Childcare and protection, particularly for orphaned children, represents one of the most significant humanitarian challenges facing the world today. The number of orphaned children worldwide is estimated at approximately 153 million, referring to children who have lost one or both parents, according to the latest estimates from UNICEF and international sources monitoring the situation of children.
The circumstances leading to orphanhood are primarily linked to wars and armed conflicts, diseases and epidemics, extreme poverty, natural disasters, and adverse social conditions. Statistics have demonstrated that these factors have some of the most profound impacts on children worldwide. Against this backdrop, numerous non-governmental organizations are working to provide support, protection, and care to this particularly vulnerable group.
This paper aims to shed light on the different approaches and models adopted by international organizations in the care of orphans. It also examines Qatar Charity’s experience in this field and provides a comprehensive comparison with several other prominent international organizations specializing in childcare and protection.
1. Overview of the Global Orphan Population and Its Categories
Orphaned children can be divided into three main categories, based on reliable data reported by international organizations.
Fatherless Children
These are children who have lost their fathers while their mothers remain alive. Their number is estimated at approximately 101 million children worldwide.
Among the principal causes of paternal loss are deaths resulting from wars and conflicts, diseases and health conditions, workplace accidents and occupational hazards, as well as poverty and inadequate healthcare in many developing countries.
Motherless Children
These are children who have lost their mothers while their fathers remain alive. Their number is estimated at approximately 34.5 million children worldwide.
The leading causes of maternal loss include complications during pregnancy and childbirth, diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, and cancer, deaths resulting from inadequate healthcare, as well as conflict-related fatalities.
Children Who Have Lost Both Parents
These are children who have lost both parents. Their number is estimated at approximately 17.8 million children worldwide.
Taken together, these factors make the care and protection of children deprived of parental care one of the world’s most significant humanitarian challenges. They also drive governments and organizations to adopt different care models aimed at ensuring that every child can grow and develop in a safe, stable, and supportive environment.
The first and third categories are the groups targeted by Qatar Charity, in accordance with the Islamic definition of an orphan.
2. Child Care Models
Several approaches have become established in the field of childcare. These approaches are rooted in influential educational theories and schools of thought that shape the frameworks adopted by states and governments, United Nations agencies, international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), and child-focused organizations and associations.
These theories and schools of thought have given rise to several global models for the care of orphaned children. The models vary according to their underlying philosophy, objectives, and social environment. The most prominent include the following:
Alternative Family Care
Alternative family care is considered by the United Nations to be the preferred model for supporting children’s healthy development. It encompasses three main forms:
Foster Care: Care provided by a family that is not biologically related to the child, whereby the child lives with the family and is cared for as a member of the household.
Kinship Care: Care provided by relatives or individuals who have a strong emotional relationship with the child, such as grandparents, aunts, or uncles.
Adoption: The full legal transfer of parental responsibility to a new family. This model is not practiced in many Muslim-majority countries.
The defining strength of this model is its proximity to a natural family environment. It is also associated with better psychological, behavioral, and social outcomes for children.
Community-Based Care
This model focuses on keeping the child within their extended family or community, with limited intervention from support institutions.
Such intervention may include direct support to vulnerable families, economic empowerment programmes, counselling, and follow-up services.
One of the most important advantages of this model is that it prevents children from being separated from their family and social environment.
Institutional Care
Institutional care is a more traditional model compared with the approaches outlined above. It is based on accommodating children in small group homes, orphanages, orphanages, or temporary residential facilities.
However, international organizations such as UNICEF generally do not favor this model except where it is deemed necessary.
3. Leading International Organizations in Child Care
Examples of International Organizations Adopting Alternative Family Care
Most organizations adopting this approach seek to promote and strengthen care within a family environment, whether through family-like care, foster care, kinship care, or small-group homes as alternatives to large residential institutions.
SOS Children’s Villages
Founded in Austria in 1949, SOS Children’s Villages is considered one of the world’s largest organizations specializing in alternative family care.
