Africa Philanthropy Initiative

Save the Children is the world’s leading independent organisation for children. In everything we do we aim to put the most deprived and marginalised children first. Our vision is a world where every child survives, learn and is protected. Save the Children exists to make sure every child gets the chance to fulfil their potential. Around the world, we're working with children, and their families and communities, to help children stay safe, healthy and to keep learning - no matter where they're growing up.

Save the Children stands side by side with children in Africa across 35 countries, since the first programme, a child welfare centre, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in the early 1930s. Together with children, communities, donors, partners, NGOs and governments, we fight for children’s rights to education, safety and healthcare, so they can go on to build a better world and future of hope and possibility to achieve their dreams.

Together, we are committed to fight for children in Africa every single day so they can realise their full potential and make their mark on the world.

We are committed to creating lasting and transformational change in the lives of children across the continent.

We will achieve our vision by working with individuals and partners from and in, invested or working in Africa, to improve the well-being and rights of children across Africa.

We help children like Peter* achieve their dreams - he had been living as a child soldier in South Sudan.

“They gave us weapons for shooting,” he says. “They were teaching us skills – how to hide ourselves or run.”

It was Peter’s belief in education that gave him the strength to escape – he fled to Uganda in the hope of going back to school.

Now that he’s learning again, Peter has big ambitions: “when I finish my studies and graduate, I want to become the President of the Republic of South Sudan.”

Fatima*, 15, is from North East Nigeria. “We have problems of armed groups," she says.

"Because armed groups kill. They look for female students and take them. Parents don’t want to take children to school because girls will be abducted and married off. They prefer to get them married instead. They prefer boys going to school. They don’t regard girls’ education in the same way.”

We’re making sure all children – especially girls like Fatima and children affected by conflict – have access to education.

We’ve set up 12,000 management committees in schools that have improved learning opportunities for five million children in Nigeria.

The Horn of Africa is experiencing first-hand the complex interplay between the global climate crisis and conflict. Families have had to leave their homes; children are facing critical levels of hunger and many are forced to drop out of school.

When Fatima became weak and sick with malnutrition, her mother, Amina*, took her to a Save the Children-supported stabilisation centre. There she received nutritional milk, food and medicine. After ten days, Fatima regained her strength.

In Somalia, our mobile health teams and staff at healthcare centres have helped over 37,000 children. Throughout the region, we’ve diagnosed and treated tens of thousands of malnourished children. Across Africa, we’re also creating community-based disastermanagement committees, training farmers in sustainable farming techniques and distributing tools and seeds, to build local resilience against climate change.