People's Postcode Lottery

We’re hugely supportive of the funding approach that People’s Postcode Lottery takes. They are flexible funders, meaning they leave the decision of how and where the funding is used to the organisation and the experts.  They trust Save the Children and our expertise to use the funding where the need is greatest and where the most impact will be felt. Flexible funding can allow organisations to develop innovative projects, adapt to changing contexts and new challenges, and respond to emergencies. People’s Postcode Lottery also support our initiatives to shift the power to local organisations.

We are proud to highlight some of the valuable ways this flexible funding has been used to achieve lasting results for children. For the past 100 years, we've been constantly adapting to address the problems of tomorrow, and working hand in hand with children so they get the future they deserve.

In 2023 alone, with the support of the players of People’s Postcode Lottery, we reached 21,500 UK families through our events and projects. Together with our local partner organisations, such as health visitors, local authorities, and schools, we support the most vulnerable families and ensure more of them can put food on the table and children can continue to learn and develop. One way we do this is through Early Years Grants. They include:

• Food and e-vouchers that can be used in major supermarkets or online to ensure children are receiving the nutritious meals they need to have a healthy and happy childhood. 
• Learning resources including educational books and toys specifically designed to support different ages and stages of children’s development.
• Household products to reduce immediate material need and financial pressures, which enable families to create healthy routines in the home.

Our Early Years Grants are delivered to communities with high levels of poverty across the UK so we reach the most vulnerable families. The Grants have been a lifeline to children, as we believe no child should pay the price of the cost-of-living crisis.

Thanks to the amazing players of People’s Postcode Lottery we’ve also delivered training to 13,000 humanitarians as part of our Humanitarian Leadership Academy.  Our Humanitarian Leadership Academy has developed and delivered online learning courses on mental health and psychosocial support, safeguarding, cash and voucher assistance and inclusive education in emergencies. 

This work is vital to our shifting the power agenda – sharing our knowledge and expertise with smaller organisations and local experts – to ensure more rapid, confident and high-quality humanitarian activations specifically in the context of education during emergencies.

The Education Localisation Fund in Iraq is another example of how unrestricted funding has driven our localisation work, meaning that local challenges are being met by local solutions. Supported by the players of the People’s Postcode Lottery, our Education Localisation Fund in Iraq has invested in Mercy Hands, a small local NGO. 

They conducted one of the first-ever education in emergency needs assessment from a gender perspective in Iraq, focusing on girls and children with disabilities. They also created a self-help support group for parents of children with disabilities – the first of its kind in camps for internally displaced people in Iraq. This group provides parents of children with disabilities with self-help techniques, and positive parenting skills as well as providing a platform to address the need for non-formal education for children with disabilities.

The Fund also enables NGOs in Iraq to improve policies, procedures and scale up their activities to better serve their local communities – Iraqi NGOs are in the best to understand the needs of their education system. The Fund is the only one of its type specific to education in emergencies. It has provided vital learnings, which we will use to replicate the success of this model in other humanitarian responses – including Burkina Faso and South Sudan – in 2024 and beyond. 

We want to say an enormous thank you to the players of People’s Postcode Lottery and the Postcode Education Trust for their continued support. We have high hopes for this partnership and are very excited about the incredible impact we will continue to achieve together for and with children.

*Names changed to protect children and families.