It provides alternative care to more than 78,000 children and young people, while its broader programmes including family strengthening, education, healthcare, and other servicesreach approximately two million people annually.
The organization operates in more than 136 countries and territories and has 559 SOS Children’s Villages and alternative care facilities worldwide.
Hope and Homes for Children
Hope and Homes for Children is a leading international organization headquartered in the United Kingdom and dedicated to ending the institutionalization of children worldwide.
It works with governments and civil society to close orphanages and develop family-based alternatives to institutional care, including foster care and kinship care. The organization has operated in more than 40 countries since 1994.
Family for Every Child
Family for Every Child is a global alliance established in the United Kingdom in 2014. It brings together 56 local civil society organizations in 41 countries.
The alliance works towards a world in which every child can grow up in a safe, permanent, and loving family. It also seeks to influence policies, laws, and systems affecting children at risk.
Miracle Foundation
Miracle Foundation is an international non-profit organization founded in 2000 in Austin, United States.
It leads a global movement aimed at ending the need for orphanages by 2040. Over the past two decades, the organization has helped improve the lives of more than 164,000 children worldwide and works towards ending the reliance on orphanages.
Lumos
Lumos is a British organization founded in 2005 that works to end the institutionalization of children worldwide.
Over the past two decades, it has helped more than 280,000 children grow up in families rather than institutions by supporting care-system reform and addressing the root causes of family separation.
In addition to these organizations, several other global organizations, networks, initiatives, and alliances seek to support children and strengthen family-based alternatives, including:
– Changing the Way, We Care, Baltimore, Maryland, United States.
– Better Care Network, New York, United States.
– Holt International Children’s Services, Oregon, United States.
– Orphans International Worldwide (OIW), New York, United States.
Examples of Organizations Adopting Community-Based Care
Organizations in this category seek to shift both the philosophy and mechanisms of childcare away from institutional models, such as shelters and residential facilities, towards an approach that places families and communities at the center of responsibility for children’s protection and well-being.
Under this approach, children are cared for and protected within their natural environment, their family, community, and school rather than being removed from that environment and placed in closed institutions or residential facilities.
The community itself becomes an essential part of the solution.
World Vision
World Vision was founded in 1950. Its administrative headquarters are in California, while its executive headquarters are in London. It is one of the world’s largest Christian humanitarian organizations and operates in more than 100 countries.
In its work with orphaned children, World Vision adopts a comprehensive, community-based approach focused on health, education, child protection, and economic empowerment within the child’s own environment rather than through institutional placement.
Its child sponsorship programmes reached 2.3 million children in 2024.
World Vision works to strengthen biological and extended families to prevent children from becoming separated from them. It also supports livelihoods to strengthen families’ capacity to provide care for their children.
The organization does not operate residential care facilities or promote institutionalization. Instead, it considers institutional care a less preferred option and advocates for family- and community-based alternatives.
Save the Children
Save the Children is a leading international organization founded nearly 100 years ago and headquarters in London. It has an extensive network of offices and branches and operates in more than 113 countries worldwide through a diverse range of humanitarian and development programmes.
Its work reaches more than 110 million children annually through programmes covering health, education, child protection, and emergency response.
The organization adopts an approach focused on empowering children within their families and communities, while giving priority to family-based care as the foundation for healthy child development.
Terre des Hommes
Terre des Hommes is a leading Swiss organization dedicated to supporting children. Founded in 1960, it works to protect children’s lives and rights.
The organization implements community-based child protection programmes in 68 countries across the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
International Social Service (ISS)
International Social Service is an international organization founded in Switzerland in 1924. Its network extends across approximately 120 countries worldwide.
It is regarded as one of the leading organizations working through community-based approaches to child protection, particularly for children with disabilities.
Its approach aims to prevent children from becoming separated from their families by strengthening families and communities. Approximately 75,000 families benefit from theirsocial and legal services each year.
UNICEF
UNICEF is a United Nations agency. It is not an individual child-sponsorship organization and does not provide direct residential care.
