As we close out another year and look ahead to 2022, I have been taking stock of the last twelve months, including my first six months as Chief Executive. It’s hard to remember what life was like before COVID and, as I write this, we are all facing new uncertainties linked to the Omicron variant. The challenges for the children and families we support are of course even greater. I am incredibly proud of our staff and delivery partners for the way they’ve adapted this year. I am also very grateful to you – our work wouldn’t exist without your support.
The triple threat of COVID, conflict and climate change
One of the most worrying developments this year is the extent to which the gains made over the past 25 years are being threatened by the triple threat of COVID, conflict and climate change. Through our work, we are seeing too many children dropping out of school, and we know that many of those from the poorest families will not go back without targeted support. Rates of hunger and malnutrition are skyrocketing thanks to droughts or floods and rising food prices, with over 5.7 million children under five a step away from famine. Our most recent Stop the War on Children report found that that nearly 200 million children are living in the world's most lethal war zones - the highest number in over a decade. According to our analysis, children in Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, the Philippines and Iraq are at great risk of being recruited by armed groups.
With statistics like this it can be hard to remain hopeful, but I am. I have the privilege of seeing how our teams in the UK and around the world are taking on these challenges, harnessing their collective expertise and experience. I also see the amazing resilience of the children and their families that we are here to serve.
I remain optimistic for what we can achieve together
If the last two years have taught us anything, it’s that we can tackle the greatest challenges of our time and achieve remarkable progress when we work together, like the quick development of COVID vaccines. We are already looking at how to make sure investments in oxygen to help those with COVID can also be utilised to reduce the death toll from childhood pneumonia, as well as how to reduce the number of ‘zero dose’ children who don’t receive routine vaccinations against killer diseases.
On education, I was fortunate enough to make it to the RewirED Global Education Summit at Dubai Expo last week. Alongside many partners, we took stock of the status of children’s learning globally. We at Save the Children were thrilled to speak at three events focusing on the urgent need for more and better education financing, the transformational role of teachers, and innovative approaches to non-formal education and mental health and psycho-social support (MHPSS) in reaching out of school children. We are committed to work together to make sure that education is recognised as a vital part of the COVID recovery plan and that we go beyond building back to ‘Build Forward Better’.
Driving impact
This optimism is reflected in our new strategy for 2022-24 Let’s make better possible, which focuses on ways we can drive an even higher impact across our three long-standing breakthrough objectives – that all children survive, learn and are protected. It adds a fourth objective: to help families to cope with shocks, through our emergency assistance but also by stepping up our focus on prevention and resilience to crises, including through social protection systems and innovations like risk insurance.
We will also double down on our commitment to prioritise the rights of children left behind due to poverty, inequality and discrimination. We will also be stepping up our campaigning work to tackle underlying issues, as we did this year in the UK to try to force the Government to pay childcare costs for those on benefits in a way that actually works for families.
We have made a number of changes this year to make sure our support goes further and gets to children more quickly. This includes a new $40m surge fund to underpin our humanitarian work globally, which pools resources across the entire Save the Children movement. This has enabled staff responding to crises from Venezuela to Myanmar or Burundi to act within hours. Funds from governments or the UN often take weeks and months to reach NGOs and we need to act quickly to save lives. It’s been such a success we’ve already set a $60m target for 2022.
However experienced our staff, some crises are truly shocking
When the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in August we had to suspend our work briefly, including to make sure staff were safe. However, we have been in Afghanistan since 1976 and remain committed to stay and deliver for children. Today, we are providing health, nutrition, education, shelter and other emergency support to families in almost all provinces. I’m very proud and impressed by what our team of nearly 2,000 staff (including female staff) and our partners are managing to achieve, but the needs are enormous. Freezing weather and economic collapse make it even harder. Over half the country are not getting enough to eat, and over 1 million children could die from hunger in the next 3 months. This is why Save the Children has joined other leading UK humanitarian charities who belong to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) to launch the Afghanistan Crisis Appeal. Thanks to the generosity of the British public, we’ve raised £17.5 million in the first five days, including match funds from the UK Government. As I said during my interview on the BBC World Service, the situation in Afghanistan remains highly complex, but what matters right now is that we pull together and help Afghanistan’s children to make it through the winter.
Of course, I couldn’t end this message without recognising our fantastic Youth Advisory Board (YAB), who we recruited at the beginning of 2021. Made up of 10 young people aged 12 – 17 from across the UK, the Board have been working with colleagues right across the organisation this year on several exciting projects – including our recent Climate Change explainer video which the Youth Advisory Board created with support from SCUK colleagues. The Board are an important pillar of the organisation and ensure we amplify young voices and stay true to holding children's rights at the heart of everything we do – you can expect to hear more about what they’re getting up to throughout 2022.
