Achievements and ambitions
Over the past year, we're proud to say we've reached over 7 million children through our work. So that we can be properly held to account for how we spend our money, we've developed a way of estimating the number of children we reach. For the first time we're able to include these figures in our annual report.
By 2017 we committed ourselves to creating a world in which:
- it’s no longer acceptable for children to die before their fifth birthday from preventable causes at the rate that’s tolerated today.
- every child, even those caught up in disaster or war, can expect a basic education
- in the UK, one of the world’s richest countries, a million children no longer live in severe and persistent poverty.
- orphans and other children at risk are protected and cared for in their own communities, not put in institutions
- children and their carers have a real say in what we do and how we do it, and can hold us to account.
We’re also aiming, as part of the Save the Children Alliance, to become the top emergency response agency for children – raising more money, responding more quickly and effectively, saving more lives. And we’ll help more children in fragile countries – the places where war, disasters and the collapse of government put children at risk.
Students in an accelerated learning school for street working children in north-eastern Afganistan
Advancing on all fronts
In 2009, we refused to let the recession stop us improving the lives of millions of children.
- We helped 6.8 million children worldwide – almost as many as in the full 12 months of 2008/09.*
- We responded to 28 emergencies, not just those in the headlines.
- Our work to improve health and fight hunger reached 2.4 million children in 20 countries, more than ever before. And we had one huge victory for children: the advent of free healthcare in Sierra Leone. That’s 2.5 million children and mothers who won’t now have to pay for care.
- 1.4 million children caught up in conflict and emergencies have enrolled in school for the first time – 300,000 in 2009 alone – thanks to our global Rewrite the Future campaign.
- We launched our EVERY ONE campaign in 44 countries – a truly global effort from almost every member of Save the Children. 1.4 million people worldwide signed up.
- We made 640,000 children safer – keeping them out of harmful institutions and protecting them from abuse.
- The Child Poverty Act enshrined into law the British government’s promise to end child poverty by 2020 – in part thanks to campaigning by the End Child Poverty coalition, of which we’re a member.
- Our income hit £170.9 million - £13.2 million more than we’d aimed for.
* Please note that this review covers the period from April to December 2009, making it a nine-month report. The figures we quote for 2009 relate to this nine-month period.