Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland has the youngest population of any region in the UK: 27% of residents are under 18 years of age. It's also one of the poorest regions in the European Union, with more than a third of all children living in poverty.

For 30 years until 1998, Northern Ireland was racked by a political conflict that killed more than 3,500 people. More than one-tenth of these were under 18.

Many children lost their parents or other family members, or experienced and witnessed traumatic events. Following a long drawn-out peace process, and after many setbacks, elections for a new Northern Ireland Assembly were held in March 2007 and there was a return to devolved government.

Children in Northern Ireland still face many problems — poverty, neglect and abuse, inequality and inadequate services. Those from ethnic minority groups, including Travellers, face discrimination, and a lack of proper access to education and health services.

Save the Children in Northern Ireland

We've been working in Northern Ireland since the 1950s. Initially we provided a range of services to families and children, including playgroups and after-school clubs in the poorest and most marginalised communities. Since the early 1990s, we've been helping local groups to provide these services themselves.

We carry out research and lobby on behalf of all children in the region. Our work is particularly focused on supporting children who live with poverty. We actively involve young people in all our work. We also work in partnership with small community groups and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), public bodies and government departments.

Our new joint programme: ‘Families and Schools Together’

We’ll be working partnership with Families and Schools Together (FAST), an award-winning parental engagement and community-strengthening project to help parents improve their children’s learning and development so they can reach their full potential. FAST has changed children’s lives for over 20 years in eight countries and 2,000 schools by enabling them:

to succeed in school and have stronger life chances
to live in supported and strengthened families with better bonds, communication, confidence and self-esteem
to live in stronger communities with increased trust, participation and social inclusion.

We’re using a similar approach to run Philosophy for Children and Communitites, a scheme of group discussions shown to improve children’s thinking, reasoning and communication skills.

By 2014, we’ll establish more than 430 groups across the UK, improving the life chances of 50,000 children and training more than 8,000 new practitioners. We’ll prove to UK governments that it’s possible to break the cycle of poverty for good.

More information

Read our full country brief (PDF 86KB).
Read our latest newsletter (PDF 5MB).
Download the Northern Ireland report by Save the Children, submitted to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (PDF 698KB)
Download Reducing the Impact of Child Poverty in Northern Ireland - A Good Practice Guide for Primary Schools. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Save the Children, two organisations working to end child poverty, funded a study of the impact of poverty on young children's experience of school. Children aged 4–11, parents and primary school Principals across Northern Ireland contributed to the research. This Good Practice Guide is based on the findings of the study.
Download Measuring severe child poverty in Northern Ireland (PDF 123KB)

Our achievements

We've:

published the first annual report on the State of Child Poverty in Northern Ireland (PDF 1,540KB)
highlighted the shocking situation of children living in the most severe poverty in our report, The Bottom Line (PDF 737KB)
co-published, with the Office of the First and Deputy First Minster (OFMDFM) and Queens University Belfast, the report Child and Family Poverty in Northern Ireland (PDF 586KB). This report sets out for the first time baseline statistics against which government can set targets to end child poverty in Northern Ireland
made recommendations which have helped to make child poverty a key issue in the government's priorities and plans
gathering pledges of support from all the main political parties in the North of Ireland for our campaign to get the UK government to introduce seasonal grants for families on a low income
reported young people’s views on what it's like to be poor in Northern Ireland in the booklet Speaking Out Against Poverty: Voices of children in disadvantaged areas
produced a policy briefing on The Impact of Fuel Poverty on Children highlighting the benefits from ensuring that children are placed centre stage in the fuel poverty strategies of the future
used new research to study the duration and dynamic nature of child poverty and presenting the Key Findings: Persistent Child Poverty in Northern Ireland
published a report in conjunction with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on The impact of poverty on young children’s experience of school including developing A Good Practice Guide for Primary Schools. There is also a 4 page summary of the report available.

Join our campaign to end child poverty.

Contact us

Corrine Heaney
Information Co-ordinator
Save the Children Northern Ireland
Popper House, 15 Richmond Park
Belfast BT10 OHB
Tel: 028 90431123
Fax: 028 90431314
Email: infoni@savethechildren.org.uk

Map (powered by Google Maps)

Supporter relations and fundraising
If you would like further information on fundraising, events, corporate sponsorship or individual donations, contact:

Anne O'Callaghan
Fundraising Team Administrator
Tel: 028 90620000
Fax: 028 90431314
Email: a.ocallaghan@savethechildren.org.uk

Tuesday 16 June 2009 Save the Children launches its new global campaign to put a stop to children dying in Africa: The campaign, Make Your Mark, kicks off on June 16 in eight countries in Africa and across the UK and is calling on Prime Minister Gordon Brown and other world leaders to put an end to children dying in Africa.
Tuesday 10 June 2008 100,000 more UK children now living in poverty: Save the Children's response to Household Below Average Income statistics
Friday 2 May 2008 Young people to share their vision for Northern Ireland's society: More than 30 young people had the opportunity to tell key political representatives their hopes and aspirations for Northern Ireland, at a 'hearing' organised by Save the Children