The Best Presents Are the Ones You Can't Wrap: What we achieved in 2025

This Christmas, millions of children will unwrap toys, books, and games. But thousands more received something far more valuable this year—something that can't fit in a box or be tied with ribbon. 

They got their childhood back.

In 2025, cruelty and division spread like wildfire. Wherever people suffered, children were always hurt most. But supporters like you refused to look away. You chose to fight for the right to childhood—and because of that, thousands of children got the chance to survive, to learn, to be safe. To simply be children.

Here's what we achieved together.

Getting Girls into School for the First Time

Education doesn't just change one life. It transforms entire communities.

In 2025, we helped thousands of girls go to school for the first time. Girls who were told education wasn't for them – told they should look ahead to early marriage instead. Girls whose families couldn't afford fees. Girls who'd been locked out of learning simply because of their gender.

Through programmes like AXE-Filles in the Democratic Republic of Congo, we rebuilt schools, trained teachers, and gave families the support they needed to send their daughters to class. We provided school kits, hygiene supplies, and safe spaces where girls could learn without fear.

"I'm so happy because before I didn't use to study," she says. "Just having gone back to school makes me feel very lucky. Studying for a girl is so important." - Adel*,13

These girls are now head of their classes. They dream of becoming nurses, teachers, and engineers. They're proving that when you give a girl the chance to learn, she doesn't just take it—she runs with it.

Beating Malnutrition in Somalia

In Somalia, families endured a hellish year of drought and conflict. Yet at our 370 health facilities, children were beating malnutrition through simple, lifesaving treatments.

We screened children, provided fortified peanut paste, and trained community health workers to reach families in the most remote areas. In our education centres, children were thriving—learning, playing, eating well—and moving on to school with confidence.

They get to look forward to a proper childhood again. Not despite the crisis around them, but because we refused to let the crisis define their futures.

Protecting Families from Climate Disasters

Climate change doesn't just threaten the planet. It steals childhoods.

In the Pacific Islands, families face cyclones that destroy homes, schools, and livelihoods in a matter of hours. In 2025, we helped communities prepare before disaster struck.

We supported solar-powered food preservation projects, so families have supplies when cyclones hit. We worked with communities to build climate-resilient infrastructure. We gave families the tools and knowledge to protect themselves and their children.

Because every child deserves to grow up without living in constant fear of the next storm.

Responding When Emergencies Strike

Emergencies don't pause. In 2025, we were there when conflict erupted, when floods devastated communities, when children were forced from their homes with nothing.

In Gaza, we continued delivering clean water, running child-friendly spaces, and operating healthcare centres despite impossible conditions. In Myanmar, we provided education to children in conflict-affected areas. In Sudan, we ran mobile health clinics to treat cholera outbreaks and gave children safe places to learn.

Wherever children needed us, we showed up. Because that's what you made possible.

Supporting Babies Born into Poverty in the UK

Child poverty isn't just a problem elsewhere. It's happening here, in the UK, where babies are born into families that can't afford the basics.

In 2025, we made sure those babies didn't pay the price for circumstances beyond their control. We provided Early Years Grants to families in crisis—giving them essentials like mattresses, baby clothes, and hygiene supplies. We supported families fleeing conflict who arrived in the UK with nothing. We gave parents safe spaces to connect, resources to rebuild, and hope that things could get better.

Because every baby deserves a warm place to sleep and a safe place to call home.

Creative Solutions That Changed Lives

Sometimes the most effective solutions are also the most unexpected.

In Sudan, when landslides blocked roads, we used donkeys to deliver humanitarian aid to families in remote areas. In Yemen, we trained a father to start a beekeeping business so he could support his family—and now his 12-year-old son helps tend the hives. In Turkey, we turned shipping containers into libraries for children who lost everything in the earthquake.

We're not just providing aid. We're working with communities to find solutions that fit their lives, their needs, their futures.

Why Childhood Is Always Worth Fighting For

When children get what they deserve, they prove time and time again they're capable of extraordinary things.

A girl who goes to school becomes a leader in her community. A baby who gets proper nutrition grows into a healthy, thriving child. A family that receives support during crisis rebuilds stronger than before.

These aren't just nice outcomes. They're transformations. And they ripple outward, year after year.

What Comes Next

2025 was extraordinary. But the need hasn't gone away.

Conflicts rage on. The climate crisis deepens. Poverty tightens its grip. But we also know what's possible when people refuse to look away. When compassion turns into action. When a donation becomes a delivery. A classroom. A future.

This Christmas, as you think about the gifts you've given and received, we hope you'll remember the presents that can't be wrapped—the ones that give children their childhood back.

Help us make 2026 even better. Donate today and give children the gift of hope, safety, and a brighter future.