Instead, UNICEF plays a leading role in shaping global child-care policies by promoting child protection within communities, reforming care systems, supporting policies designed to prevent family separation through stronger community systems, and strengthening family-based alternative care, including foster and kinship care.
UNICEF also supports the transition from institutional care towards family- and community-based care.
Other organizations supporting child welfare and community-based care include:
– CARE International, an organization of US origin whose current international legal entity, CARE International Confederation, is headquartered in Switzerland.
– Plan International, United Kingdom.
– Child Fund International, United States.
Examples of Organizations Supporting Institutional Care
Although the global trend is clearly moving away from institutional care, several organizations continue to operate or support residential care facilities, particularly in contexts where alternative care systems have not yet been fully developed.
These organizations generally provide shelter, food, education, and healthcare to children under their care. Many also work to improve the quality of care within such institutions while gradually moving towards models that more closely resemble family-based care.
Nevertheless, most major international organizations do not consider institutional care their preferred model.
Caritas Internationalis
Caritas Internationalis is a confederation comprising 162 Catholic relief, development, and social-service organizations. Headquartered in Vatican City and established in 1958, it operates in more than 200 countries and territories.
Caritas supports a broad range of child-care programmes, including institutional and residential care, with a strong focus on child protection.
Kindernothilfe
Kindernothilfe is a German Christian child-relief organization founded in 1959. It supports vulnerable and marginalized children in some of the world’s poorest countries.
The organization provides a range of care programmes, including residential care facilities, while maintaining a strong focus on children’s rights.
Christian Alliance for Orphans (CAFO)
The Christian Alliance for Orphans (CAFO) is an alliance of Christian organizations committed to caring for orphaned and vulnerable children.
Founded in 2007 in Virginia, United States, CAFO represents organizations employing a wide range of care models and is increasingly supporting the transition from institutional care towards family-based care
Other organizations supporting institutional care include:
– Compassion International, Colorado, United States.
– International Children’s Care (ICC), Washington State, United States.
4. Comprehensive Comparison of Family-Based, Community-Based and Institutional Care Models
| Area | Institutional Care | Family- and Community-Based Care |
| Environment and relationship s | A group environment with manychildren. Caregivers work in shifts, which may weaken stable emotional bonds. General routines can take precedence over individual needs. | A natural home environment closer to the child’s original setting. A continuous relationship with one or two caregivers strengthens attachment. The child’s individual needs can be addressed in a personalized manner. |
| Psychological and social impact | International research highlights potential long-term negative effects, including weaker emotional development and social skills, as well as a greater risk of exposure to violence or neglect. Institutions may also isolate children from their families and communities. | Greater psychological stability, stronger self-confidence, healthier relationships, and stronger integration into the community. |
| Cost and sustainability | Generally, it is more expensive due to buildings, staffing, and centralized services. Less sustainable over the long term and requires substantial funding to maintain. | Generally, it is less costly and more sustainable. Investment in families and communities generates broader social benefits, particularly through economic and social empowerment. |
| Flexibility and ability to respond to the child’s needs | Individual needs can be difficult to address when large numbers of children are cared for together. Standardized protocols can reduce the ability to tailor care to individual circumstances. | Individualized care and a deeper understanding of the child are at the core of the model. Greater flexibility allows caregivers to respond to emotional and behavioral changes. |
| Position of international organizations | The United Nations and UNICEF consider institutional care a last resort, to be used only when necessary. The global trend is to reduce reliance on institutional care. | Globally preferred and regarded as the gold standard of care. |
5. A Review of Qatar Charity’s Experience
Origins and Expansion
Qatar Charity’s journey in orphan care began as a voluntary initiative in the early 1980s, before becoming formally institutionalized when the organization was established as an international non-governmental organization in 1992.
Orphan sponsorship has been a cornerstone of Qatar Charity’s work since its establishment. The organization marked a significant transformation in this field with the launch of the Rofaqaa Initiative at the end of 2013.
Today, Rofaqaa is one of the world’s largest platforms specializing in orphan sponsorship, having progressively expanded the scope and range of services it provides.
