OUR IMPACT IN 2024
In 2024, children once again faced significant challenges, crises, and threats to their rights. Escalating conflicts, record levels of forced migration, and dire climate emergencies are impacting children across the world.
In times of crisis, we continued to deliver life-saving support for children and their families.
We partnered with local organisations to ensure our responses met the needs of communities and we stood side by side with children in the world’s toughest places.
I am very proud of the difference we made for and with children and their communities last year and I thank you for your support.
Inger Ashing
CEO, Save the Children International
10 POSITIVE CHANGES FOR CHILDREN IN 2024
1. Sierra Leone banned child marriage following a campaign by girls and Save the Children
1. Sierra Leone banned child marriage following a campaign by girls and Save the Children
2. The Gambia upheld a ban on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
2. The Gambia upheld a ban on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
3. Children participated in G20 for the first time in its 25-year history
3. Children participated in G20 for the first time in its 25-year history
4. Education catch-up clubs helped prevent children from working in cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo
4. Education catch-up clubs helped prevent children from working in cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo
5. Community health workers reduced cases of malaria by up to 70% in some areas of in Côte d’Ivoire by cycling to remote communities
5. Community health workers reduced cases of malaria by up to 70% in some areas of in Côte d’Ivoire by cycling to remote communities
6. Laos became the first country in Southeast Asia to ban corporal punishment
6. Laos became the first country in Southeast Asia to ban corporal punishment
7. A teen climate activist from Vanuatu appeared at the International Court of Justice
7. A teen climate activist from Vanuatu appeared at the International Court of Justice
8. A world record was set for the most countries attending a conference to end violence against children
8. A world record was set for the most countries attending a conference to end violence against children
9. Children in southern Malawi became better equipped against climate-aggravated health risks
9. Children in southern Malawi became better equipped against climate-aggravated health risks
10. Deliveries of blood and medical supplies by drone made childbirth safer for refugees in Rwanda
10. Deliveries of blood and medical supplies by drone made childbirth safer for refugees in Rwanda
THE WORLD FOR CHILDREN TODAY
2024 saw children caught up in crises throughout the world, with conflicts impacting children in many countries including the occupied Palestinian territory, Ukraine, Haiti, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Humanitarian emergencies caused or exacerbated by the climate crisis disrupted the lives of children in countries including Bangladesh, Mozambique, and Pakistan.
Today, funding cuts are putting our lifesaving work under threat.
Governments across the world are reducing international development budgets at a time when millions of children are facing the toughest challenges. This is a betrayal of the world’s most vulnerable children. It is creating critical funding gaps at a time when 1 in 11 children globally need lifesaving assistance.
While the challenges we’re now facing are huge, so is our determination to continue to work with and for all children – no matter what – to help them survive, learn, be protected, and enjoy their full rights.
OUR RESULTS AND IMPACT
IN 2024...
113.6 million children reached
113 countries where we worked
122 policy changes for children
112 emergencies responded to
KEEPING CHILDREN HEALTHY
GIVING CHILDREN A HEALTHY START IN LIFE
In 2024, together with our partners:
• We supported 15 million children and women to have vaccinations, skilled birth attendance, and use of modern contraceptive methods.
• We supported 12.1 million children to receive lifesaving prevention or treatment for under nutrition, including 773,000 children who received treatment for acute malnutrition.
• Our work successfully held 19 governments accountable over 2022-2024, including 49 changes made by governments to meet children’s right to health and nutrition.
HEALTHY START IN LIFE:
A HEALTHY MENTAL STATE FOR SENGHOUY*
I felt relief and happiness when she kindly listened to my problems, and it changed my thoughts and life.
Our Eliminating Violence against Children in Schools project ran in 43 primary schools in Cambodia to equip children with skills to support their peers' mental wellbeing.
Nimol, aged 10, was among those who learned how to recognise signs of distress in others, offer a safe space for them to express their feelings, and connect them with the right support.
During a break at school, Nimol approached a classmate, Senghouy, who was experiencing a difficult time. "I just patiently listened to her problems without any judgment."
Senghouy said: "I expressed my sadness and challenges at home with her, and she actively listened to what I shared. I felt relief and happiness when she kindly listened to my problems, and it changed my thoughts and life."
Nimol's kindness has made her a role model for Senghouy and other students, who are eager to learn the Psychological First Aid approach so they can support others.
The project is co-funded by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs JMoFA and Temasek Holdings (Private) Limited and run in cooperation with the Provincial Office of Education, Youth, and Sport.
Photos: Baby Kamila*, 5 months, held by her mother, is recovering from malnutrition in Somalia.
Credit: Mustafa Saeed / Save the Children.
