If you were forced to flee your home, what would you save?
A crisis hits – suddenly and without warning. You have just a matter of minutes to flee your home – perhaps forever.
What would you save?
You might stuff some clothes in a bag. Grab your phone. Documents. If you’re a child, you cling to a favourite toy.
But what about what you can’t take? Enough food or clean water to last more than a few days. Warmth, healthcare, a roof over your head, a place to sleep. Your job, an income and a sense of safety. If you're a child, a chance to get a quality education.
We’re there before, during, and after a crisis.
We help communities prepare for the next disaster – because it’s not a matter of if, but when.
We’re there when disaster strikes, to provide the urgent supplies families need to survive.
We provide what children and their families can’t save – what children need to recover and rebuild their futures.
We are experts in responding to earthquakes, droughts and conflicts, and the resulting crises that unfold, like hunger, displacement and disease.
In times of crisis, and in the world's toughest places, we stand side by side with children.
Keep scrolling to learn about what we do before, during and after a disaster strikes.
By giving to Save the Children today, you can help protect a child’s life and future.
BEFORE A CRISIS
We help prepare communities for disaster.
- We’re there before a disaster strikes, working with local partners to prepare what a community needs before a crisis. By planning, we can limit the damage and respond faster when the next emergency hits.
- Children are always at the centre of our action plans. We work with local communities, governments, donors and experts to develop a system to protect children and their families from the worst impacts of climate change, economic shocks and natural disasters.
- We set up forecasting and early warning systems, and ensure funds are readily available so that we can spring into action.
- We provide vaccines to those at risk from disease outbreaks to ensure children are healthy and can stay in school.
- We provide farming families with the knowledge and tools to adapt to the climate crisis and continue growing crops despite more frequent flooding and drought.
DURING A CRISIS
When disaster strikes, we are ready to act.
- We work with our local partners to provide life-saving supplies such as food, cash, clean water, shelter, blankets, and warm clothes.
- We also ensure the continuation of services, such as vaccination campaigns, maternal and newborn care, and sexual and reproductive healthcare.
- We safeguard children against violence, neglect, exploitation and abuse.
- We help children to cope with the emotional toll of deeply distressing and traumatic experiences. We set up safe spaces for children to play and recover.
- We help children separated from their families, ensuring they are cared for and reuniting them with their families whenever possible.
- We help set up temporary learning spaces to keep children learning.
AFTER A CRISIS
We stay to help children recover and thrive.
- In the weeks, months and sometimes years after an emergency, we continue to keep children safe, well-fed and learning.
- We work alongside communities and governments to strengthen and rebuild damaged schools, health centres, child protection services and other important community infrastructure.
- We continue to advocate for children’s rights, at the global, national and local levels, so that they aren’t forgotten once the cameras have moved on.
- We make sure they feel included in the communities they now live, irrespective of where they are from.
We provide what you can’t save.
From responding to conflict or war zones to rebuilding lives after natural disasters - Save the Children is there for children.
Every day of the year, we work to help children survive, stay safe and keep learning.
You can help us provide life-saving food parcels and bottles of clean water. Blankets, mattresses, and shelter materials to protect children from the elements. Trained medical professionals, at a child’s side.
Together, we can provide what families can’t save – helping them get back on their feet and face what lies ahead.
Continue scrolling or click on the navigation bar to learn how we have been helping children thrive and recover after a crisis. That is what Save the Children is here for.
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
Ending hunger
Charly*'s story
When war in the Democratic Republic of Congo forced Charly* and her seven children to flee their home they left with nothing.
They tried to start a new life, but it was incredibly hard.
We live a life of misery. We have no money, we have nowhere to find food. When they are hungry, some [of my children] start crying, others go to sleep, and others still stay quiet with their hands on their cheeks, not knowing what else to do."
Hunger soon took the life of one of Charly’s young sons. When her 15-month-old daughter Gervienne became severely malnourished she thought she was about to lose another child.
She rushed Gervienne to the nearest hospital where, thanks to Save the Children’s support, she was given a course of high-energy peanut paste, packed with all the nutrients and calories she needed to survive and recover.
