Governments, Trusts and Institutions

The DEC brings 15 leading UK aid charities together in times of crisis: ActionAid, Action Against Hunger, Age International, British Red Cross, CAFOD, Care International, Christian Aid, Concern Worldwide, International Rescue, Islamic Relief Worldwide, Oxfam GB, Plan International UK, Save the Children UK, Tearfund and World Vision UK; all collectively raising money to reach those in need quickly. 

ECHO delivers humanitarian aid on behalf of the European Union and is one of the world's largest humanitarian donors. In partnership with ECHO, we have:

• Worked in conflict-affected areas of Northern Nigeria to protect children from violence and ensure people have enough food to eat
• Responded to the crisis in Yemen by repairing and equipping health facilities, and creating mobile medical teams to care for children in hard-to-reach areas
• Supported people in Ethiopia to prepare for and respond to droughts, so that children are less likely to go hungry in future.

The European Union’s DG International Partnerships delivers official development assistance on behalf of the EU. In partnership, we have:

• Responded to the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria
• Supported authorities in a refugee camp on the Thai-Myanmar border to run a primary and secondary education system. Running schools in camps enabled refugee children to continue with their education and create a future for themselves
• Worked to protect children in Syria from the dangers of the ongoing conflict  and raised awareness of the risks vulnerable children face.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) leads the British government's work to end world poverty and is our largest institutional donor. Examples of our work together include:

• Supporting the response to the Covid-19 pandemic in Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, and Tanzania
• Tackling malnutrition in northern Nigeria by transferring money to pregnant women and women with children under the age of two
• Major health programmes in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Kenya, working to increase the quality and availability of health services for pregnant women and newborn children
• Transforming the lives of girls across 14 provinces in Afghanistan through a flexible range of community-based education initiatives, including an apprenticeship programme to train young women to be teachers.

The government of France disburses development financing through its Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its development agency, Agence Français du Development. Save the Children has been working with both organisations over the past few years, including; 

• Response to Covid-19 in Nigeria and Sudan
• Supporting the recovery of children affected by armed conflict in Syria
• Improve crisis prevention and management systems in West Africa. 

Global Partnership for Education (GPE) is a trust fund of the World Bank. It works to strengthen national education systems, so that every child can go to school. Highlights from our work with GPE include:

• Supporting the Ministry of Education in Puntland state, Somalia, to develop a five-year plan for their education system.

• In Myanmar, we are working with the Ministry of Education to ensure every last child receives a good quality education.

Irish Aid is the Government of Ireland’s development agency, working all over the world to alleviate poverty. Our partnership works at global and country levels on mutual priorities such as nutrition, emergency response and peace. Together with Ireland, we are:

• Providing an emergency response to the Tigray Region of Ethiopia
• Working together with global civil society to provide effective advocacy and programmatic support through the Scaling up Nutrition Civil Society Network
• Working over the next three years to improve the lives of women and girls in Ethiopia.

The National Lottery Community Fund helps communities thrive. Every lottery ticket bought is a donation to people-led projects across the UK – In 2019/20, they made 14,003 grants to charities, organisations, and local groups across the UK.

Together, we have:

• Supported families in Sheffield and Margate to adapt to a post-COVID-19 world, providing essential support that improves the early learning of children living in poverty in these areas.
• Carried out a research project with families across the UK, using focus groups to hear directly from children their experience during the COVID-19 pandemic, and asking them to share their vision for a better future for other children. 

People’s Postcode Lottery and Save the Children have had a partnership since 2016. Through Postcode Education Trust, our organisation receives much needed flexible funding. Thanks to players of People’s Postcode Lottery, we have:

• Supported children living through emergencies, including those that don’t make the headlines
• Supported the Humanitarian Leadership Academy providing capacity strengthening and training to humanitarians, particularly in smaller national and local organisations.
• Helped families in the UK, focusing on improving the early learning of children living in poverty
• Strengthened our organisation; improving our culture, supporting our staff, and building capacity across the global Save the Children movement

In 2024, we celebrate the milestone of £19 million of support from the players of People’s Postcode Lottery, and are immensely grateful for their ongoing support. 

UNICEF is the UN agency that works for a world in which every child has a fair chance in life. We collaborate with UNICEF on mutually important programme themes, by using our technical expertise on child rights, our knowledge to influence global development policies and our ability to mobilise popular support. Key examples of this are: 

• Reporting on and upholding the Convention on the Rights of the Child – an international treaty which establishes the human rights all children are entitled to by law
• Co-leading the InterAgency Standing Committee Education Cluster – a group of international agencies that works to ensure children affected by emergencies receive a good quality education
• Technical collaboration in health, child protection, nutrition, child development and water, sanitation and hygiene response programmes, both in development and humanitarian settings
• Technical partnerships such as the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children, Education Cannot Wait, and Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health
• Building regional relationships with UNICEF programme teams to better coordinate our work.

The World Bank provides financial and technical assistance to  countries in support of their development goals. Through our partnership, we produce evidence of “what works” to influence government priorities and ensure global funds are spent in a way that will achieve the highest possible impact for children. We also jointly discuss how to mobilise support and action on global development financing (such as alleviating debt burdens) in favour of programmes for children.

Together with the World Bank, we are: 

• Providing children in Afghanistan with access to healthcare, so that they will not die from preventable causes.

• Conducting joint evaluations to generate evidence and influence governments. In Mali, we are working together to measure the impact of critical integrated interventions, both Education and Nutrition, in village pre-schools. 

• Giving children who live in informal settlements and child domestic workers in Bangladesh the opportunity to gain an education. The project is now being replicated by the Government of Bangladesh.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is a UN organisation working to build a healthier future for people all over the world. We work with the WHO to advocate for concrete action to protect children’s health. Highlights to date include:

• Partnering with the WHO to establish The Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children. Through the partnership, national governments committed to take action to protect children from violence
• Mobilising global support and action towards alleviating the Covid-19 pandemic through the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A)
• Working together in humanitarian settings such as Cox’s Bazaar to provide frontline assistance to children and their families.