Save the Children Federation, Inc.

Program: Emergencies, Refugees, and Civil Society

Program Description:

Save the Children's Programs in Humanitarian Response

With more than 25 years working in Haiti, Save the Children was well-positioned to respond immediately to victims of the earthquake that struck this island nation on January 12, 2010. To date, our staff in the capital city of Port-au-Prince has delivered medical supplies to Hope Hospital and handed out food, water and hygiene equipment to people on the streets. We will continue distributing life-saving medical supplies in Port-au-Prince after a 15-metric-ton shipment of these supplied arrives in Haiti from AmeriCares.  Save the Children also started setting up the first of many Child Friendly Spaces planned for shelters and camps housing hurricane victims.  These safe spaces protect children and give them a place to play and recover from the suffering they have endured and witnessed.

Save the Children's Humanitarian Response program is dedicated to helping the world's most vulnerable children and their families during times of crisis, whether from natural disasters or conflict. To meet the unique needs of children during emergencies, our emergency response teams provide protection for children and help to alleviate the suffering of families through timely and effective delivery of food, shelter, medical care, nutritional support, and public health.

Immediate and effective emergency assistance

Save the Children ensures that our country-based staff in at-risk regions to assess emergency situations and determine what is needed to relieve suffering of affected children and families.  Because each country program has emergency response capacity, Save the Children was able to simultaneously provide emergency assistance in six countries -- the Philippines, U.S. Samoa, Vietnam, Indonesia, India and Nepal -- struck by natural disasters in October of 2009. Multiple disasters in Asia 2009. 

Be ready

In countries at high risk of natural disasters, Save the Children's emergency response teams   work with local communities to develop evacuation plans, train volunteers in providing medical assistance and establish warehouses to store food and water supplies. Our disaster-preparedness training in Bangladesh readied communities to take steps to protect families and their children when Cyclone Sidr ravaged communities along the Bay of Bengal -- and saved thousands of lives.   (Rebuilding after Hurricane Sidr: Six Months On) 

Save the Children's emergency health and nutrition initiative also builds the capacity of senior health and nutrition staff in our country offices. Senior health and nutrition personnel from over 40 countries have been trained in emergency health and nutrition And through a global partnership funded by Columbia University, Save the Children is also building capacity of in-country staff to provide maternal and newborn health care during emergencies.

Child  Hunger Crisis

Families throughout Africa and Asia continued to feel the impact of food shortages in 2009. In times of scarcity, children are often the first to suffer, with disastrous and long-term consequences to their health, such as acute malnutrition, stunted growth and decreased cognitive development. Save the Children protects children at risk of malnutrition, provides nutritional care for those that are acutely malnourished, and supports families by offering work opportunities and subsidizing food purchases 

In 2009, Save the Children distributed food to nearly 1.4 million children and others in Kenya, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, Philippines, Gaza and Vietnam. Save the Children worked with Ministries of Health and other key stakeholders in six countries to provide therapeutic care for acutely malnourished children and proven treatment, such as "Plumpy'nut" -- a ready-to-eat, nutritious food that parents can feed moderately malnourished children at home.

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Program: Education

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Save the Children's Programs in Education

“I am happy to attend school in my village. We have a lot of games in our school, and our teachers are very good. They teach us math, environmental science, language and art. When I grow up I want to be a teacher,” says Kumessa. age 6, one of 270 children attending the new school built and supported by Save the Children in Honche Bite, Ethiopia. Before their new school was built, children had to stay home until they were old enough to manage the hour-and-a-half trek to the nearest school.

 

Education is one of the most direct and effective pathways out of poverty. But worldwide, more than 75 million children do not attend school. Save the Children's education programs are designed to provide quality education to children in disadvantaged circumstances, who live in remote areas or face discrimination -- like girls, ethnic minorities and children with disabilities. Save the Children’s challenge is to provide children access to quality education and help them succeed in learning. 

Early childhood development programs

Research shows that young children’s experiences in their early years set the stage for future success in school and beyond. Yet more than 200 million children in poverty and challenging family situations – like high HIV/AIDS prevalence or conflicts –are not prepared to achieve their potential as students when they start school. Save the Children's innovative approaches to early childhood development in 25 countries train and educate parents and teachers to support young children at home; establish, manage and improve early childhood development centers; and advocate for policies to support early childhood development approaches to learning. 

Basic Education

In 28 countries around the world, Save the Children opens up education opportunities for children by improving learning, teaching, and assessment for all students; building leadership and management capacity; creating a school culture to protect and support all children; improving school facilities, learning spaces and materials; boosting literacy acquisition; and improving school health and nutrition services and practices. 

The Literacy Boost

Save the Children places a special emphasis on literacy -- the key skill to pursuing further learning and work opportunities -- because even in the best of circumstances, many children struggle to learn to read. Save the Children has analyzed the factors and conditions behind poor reading skills and developed an approach to strengthen literacy, based on reading assessments among children in the early grades, teacher training and parent and community education.

Rewrite the Future

Save the Children provides education to children affected by emergencies, war and conflict in more than 20 countries through the Rewrite the Future campaign. Since 2006, 10 million children have benefited from the opportunity to resume learning and many are attending school for the first time. Rewrite the Future also protects vulnerable children living under volatile conditions and provides emotional support for those who have endured traumatic events. 

