Development

World Vision has been criticised for taking a Western concept of development to third world countries. This orientation is reflected in their zealous efforts to evangelise, and more subtly in the philosophy behind individual sponsorship. Before commenting upon the World Vision programmes we must clearly state our own concept of development: We believe that development must help the whole community to help itself.

The World Vision Manifesto states: World Vision's emphasis is on helping children and those caught out in situations of war, poverty or disaster beyond their control

World Vision has two classes of projects; short term and long term. Short term projects include emergency aid and grants to institutions, while long term projects include economic development, re-settlement, rehabilitation and childcare. The Executive Director's report (World Vision, Summer, 1974) states that:

There is a growing emphasis on development aid especially in Indonesia. By this we mean getting at the root causes of poverty and setting up projects in such a way that the whole communities benefit.

An article in the "New Citizen" (5.5.75) explores World Vision's notion of social change:

"Social change is not out task" says Mr Renner, but he believes World Vision's childcare programmes do bring social change by providing education, independence and opportunity. "We've helped to educate over 100,000 kids in Vietnam and no-one can destroy that."