and have either continued their studies at university or are in employment. Thanks to the generosity of our loyal child sponsors around the world, many more children are following closely in their footsteps.


STEP 6:   Updates, Correspondence & Visits

Depending on the sponsorship option selected, sponsors receive regular updates on the progress of the sponsored child including termly school reports, photos albums and posts on social media. Sponsors can even interact with their sponsored child via email and visit them at an SOS Africa Education Centre, later on in the sponsorship.

How Sponsoring a Child's Education in Africa Works Sponsorship Process

The SOS Africa staff are also happy to purchase Christmas/Birthday Cards & Gifts for sponsored children on behalf of their sponsors. We do not recommend posting gifts due to the unreliability of international postal services.

Click here to view SOS Africa Children’s Birthdays.


If you have any further questions regarding child sponsorship, please contact SOS Africa Founder Matt Crowcombe and he will provide all the information you need.