The calculation is made in Putting Children First for Sustainable Development, published on Tuesday, which quantifies the social and economic benefits of Official Development Assistance (ODA), and its long-term impact.

The researchers used what is described as a "robust analysis of the economic impacts of these investments", using a unique algorithm tool that was developed by Ernst & Young to identify and classify child-related ODA.

The analysis was the work of several months.

They found a return of $10 on each dollar spent, made up of direct benefits of more than $7, together with a "social multiplier" of indirect benefit of nearly $3. Indirect benefits come through programmes that support and empower children, their families, friends, and wider communities. Read more

The organisation says the recent earthquakes have only added to the complex layers of suffering for the Syrian people and many children are now more vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.

World Vision's Syria Response Director, Johan Mooij, says the level of suffering experienced in the Middle Eastern nation is almost unimaginable.

"On this twelfth anniversary of war in Syria, we're calling on the international community to recognise the immense suffering and devastation this country has experienced and to act to support the people of Syria who have faced far too much for far too long.

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Save the Children, World Vision and Terre des Hommes Foundation said in a joint statement the government made a decision in April that dictated all structures made of materials other than timber and plastic sheeting will be knocked down in the border town of Arsal.

Syrians have until June 9 to make the necessary changes to their structures, after which they will be demolished, the statement said. Read more

Christchurch's Middleton Grange School, in Upper Riccarton, asked children to wear "old ragged clothes" to a mufti day on Thursday to raise money for World Vision. Read more

Mohammad El Halabi (photographed above) was arrested by Israel on June 15 while crossing the border into Gaza, World Vision said in a statement. He was charged by Israeli authorities on Thursday.

He had run the organization's Gaza operations since 2010.

According to Israel's Shin Bet security service, El Halabi diverted around $7.2 million of World Vision money to Hamas each year. That is the equivalent of 60 percent of the charity's total annual funding for Gaza.

Some 40 percent of the funds aimed at civilian projects — some $1.5 million a year — were "given in cash" to Hamas combat units, according to a statement issued by the Shin Bet.

Some of the money raised to support injured children in the enclave had been diverted to Hamas families by "fraudulently listing their children as wounded," according to the agency.

"Money designated for psychological support, education and health in Gaza ... was used to pay the families of Hamas terrorists," it added.

A lawyer appointed by World Vision to represent El Halabi told NBC News that his client denied the charges against him.

"He told me he never, ever transferred any money to Hamas and he has never been a Hamas member," Muhamad Mahmud said.

Israel's Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai called the case a "grave incident."

He called on World Vision — which has operated in Gaza, Israel and the West Bank since 1975 — to "assume responsibility and set your house in order."

Australia and Germany have suspended funding to the World Vision Evangelical Christian humanitarian aid group in response to Israeli allegations that its Gaza office had siphoned $7.2 million a year to Hamas.

Source

• The Jerusalem Post
• NBC News
• Image: Israelseen.com

His mother used to make him wear that sweater on special occasions.

It was their Othman, who turned 18 on Monday but at the time was 5. None of his relatives recalled signing him up for the World Vision program — nor receiving any money.

"We want to know: Who took the photo? What was their aim?" asked Othman's uncle Abdul-Hamid Sabateen, a chicken farmer in Husan, a Palestinian village on the outskirts of Bethlehem.

I had come to Husan to find Othman after a chance meeting with an Australian police officer months before.

I was lost in Sydney's airport, and he helped me find the departure gate.

On the way, I mentioned my work as a journalist in the Middle East, and the officer — who is 44 and spoke on the condition that he be identified only by his first name, Brendan, because of his work — said he had been interested in the Palestinian cause since he was a teenager.

Brendan told me that in 2003 he had signed up to "sponsor" Othman through World Vision, a Christian charity whose website highlights faces and biographies of children from impoverished places around the world, saying that $39 a month can "change a child's world for good."

Over the next five years, Brendan said, he sent at least $1,100, along with Christmas and Easter cards, photographs and letters for Othman.

He never got any response from the boy, and always wondered what had become of him.

He did not know Othman's last name, but remembered that he was from Husan, a village of about 7000. Read more

On March 24, it announced it would no longer define marriage as between a man and a woman in its employee conduct manual in the US.

But it reversed that stand soon afterwards and said it would no longer recognise its employees' same-sex marriages.

Heavy criticism from evangelical Christians may have prompted the reversal.

Soon after the earlier groundbreaking decision, the Assemblies of God in the United States urged members to consider dropping their support.

The loss of child sponsorships may also have been a factor in the flip-flop.

"We've listened," World Vision president Rich Stearns told reporters.

"We believe we made a mistake. We're asking them to forgive and understand our poor judgement in the original decision."

Since its founding, World Vision has always been a Christian organisation, Mr Stearns said.

"The decision we've made is based on biblical principles."

Supporters made it clear that same-sex marriage was not consistent with the organisation's views of the Bible.

In an interview with Religion News Service on March 26, Mr Stearns suggested that the number of sponsors lost was under but around 5000.

Those who sponsor a child pay US$35 each month, so the loss could have tallied up to US$2.1 million a year.

About US$567 million of World Vision's US$1 billion budget comes from private contributions, according to its 2012 annual report

In a letter, Mr Stearns noted that while World Vision supports a biblical view of marriage, "we strongly affirm that all people, regardless of their sexual orientation, are created by God and are to be loved and treated with dignity and respect".

He told the Religion News Service "the important thing for World Vision is that every organisation has to clearly define who they are and what they stand for".

But in the last week, confusion and dissonance has been the result, he said.

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• Religion News Service
• Image: Mere Orthodoxy

World Vision and the local Anglican Church, the Church of Melanesia, are working to get to grips with the issue of domestic violence in the Solomon Islands.

Koisau Sade is a Gender Advisor working with World Vision in the Solomons. She said that two thirds of females "have experienced physical violence or sexual violence or both at some stage in their lifetime from an intimate partner".

World Vision is supporting the only women's shelter in the Solomons. It is run by Sister Doreen from the Church of Melanesia.

Sister Doreen says that some of the women at the shelter have suffered from sexual abuse from when they were as young as 8. "So you can imagine the trauma they have been through. But coming here they have slowly come back to normal because we were able to listen to them. And this is a safe place away from violence", she says.

With the support of World Vision the Church of Melanesia is making use of the New Testament to fight against violence in the home in a country where 95% of the population is Christian. The program being run is called Channels of Hope.

Tim Costello is the head of World Vision Australia. He was recently at a workshop in Honiara with the Church of Melanesia's Archbishop David Vanag, leader of the Church of Melanesia, and eight of his bishops.

Costello said that "up to 65 per cent of women reporting violence from intimate personal relationships ... is a major issue. And it's a major issue of addressing the culture that says, you know, "The boss man can discipline his wife even by beating her". "

Archbishop Vanagi said that "in our mission we try to look after the victims of domestic violence. That's why we have this Christian Care Centre".

He went on to say that in country areas women and children who are victims of domestic violence tend to suffer in silence. "They feel that if they come out with what they experience, then probably they'll be intimidated. So the church here in Solomon Islands, we have a structure from here in Honiara down to the villages. So we must use that structure to get this message down to the people", he said. Read more

Sources

• ABC Australia
• Image: The Anglican Church of Melanesia