The available data demonstrate rapid growth in the number of orphans sponsored by Qatar Charity. From approximately 50,000 orphans at the launch of the Rofaqaa Initiative, the number has now risen to more than 201,371 orphans, including 97,927 girls and 103,444 boys, reflecting the substantial expansion of Qatar Charity’s orphan-care programmes.
Qatar Charity’s Approach to Orphan Care
Qatar Charity adopts a comprehensive approach to orphan care based on several interconnected dimensions:
Comprehensive, multidimensional care: The approach addresses the child’s needs across multiple areas rather than limiting support to financial assistance.
Food and clothing: Food and clothing constitute essential needs covered through the sponsorship contribution.
Education: Ensuring that every orphan has access to education is regarded as a top priority. This also includes providing an integrated educational and developmental environment. Qatar Charity’s experience with the Orphan Cities has demonstrated the value of this integrated approach.
Healthcare: Providing the necessary healthcare and regularly monitoring the orphan’s health and well-being.
Economic empowerment: Implementing income-generating projects for orphaned families to help them achieve greater self-reliance and economic stability.
Social and psychosocial care: Providing psychological and social support to orphans and their families.
Integrated projects: Establishing integrated service centers and model communities that provide safe and supportive environments, including the Orphan Cities model in Istanbul, Sudan, and Bangladesh.
Adequate housing: Several orphans benefit from housing projects implemented for their families, helping to provide a safe and dignified living environment.
Extended sponsorship: Qatar Charity has adopted an advanced approach by extending sponsorship support until the age of 23, helping enable the orphan to complete university education.
Social integration: Implementing social, sports, and cultural integration projects within targeted communities.
A Combination of Family-Based, Community-Based and High-Quality Institutional Care
Qatar Charity has adopted an advanced and multidimensional approach to orphan care that places the organization in a distinctive position within the landscape of prevailing global care models.
Rather than limiting its work to a single model of care, Qatar Charity combines direct individual sponsorship, which enables orphaned children to remain within their natural families and social environments, with support for host communities through economic empowerment initiatives and service projects in education, healthcare, and housing.
This approach broadens the circle of impact beyond the individual child, extending it to the family and the wider local community.
While global models often tend to focus primarily on alternative family care, community-based care, or institutional care as separate approaches, Qatar Charity’s experience stands out as a hybrid model that combines prevention of family separation, strengthening the capacity of families and communities to provide care, and maintaining selected forms of high-quality institutional care where necessary.
The Orphan Cities implemented by Qatar Charity in Bangladesh, Sudan, and Istanbul represent pioneering experiences and models that can potentially be replicated. These cities provide integrated living, educational, and healthcare environments while supporting the development of the orphan’s personality and long-term empowerment.
The success of these experiences has contributed to strengthening Qatar Charity’s position as an international reference point in the design of orphan-care and sustainable social development programmes.
While comprehensive care represents an effective applied approach embodied by the Orphan Cities model, Qatar Charity continues to support certain traditional forms of orphan care, including selected orphanages in Bangladesh, Nigeria, Kenya, and India.
Conclusion
Through the Rofaqaa Initiative, Qatar Charity has demonstrated its ability to play a major and influential role in orphan care on the international stage.
Its experience is distinguished by a comprehensive model of care that goes beyond financial assistance to encompass educational, healthcare, social, and economic empowerment.
Compared with other international organizations, Qatar Charity places a particularly strong focus on orphaned children as a specific target group. At the same time, its approach is deeply rooted in Islamic values while maintaining a broad geographical reach and significant humanitarian impact.
Although other organizations may have a larger geographical footprint or reach a greater number of beneficiaries across all areas of their work, Qatar Charity has carved out a distinctive position as one of the world’s largest providers of direct orphan sponsorship.
Its experience therefore represents a model worthy of further study, recognition, and consideration within the wider humanitarian sector.
By Mohamed Adardour
Monitoring and Evaluation Expert – Qatar Charity
