Save the Children (UK)
Mission: "Save the Children fights for children’s rights. We deliver immediate and lasting improvements to children’s lives worldwide."
In China since: 1920
Annual China budget: $1,620,000
Number of staff: 39 national and 8 expatriate
Mainland China contact:
Gao Cuiling (高翠灵)
Advocacy/Communications Manager
Building 12, Suite 161,Jianwai Diplomatic Compound
Chaoyang District, Beijing 100600
Tel: +86 (0)10 6500 4408
Fax: +86 (0)10 6500 6554
International Contact:
Roger Newton
Director of Southeast, East Asia and Pacific Region
17 Grove Lane, Camberwell
London United Kingdom
Tel: +44 171 703 5400
Fax: +44 171 793 7610
Activities in Other Countries:
50 countries worldwide
This organisation began in 1919 as an emergency fund to assist children in Germany who were starving because of an economic blockade still imposed by the allied victors of Word War I. Eglantyne Jebb (1876-1928), one of the main founders, was arrested and fined in London for distributing leaflets, entitled ‘A Starving Baby’, that criticised her government’s vengeful policies; but many members of the public responded generously to her appeal for donations. Over the next few years, Save the Children sent relief aid and workers across Europe, and partner organisations were set up in several other countries, forming an International Save the Children Alliance that has since grown to include members from 27 countries. Jebb, meanwhile, wrote a Charter of the Rights of the Child that was adopted by the League of Nations in 1924, and served as the basis for the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Today, as well as responding to humanitarian emergencies, Save the Children UK works in more than fifty countries worldwide to promote and protect the rights of children
In the 1990s, from a base in Hong Kong, it carried out basic education and water and sanitation projects in Tibet, a programme in Anhui Province to integrate children with learning difficulties into mainstream kindergartens and, also in Anhui, a pilot project to restructure an orphanage into small group homes with family style care. Since 1995, when the China programme office relocated to the mainland, work has grown steadily in breadth and depth, making Save the Children’s one of the largest international NGO programmes in China. In all programme areas the organisation works closely with government partners, introducing its distinctive approach through Child Rights Training for agencies and individuals that work directly with children or on related research and policy.
HIV/AIDS has been an important area of work, starting in 1996 with a school-based peer education programme in Yunnan Province, followed by an integrated prevention and care project in Ruili, Yunnan, starting in 2000. Both approaches have since been replicated elsewhere, notably Anhui and Xinjiang Provinces. Building on experience in Tibet (where education, water and community health programmes have also continued and expanded), a basic education programme began in Yunnan in 2001. This has introduced child-centred teaching methods to schools in poor, ethnic minority areas, while also developing income-generation activities to support local schools and working to improve nutrition, hygiene and inclusive education. Meanwhile, the orphan small group home model has been replicated in other provinces, and Save the Children is now working with Civil Affairs authorities to develop national policy for orphan care. It encourages community based care for AIDS orphans and has worked for more than five years with Civil Affairs across the country to develop good practice and policy for street children. Other activities have included community-based anti-trafficking initiatives in Yunann and Guangxi; experimental work on the diversion of juveniles from custody in Yunnan, and a programme in Anhui to develop integrated child protection services for vulnerable children, including disabled children and children of laid-off workers and migrants. Save the Children has also provided technical support for several local NGOs, and supported empirical research into issues such as bilingual education, children and migration and inter-generational poverty.
In the year ending March 31 2004, Save the Children UK’s total income was EUR 178 million. Donations and legacies from the general public accounted for 41% of this; 8% was earned from the sale of (mainly donated) goods; and 49% was given in grants by foundations, government and multilateral donors. Recent donors to the China programme have included the UK Department for International Development, the European Union, the Kadoorie Foundation, the Ford Foundation, R. Twining & Co. Ltd, and other International Save the Children Alliance members.
Links
http://www.savethechildren.org.uk
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