When families like Charly’s are forced to flee, we’re there to provide what they can’t take with them. Vital food and healthcare to keep children like Gervienne alive.
Gervienne*, 15 months, eats Plumpy Nut as she is carried on her mother, Charly's* back. Photo: Patou Dombi / Save the Children.
Gervienne*, 15 months, eats Plumpy Nut as she is carried on her mother, Charly's* back. Photo: Patou Dombi / Save the Children.
We continue to work hard to help families like Charly's and end child hunger.
We support millions of children worldwide when an emergency strikes. But we need your help to continue to be there.
Ukraine
Supporting mental wellbeing
Oleh* and Olena*'s story
Four-year-olds Oleh and Olena live in Dnipro, eastern Ukraine. Despite their young age, they are no strangers to air raids. A few times a day, the children have to hide in shelters from air raids.
Oleh*(4) and Olena*(4) draw in the bomb shelter of their kindergarten during air alarm in Dnipro, Ukraine. Photo: Anastasiia Zahoskina/Save the Children
Oleh*(4) and Olena*(4) draw in the bomb shelter of their kindergarten during air alarm in Dnipro, Ukraine. Photo: Anastasiia Zahoskina/Save the Children
Often, the air raids can last more than two hours, which can cause young children to feel stress and fear.
To help children cope better, Save the Children has worked with nurseries and schools not only in Dnipro, but across the whole of Ukraine, to make these spaces and shelters feel safe and fun for children.
We help fill bunkers with colour, desks, chairs, games and learning materials so that children can focus on just being children.
A teacher blows soap bubbles while playing with children in the kindergarten shelter during an air raid. Photo: Oleksandr Khomenko/Save the Children.
A teacher blows soap bubbles while playing with children in the kindergarten shelter during an air raid. Photo: Oleksandr Khomenko/Save the Children.
Children are always the most vulnerable in crisis. Help protect a child’s life and future.
Syria
Keeping children learning
Danyal* and Maya*'s story
War in Syria cost siblings Danyal* and Maya* their father, and their home.
They fled their home seven years ago and they’ve lived in a camp ever since – cut off from everything they once knew and deprived of the chance to go to school and build a future.
Danyal, 13, and his 12-year-old sister Maya are close – but their life has been tough. Soon after fleeing home, their sister died in a car accident.
Maya, who was at the scene, survived the accident but it left her deeply distressed. She’d cry often and shut herself away, haunted by terrible memories.
Danyal, meanwhile, is still living with the consequences of losing an eye during the conflict and has struggled to live in a displacement camp.
Living in a tent is like a prison."
But Save the Children is there for Danyal and Maya. Our case management team has made sure Maya can get the psychological support she needs to come to terms with what she’s been through.
Neither child had ever been to school before. So, we, along with the Global Partnership for Education, enrolled them in our educational centre at the camp. Now they’re finally learning how to read and write – along with the centre’s 2,000 other children – opening a whole new world of learning.
Danyal*, 13, laughing with friends during a game at the learning centre. Photo: Delil Souleiman / Save the Children.
Danyal*, 13, laughing with friends during a game at the learning centre. Photo: Delil Souleiman / Save the Children.
Being at the centre makes life feel much more worth living, according to Danyal.
I have fun at school and with my friends, who are like brothers. And Maya’s starting to leave the dark times behind. Before we were displaced, my life was very sweet. After, it was ugly. But it became more beautiful again.”
Maya, 12, writes in her book during a lesson at school, Syria. Photo: Delil Souleiman / Save the Children.
Maya, 12, writes in her book during a lesson at school, Syria. Photo: Delil Souleiman / Save the Children.
And Maya now has big ambitions for the future, and the bond with her brother is as strong as ever.
Every day of the year, Save the Children is working to help children survive, stay safe and keep learning. But we need your help to continue to be there.
210 million children will require humanitarian assistance in 2025. That's 1 in 11 children.
Our work has never been more difficult or dangerous.
Your support has never been more invaluable.
Help us provide children with what they can't fit in a bag - their security, their education, their rights.
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