2023 Report

33 million children reached through our movement’s health and nutrition programmes in 2022

In 2022, we worked to give every child the chance to survive and thrive.

We delivered life-saving health and nutrition services to families whose lives had been turned upside down by conflict or disaster, and provided cash and essentials to help them cope. And we kept up the pressure on world leaders for a united response to the global hunger crisis.

We tested innovative ways to bring quality healthcare services to children, generating evidence of what works – evidence that can inform national and global strategies.

And we gave young people training and tools to take charge of their own health and survival, supporting adolescents to advocate against early marriage and childbearing in their communities.

To find out more about how we have helped children have a healthy start in life in 2022, click here.

9.2 million children reached through our movement’s education programmes in 2022

Education is every child’s route to a life that fulfils their potential. Education allows children to learn and develop, and can protect them from poverty, violence and abuse. But too many children are missing out.

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, 258 million school-aged children were denied their right to education. And when children are in school, they can’t learn basic skills like literacy and numeracy if their teachers aren’t trained and equipped to teach them.

The pandemic has exacerbated the inequalities in education, with children in low-income and conflict-affected countries being the most likely to not be in school or learning. We keep a particular focus on those most affected by inequality and discrimination – including girls, children with disabilities, refugees, migrating and displaced children, and those from the lowest-income households.

To find out more about how we have helped children have a safe return to school in 2022, click here.

3.8 million children reached through our movement’s child protection programmes in 2022

Every child should grow up safe and supported. Yet many children's lives are blighted by violence and abuse.

230 million children are living in high-intensity conflict zones. We work to protect children who are being bombed, shot, starved, raped and often left with no escape from violence – and to enforce the global standard that children should always be off-limits in war.

Our advocacy work has won an important global agreement to protect children from explosive weapons, and extended support for keeping schools safe.

Around the world, girls are at risk of early marriage and other forms of gender-based violence. We are supporting girls and working with them to build their agency to stand against violence in their communities. And we make sure children’s own voices are heard by those in power.

To find out more about how we have helped children have live free from violence in 2022, click here.

Our research reveals that 774 million children around the world are both living in poverty and exposed to very high climate risk. Conflict and COVID-19 have exacerbated the dangers. Together, these interlinked threats are depriving children of health, homes, security and prospects for their future.

In 2022, we worked with families and communities around the world to help them cope with the challenges they face. We protected their livelihoods and helped them become more financially secure. We supported children to advocate to the international community. We worked with others to increase our impact. And we took steps to reduce our own greenhouse gas emissions and environmental impact.

To find out more about how we have helped children have resilience to cope in tough times in 2022, click here.

If it matters to children and families, it matters to us. This is a key principle of our work. In England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, all our work is based on insights from the children, parents and carers we support.

Every child is full of potential. But children from poorer families are often at a disadvantage when it comes to their early development. This year, we worked to make sure that families living in poverty have what they need to keep their children safe, healthy and learning.

Our network of parent campaigners shared their experience with the media and decision-makers. And together, we secured government support for families – feeding into national policy-making on issues including childcare bills, child maintenance, and the reform of the childcare system.

And when Ukrainian families fleeing the war arrived in the UK, we worked to ensure they had the best welcome. With local agencies, we provided them with vouchers and basic essentials. And we drew on our experience of helping children who have experienced war and trauma to train and support host families, teachers and social workers.

To find out more about our work in the UK, click here.

We have committed to reducing our ‘direct’ greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by the end of 2024 (compared to 2019) and are on track to meet this commitment. We will go further by 2030.

We will also drive initiatives to assess and/or reduce wider impacts including waste, water, paper, employee commuting, working from home emissions, and supply chain purchases. We are analysing our financial engagements – including pensions, banking, and investments.

We are actively engaging with our peers, partners, and suppliers to propagate greener practices and avoid complicity in greenwashing ventures.  

Central to our ecological transformation is the empowerment and upskilling of our people. We are fostering an environment where staff can deepen their understanding of ecological breakdown, justice, and their impact on children and our mission.

We are fortifying our ways of working to be better equipped to respond to these crises for children and manage changing implications on us as an organisation. In 2023, for example, we launched our mandatory Environmental Social Screening (ESS) tool to identify whether new programme activities may have any negative environmental or social impacts. The tool provides an action template to mitigate any potential risks highlighted in the screening process.

PROGRESS IN 2023

With the support of sustainability consulting firm ZeroBees we further strengthened both our understanding of our negative impact on the environment and the solutions to reduce this harm.

• PENSIONS AND INVESTMENTS: In 2023, we undertook an analysis of the likely scale of our financed emissions to better understand the broader impact of our operations. We have identified this as an area to work further on with our investment partners to understand our decarbonisation options, given the significance of this indirect source of emissions. 

• WORK-RELATED TRAVEL: To deliver our mission for children across the world, travel remains essential. Nevertheless, we committed to reducing our air travel emissions to 70% less in 2023 than in 2019.

• FLEET: We replaced our leased fleet of 18 diesel engine cars used by our regional teams and community fundraisers in the UK with hybrid engine vehicles.

• EMISSIONS REDUCTION PROGRESS: Save the Children UK has measured the carbon emissions of our UK operations since 2011. In 2023, most of our direct emissions come from our business travel and the use of our head office, four regional offices, and retail premises across the UK.