Selling Child Sponsorship: The Communication and Representation Practices of Plan International

Abstract: Child sponsorship has long been a contentious topic since its inception and subsequent mainstay as one of the key models in development for acquiring funds. As a tool for non-governmental organisations (NGOs), it is a popular and therefore competitive practice that requires able communications that simultaneously can promote sponsorship and maintain the ethical ideals of the organisation. The aim of this paper is to develop further understanding and increased knowledge of how Plan International, a prominent NGO and a proponent of the practice, present and communicate child sponsorship. Within the confines of a case study, the paper sets out to establish the methods, purposes and considerations that Plan International have when they communicate and market child sponsorship, one of their primary ways of accruing funds and thus mobilising action. Drawing on a triangulation of collected empirical data, and under a defined theoretical framework that advocates a post-humanitarianism approach, this thesis makes tentative conclusions that whilst Plan International are making strides to modernise their child sponsorship approach they are at the same time encountering continued challenges of representation, framing and strategizing their message.