ADP overview

World Vision Ireland has found the best way to help a community to become self-reliant is to set in place Area Development Programmes (ADPs), which are funded through child sponsorship. This approach is a comprehensive strategy to tackle poverty across extensive areas, usually including several communities.

How does an ADP work?

The World Vision ADP staff work with the communities, right from the beginning, in helping them identify the root causes of their poverty and the key issues they will need to address to break the cycle of poverty they find themselves in.

By involving the communities in decision-making, people are able take ownership of their own development from the start. Through discussions and ongoing assessment, World Vision Ireland uses its diverse experience to advise the community and its leaders on how to tackle the many areas that an ADP covers.

As well as combating immediate problems such as malnutrition, health care provision and clean water supplies, an ADP will also look at tackling the reasons behind the poverty including advocacy issues, HIV/AIDS awareness and education, micro-enterprise development, disaster mitigation, disability rights, peace and conflict resolutions, citizenship awareness and human rights.

Who benefits?

Our ADPs are designed to have the broadest reach possible, while maintaining their effectiveness. Sometimes, an ADP can support 3,000 to 8,000 families.

The ADP management team is led by the very people it aims to help - the communities themselves. Because they are taking the lead in how the programme should develop, they are being equipped in the long-term, with expertise that will have lasting implications for the whole area.

Read about the Three Key Phases of our Area Development Programmes (ADPs)