What We Do
In the UK and around the world, we make sure children keep safe, healthy and learning.
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WE'VE HELPED...
- 45 million children across the world get the medicine, good food and education they need
WE ARE...
- Over 600,000 supporters, alongside families, nurses, teachers and other workers
- In a world where every child has a chance of the future they deserve.
With children, for children, we change the future for good.
WE BELIEVE...
Maternal health
From training midwives through to setting up Emergency Health Units, we work to enable safe birth.
It's the very first of many ways that we help to create lasting change for and with children.
Alice, one of our midwives in Liberia, often travels up to 9 hours by motorbike to reach women in labour in remote locations.
Journeys like Alice's are taking place all over the world to try and reach more women in some of the most dangerous places to give birth.
Education
‘It's changed my whole life.’
Education offers hope to kids whose worlds have turned upside down. And it’s a world of possibility for girls like Ghinwa who'd otherwise be selling packets of tissues at a busy Beirut junction to support her familiy.
Millions of children never see inside a classroom. Others drop out due to overcrowded classes, conflict, or simply because they're a girl.
That’s why we’re working in the UK and around the world to help children keep learning, making friends, and building their futures.
Reuniting families
Our family tracing teams work tirelessly all over the world to reunite children, parents and siblings, for a lifetime of belonging.
Working with partners, we've reunited a record 7,000 children with their families in South Sudan. Families like Domaac's, who we helped to reunite after four years apart.
This is life-changing for the children who can now spend the rest of their lives back with their families after having been separated by conflict.
Food
You’ve heard it before. The story of a baby without enough to eat. You don’t need me to tell you children going hungry is unacceptable.
The good news? That number's steadily fallen over the last few decades. Because we know how to get children the food they need.
When she arrived in Cox’s Bazar, Momtaz* couldn’t get enough food while breastfeeding Kayas*. We treated both of them. We taught Momtaz about nutrition, to give her family the best chance of staying healthy. That’s what every mother deserves.
“I want good for my children," she says. "I want them to study. As I have two children, I want to bring a change in them.”
Globally, we’re helping children stay fed. And predicting food crises so governments can act sooner. Visit our Hunger page to learn more
Medicine
When drought hit Amina’s home in Somalia, she lost her livestock and means of providing food. Just like that, life changed. Malnutrition left her 9-month-old Fatima* too weak to stand.
That’s when Amina found our treatment centre. Five months on, Fatima's thriving and enjoying playing with her big sister Fatun.
“When Fatima got sick, I cried," says Fatun. "When I see [her] happy and healthy, I am happy. I carried her and gave her a kiss."
Since 1990, child mortality has almost halved. But there's a danger we're leaving kids behind – because of poverty, ethnicity, or gender.
Children should never die from preventable causes. We're determined to change this and pressuring governments globally.
Every day, with our partners, we’re saving lives globally. Visit our Health page to find out more
Campaigning
Sometimes one income doesn’t stretch far enough. Any of us could fall on hard times, like Poppy's mum, Gemma.
When the pandemic hit, together we persuaded the government to support families like Gemma's with an extra £20 a week. And in March, we pushed the government to keep this lifeline for a further 6 months. Millions of families felt the pressure on them release a little.
Every child deserves the chance to explore a world of possibilities. But often, rules and systems get in the way. Children face barriers that aren't just bad luck, they're a design of a system.
That could mean children can’t go to school because they’re a girl. Or suffer from diseases because they can't access healthcare.
We campaign for these children - find out more here
Policy and Practice
- Conflict and humanitarian
- Health
- Education
- Nutrition
- Policy, Research and Evidence
- SUN CSN
- UK poverty
Visit our Policy and Practice page to find out more
Click here to find out more about our practice teams, the work they do and their most recent publications.
Other ways we help children
*Names changed to protect identities
Save the Children exists to help every child get the future they deserve.
In the UK and around the world, we make sure children stay safe, healthy and keep learning, so they can become who they want to be.
Decades of hard-won progress is unravelling fast. Covid, conflict and the climate crisis are putting children at extreme risk.
If we don’t act now, more children will die unnecessarily, go hungry, miss out on school – and never get the chance to reach their potential.
The next five years are critical to rebuild a world fit for children. A world where all children are fed, learning and treated fairly. And every child has a chance of the future they deserve.
That’s why we’re right there with children as they start to take that future into their own hands. As well as providing life-saving, short-term help, together with children we push for and create deep-rooted change that lasts a lifetime.
Together there is hope. Together we power possible.
That’s what our work is all about.
For a century, we’ve stood up for children’s rights and made sure their voices are heard. Our co-founder, Eglantyne Jebb, wrote the first international treaty on the rights of every child. We’ve been speaking out on the big issues that affect children ever since.
Some of the UK’s biggest policy breakthroughs for children, like free school meals and nursery schools, have happened because of us. And we campaign tirelessly to uphold our country’s commitment to spend 0.7% of its budget on international aid.
We work alongside children in more than 100 countries, including the UK. Together, with Save the Children members around the world, we have three big goals.
Our shared ambition is that by 2030, no child dies from preventable causes before their fifth birthday, all children learn from a quality basic education, and violence against children is no longer tolerated.
We know that every child is different, and every one of them has something special to bring to the world.
We break new ground to solve the toughest problems facing children today.
Here in the UK, we’re using digital apps to help parents support their children’s early language skills. In Rwanda, we’ve kick-started a reading revolution through clubs, workshops for parents and teachers, and hundreds of new storybooks. And working with GSK, we’ve developed an antiseptic gel that could save 422,000 babies’ lives in five years.
“Every child has the right to feel safe, to go to school and not to fear anything,” says 13-year-old Nabila.
It’s voices like hers that shape everything we do and say. We empower children to speak for themselves, share their stories and amplify their voices. As well as championing young activists, we listen to children who aren’t in the spotlight, so their important stories don’t go unheard.
Save the Children’s work is only possible thanks to our 5 million supporters in the UK and their amazing commitment – from wearing a Christmas jumper to running our local shops to organising fundraising events.
Together with children, supporters and partners, we give children a chance at the future they deserve.
Find out more
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