KEEPING CHILDREN LEARNING
SAFELY IN SCHOOL AND LEARNING:
A NEW CLIMATE-RESILIENT SCHOOL FOR ARSALAN IN PAKISTAN
When catastrophic floods hit Pakistan in 2022, Sindh province was one of the hardest hit areas. About 19,800 schools were damaged or destroyed, disrupting learning for 2.9 million children.
One student, Arsalan, 13, lost his home in the 2022 floods after the water level reached the roof, submerging his village.
“When we came back after three months, we saw our homes destroyed and in bad condition. We went to school, but our teacher told us ‘The building is not safe, so you cannot continue education here’. We were disappointed… [and] we were crying [about] how we can continue our education.”
We constructed a new climate-resilient school, built to withstand extreme weather, and with solar panels to provide sustainable, uninterrupted electricity.
Our hope is that the new school, which we have now handed over to the Sindh Ministry of Education and Literacy, will pave the way for future similar projects.
KEEPING CHILDREN SAFELY IN SCHOOL AND LEARNING
In 2024, together with our partners:
• We supported 6 million children to accelerate their learning towards age and grade appropriate levels.
• We supported 42,400 teachers with training and skills development opportunities.
• We were successful in advocating for 31 governments and global actors to make significant changes that will ensure children receive their rights to education and development.
KEEPING CHILDREN SAFE
SUPPORTING CHILDREN TO LIVE FREE FROM VIOLENCE
In 2024, together with our partners:
• We supported 2.6 million children to access inclusive and gender sensitive child protection and mental health and psychosocial support services.
• In 14 countries we held state and non-state actors to account for grave and other serious violations of child rights in conflict and crisis.
• We advocated for 25 governments and global actors to make policy or investment changes that will ensure children's rights to protection from violence across 2022-24.
LIVE FREE FROM VIOLENCE:
PROTECTING CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE FROM DIGITAL HARM
Around the world, digital technologies are transforming the way children play, learn, work, interact, communicate, and access information and services.
Despite the numerous educational, professional development, and accessibility opportunities these technologies offer, greater access to these spaces also increase the risk of exposing children and youth to harm.
In 2024, we launched a global effort to support digital inclusion and empower the next generation of resilient digital citizens, creating a Safe Digital Childhood for all.
We are already making progress. In Bolivia, for example, we have engaged 2,097 caregivers, reached 2,348 children and adolescents and trained 1,324 public servants to advance digital safety and literacy.
DIGITAL ACTIVISTS IN ACTION
Also in Bolivia, our Protected, Safe and Empowered: Changing the World Online and Offline (PROSEM) project saw 30 young people aged 12 to 18 act as digital activists. They received training and created their own materials, training, and advocacy actions to promote and defend their rights in the digital sphere. Their work has focused on supporting vulnerable populations, such as migrant children, indigenous communities, people with disabilities, and adolescents in conflict with the law.
SUPPORTING RESILIENT FAMILIES
SAFETY NETS AND RESILIENT FAMILIES
In 2024, together with our partners:
• We supported 1.6 million children and adults with cash and voucher assistance.
• We supported 1.1 million children and adults to improve and protect their livelihoods and their investments in children.
• We influenced a total of 34 governments to implement resourced child-sensitive climate policies over 2022-24.
SAFETY NETS & RESILIENT FAMILIES:
IMPROVING LIVELIHOODS IN DROUGHT- AND CONFLICT-AFFECTED COMMUNITIES IN ETHIOPIA
The conflict which erupted in Tigray, Ethiopia, in 2020 had a profound impact on agriculture, leading to the devastation of agricultural production and loss of resources, leaving millions of people vulnerable.
The integrated approach of our Swiss Solidarity-funded project in Tigray helped improve livelihoods and social services for communities affected by conflict and drought.
The project, which ran from May 2023 to January 2024, provided:
• cash assistance to address people’s immediate needs,
• seeds, farm tools and training on agronomic practices, and
• long-term solutions such as irrigation support.
The project reached more than 5,000 households (around 19,500 individuals), with more than 15,200 individuals benefiting from agricultural assistance and almost 4,300 benefiting from the Multi-Purpose Cash Assistance (MPCA) programme.
By adopting an integrated approach, the project successfully helped communities to revive agricultural practices and significantly boosted agricultural production, food security, and income for farmers, and paved the way for long-term recovery and sustainable livelihoods among the farming communities.
OUR HUMANITARIAN WORK
OUR HUMANITARIAN WORK IN 2024
We responded to 112 emergencies in 75 countries.
At the end of 2024, over 325 million people needed humanitarian support globally, due to violent conflict, extreme climate events, and economic instability. It was a record-breaking year for children — for all the wrong reasons.
