Save the Children was founded in London in 1919 by Eglantyne Jebb and her sister, Dorothy Buxton. In the century since then, Save the Children organisations have been established in 29 nations around the world. Each of these members is part of the Save the Children Association.
Members lead on activities within their home territory and work with donors to develop programmes abroad, which are coordinated and delivered by a central body – Save the Children International – via teams on the ground in each country. Save the Children International also oversees humanitarian responses.
This structure enables Save the Children to use its resources efficiently and have the greatest possible impact for children around the world.
What We do?
Every child has the right to learn
Our child education programmes reached 8.4 million children in 2023.
How are we helping children access education?
We ensure children keep learning no matter what. Whether recovering from natural disasters, facing violence, or at risk of child marriage.
And in the UK, we’re improving early years learning and keeping childcare costs on the political agenda.
THE POWER OF EDUCATION
“Since attending the education centre I feel like my future has hope,” says Ghinwa
Every child should get medicine
Our movement’s child health and nutrition programmes reached 33 million children in 2023.
More children are surviving their early years than ever before. Yet our job is far from done – more than five million under-fives still die each year.
Now rising inequality, pandemics and the climate crisis are set to make it worse.
We’re determined to change this. We’re pressuring governments and working with global partners to improve health for millions.
And every day, our doctors, nurses and health teams are saving lives in hard-to-reach communities around the world.
We have to make sure all children get the care they need for the best possible start in life.
How serious is the problem?
16,000 under-5s die each day, many from preventable diseases
Each year, nearly 3m babies die in their 1st month alive
50% of under-5 deaths are caused by infectious diseases
1 child in 5 misses routine immunisations, exposing them to deadly illnesses.
How are we helping?
Here’s a few of the things we’re doing;
- Female Genital Mutilation: Raising awareness of the harmful effects of FGM and training health workers to help affected girls.
- Emergencies: Our Emergency Health Unit means we have supplies, logistics experts and skilled surgeons, doctors and nurses ready to send anywhere in the world in the event of a major disaster or conflict.
- Pneumonia: The biggest infectious killer of children. Find out more and work with us to end preventable child deaths from pneumonia.
Read our latest report for World Pneumonia Day here.
- Vaccines: Securing a £1bn govt. pledge to immunisation in poorer countries through our No Child Born to Die campaign. More donations followed, enough to vaccinate 300m more children.
- Democratic Republic of Congo: Renovation, training and improving medical supplies in partnership with GSK. Over 5 years, we aim to bring essential healthcare to 700k children.
- South Sudan: Offering vital healthcare to a 270k population at Nimule Hospital. With 10 trained midwives, it’s one of South Sudan’s leading maternal care facilities, delivering six babies a day.
Every child should have good food
Our movement’s child health and nutrition programmes reached 33 million children in 2023.
Children going hungry isn’t new. But many of the reasons are: pandemics, rising prices and disasters caused by climate change.
It means that, even today, 1 in 4 children don’t get the nutritious food they need to explore a world of possibility. Here’s how we’re changing that.
Our hunger relief and nutrition programmes help millions every year.
Around the world, our teams provide counselling, breastfeeding support, malnutrition screening, vitamin supplements and cash transfers.
And we’re pioneering new methods of predicting food crises, so governments can take action sooner.
How serious is the problem?
45% of child deaths are linked to malnutrition.
Improved breastfeeding could prevent the death of 823K under-5s
In 2030, 129m children will suffer ‘stunting’ as a result of hunger.
How are we helping?
Here’s a few of the things we’re doing;
- Northern Nigeria: Giving out small grants & dietary advice with DFIDto help 60,000 pregnant women and mothers get the nutritious food they and their children need in their first 1000 days.
- Niger: Tackling malnutrition in pregnant women & under 2s, focusing on breastfeeding and complementary feeding support. We’re also teaching improved farming techniques & empowering women & girls to earn & save.
- South Sudan: Using community-based approaches to prevent malnutrition. We also run outpatient feeding programmes to help children stay healthy.
- Yemen: Distributing food and cash grants to families. A major effort is to create safe spaces and provide support for mothers to breastfeed and improve the diet of their young children. The teams are also treating children for malnutrition.
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No child should be separated from their family through conflict or climate change.
HOW ARE WE HELPING
- South Sudan: Working with partners in South Sudan, between 2017 – 2023 we reunited a record 7,000 children with their families
- Ukraine: We worked with local organisations to help reunite lost children with their families and set up safe spaces for them to play and recover.
We’re there for children before, during and after disaster strikes.
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Together we helped more than 23.8 million people including almost 12.8 million children through the Emergency Fund in 2024.
In 2024, children around the world were faced with longer-lasting conflicts, deadly disease outbreaks and more extreme weather events, including heatwaves, wildfires, drought, typhoons and flooding.
Thanks to the Emergency Fund, we were able to start helping families quickly after a disaster – keeping children safe, healthy and learning – and stay to help them rebuild and recover.