Our work to protect children caught up in crises became more dangerous than ever, with 2024 marking the deadliest year on record for humanitarian workers. We also saw funding decrease over the year, while needs continued to increase.
Despite these challenges, working in partnership with local and global partners, governments, donors, children and their communities, we provided life-saving support for children, as well as safe spaces, learning opportunities, essential healthcare, and the financial help to rebuild their lives.
OUR HUMANITARIAN IMPACT
In 2024, together with our partners:
• We responded to 112 emergencies and crises across 75 countries.
• We reached 30.7 million people, including 16.9 million children, with vital aid and assistance.
• Our Global Expertise and Humanitarian Surge Platform deployed 827 staff members and 244 former staff members to support humanitarian responses across the globe.
• Our Humanitarian Fund of fully flexible funding allocated USD$73.4 million to 71 countries to support humanitarian responses.
EMERGENCY HEALTH UNIT
Save the Children’s Emergency Health Unit (EHU) is a team of expert doctors, nurses, midwives, water, sanitation and hygiene specialists, and supply-chain specialists who travel at a moment’s notice to the heart of a crisis.
The team has decades of experience and provides children in some of the hardest-to-reach places with the lifesaving physical and mental healthcare they need.
In 2024, we deployed the EHU:
- to the MPox outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda;
- to cholera and measles outbreaks in Zambia;
- to respond to the conflict in Sudan;
- to set up a maternity and newborn unit and two integrated primary health care centres in Gaza. More than 40,000 patients received treatment, 186 babies were delivered, and more than 50 health staff were trained.
Overall, the EHU directly reached more than 481,000 people, including 135,000 children.
They also trained 1,805 health personnel, to help build stronger, better prepared and more resilient health systems for the future.
WORKING WITH CHILDREN TO ACHIEVE CLIMATE JUSTICE
GENERATION HOPE
The third year of our Generation Hope campaign, for and with children, called for urgent action on the climate and inequality crisis to create a safe, happy, green, and healthy future for all children.
We supported Vepaiamele [pictured], a young climate activist from Vanuatu, to advocate for the inclusion of children’s rights at the International Court of Justice in a landmark case last year.
We worked with children to advocate for governments to adopt global, regional, and national child-responsive and inclusive climate policies and financing. We also called for governments to provide better support for children, phase out the use and subsidy of fossil fuels and other environmentally destructive practices, and create meaningful and safe opportunities for children to participate in climate decision-making.
In 2024, we supported over 16,600 children across 35 countries to lead and participate in campaigns demanding political action to tackle climate change, an increase in public investment in children and for children to be meaningfully included in climate policy discussions and decision making.
Read more stories of children who are speaking out for a greener and just future: Meet the generation who will change the world.
Photo: Patricia planting a sapling in her family garden in Malawi.
Credit: Sam Vox / Save the Children.
BANGLADESH: EARLY WARNING IN ACTION
At least half of all humanitarian crises are predictable, meaning that there is often opportunity for action before families are impacted.
Bangladesh is becoming increasingly vulnerable to climate change. The 2023–2024 El Niño event brought record high temperatures, reduced rainfall, prolonged dry spells, and intensified cyclone activity.
In response, Save the Children’s Bangladesh team activated early action protocols for a heat wave/drought in April, Cyclone Remal in May, and landslides in August 2024.
Thousands of families received timely early warning messages and support for safe evacuation, shelter, and clean water after disasters struck. Early action enabled children to continue their education, ensured the uninterrupted livelihoods of their caregivers, and supported people to stay healthy despite extreme weather — underscoring the success of anticipatory action in protecting vulnerable populations.
LOOKING AHEAD
We remain committed to working towards our Ambition for Children 2030 and our 2030 breakthroughs – a world in which every child will survive, learn, and be protected. But the world is not on track to meet those breakthroughs.
As a child rights organisation, we must meet this moment.
In 2025–2027, our work will urgently focus on children whose rights are being eroded by conflict and the climate crisis and in all that we do we will advance equality and gender justice toward all children realising their full and equal rights.
But our sector is currently facing significant challenges.
Funding cuts are already having an impact, not just on what we are able to achieve in humanitarian contexts but across all our work. This is an incredibly difficult time. We must adapt rapidly to ensure we are able to respond to the significant threats children are facing.
We have stood alongside children for more than 100 years, delivering vital support and aid to help them survive, learn, be protected, and gain their full rights.
WE ARE DETERMINED TO CONTINUE OUR LIVESAVING WORK.
Please give whatever you can to support the children who need it most.
For me, child rights means to have the freedom of expression, to have a safe place to live with your family, to have freedom and the right to play.”
Find out more about our work at savethechildren.net/our-impact
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