Learning to Be Healthy and Being Healthy to Learn

In 2009, Save the Children's School Health and Nutrition program reach approximately 1.4 million children in 19 countries.

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Program: Primary Health

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Save the Children's Programs in Health and Nutrition

Momtaj is one of 7,000 volunteer health workers living in remote and underserved areas of Bangladesh who have been trained to diagnose and treat childhood pneumonia and diarrhea, two of the top killers of young children. “Before, the people in my village were not aware of pneumonia,” said Momtaj. “But once I was trained, I told them to look for danger signs like rapid breathing. I’m not a big doctor. I have just a few years of schooling. But, as you can see, with my treatment, children are smiling and healthy."

Despite great strides in maternal, newborn and child health over the past 30 years, nearly 9 million children under age 5 die each year -- and more than 60 percent of those deaths could be prevented if families had access to affordable, effective health care. In 34 countries around the world, Save the Children partners with government health agencies, local and international organizations and donors to improve the quality, availability and use of health practices and services in local communities. Key to our programs is training and equipping community health workers to diagnose and treat diseases that pose the greatest threats to young children. Living near the families they serve and educating parents in improved health and hygiene, community health workers make the difference between life and death for thousands of children.

Saving Newborn Lives

More than 40 percent of nearly 4 million newborn deaths each year could be prevented if women had access to basic health care, such as skilled midwifery care during childbirth, appropriate treatment of newborn infections, management of prematurity and proper attention to hygiene, warmth and breastfeeding. With grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation since 2000, Save the Children has worked closely with the governments of 22 countries to deliver and sustain essential health services to millions of mothers and their newborns. 

 Survive to 5

Save the Children's Survive to 5 campaign supports Millennium Development Goal 4 -- to reduce deaths among children under age 5 by two-thirds by 2015. Survive to 5 focuses on:

• Providing community-based care for families lacking access to treatment, and training community health workers to diagnose and treat serious infections;
• Supporting advocacy efforts to ensure that governments in donor and developing countries prioritize spending on maternal and child health programs;
• Mobilizing citizens and policymakers to take action on behalf of children through advocacy and events such as World Pneumonia Day.

Fighting HIV/AIDS in Partnership with Communities

Save the Children supports hundreds of thousands of children affected by HIV to:

• Provide comprehensive care and support for orphans and vulnerable children in Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, Uganda and Haiti; 

• Build awareness among at-risk youth, and increase their access to information and services, peer support networks and youth-friendly services,
• Address the transmission of pediatric infection through prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and care for children known to be HIV-positive. 

Learning to Be Healthy and Being Healthy to Learn

Save the Children’s School Health and Nutrition (SHN) program addresses the critical health and nutrition factors that keep children healthy so they can attend school regularly and succeed in learning.  SHN activities -- such as immunizations, deworming and micro-nutrients -- are cost-effective and result in large improvements in education outcomes. 

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Program: Economic Opportunities

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Save the Children's Programs in Livelihoods

Miguel, a farmer in Guatemala's highlands,  was selected by his community to participate in agricultural training as a part of Save the Children’s program to improve the quality and quantity of his crops and also the nutrition of his children. Miguel said,: “Save the Children showed me how to grow my corn better. I use less seed, space the plants better, and fertilize with the manure from my goat and chickens. My land makes more corn now so that I don’t have to buy corn at the market any more. My children get fresh milk from [my] goat every day – ever since my second son, Luis Pedro, was born. Alex, my third son, drinks the most goat milk. He used to be very skinny and got sick a lot, but now he is healthier and smarter. I think this is because my wife and I know how to take care of him better. We know what food is good for growing babies and how important the goat milk is for his health.”

Children are more likely to be safe, educated and healthy when families have secure livelihoods. Save the Children works with vulnerable families in 27 countries to help ensure that they can afford to pay for basic needs and services for their children and provide access to sufficient, nutritious food all year round. We also offer assistance when shocks, such as rising food prices or natural or man-made disasters, threaten to devastate families. Save the Children's support provides the foundation from which families can achieve and sustain well-being for their children.

• Livelihoods in Emergencies: In the event of an emergency, Save the Children provides resources and support for early livelihoods recovery. Our programs enable vulnerable households to meet immediate survival needs and recover assets. We also provide access to safety nets (provision of cash or food), community-based disaster risk reduction strategies and access to safe savings systems and affordable insurance products, which all help to build resilient households.
• Rural Livelihoods: In rural areas, Save the Children focuses interventions on improving agricultural knowledge and practices, increasing food security and access to financial services. Farming systems improvements reduce periods of hunger between harvests, improve the variety of nutritional foods available for children, and form the basis for improved incomes through crop sales.
• Urban Livelihoods: In urban areas, Save the Children interventions include establishing urban gardens and improving access to market opportunities and financial services. Our microfinance activities include credit, safe savings schemes and insurance. These strategies help parents provide their children with nutritious food, pay school fees, and strengthen families’ resilience to shocks.

Food Security

Save the Children's response to the child hunger crisis focuses on maintaining reliable availability and access to food. Our interventions also aim to improve children's health and nutrition. In the short-term, we provide cash and/or food safety-nets on a seasonal or year-round basis. Over the longer term, we help farmers and entrepreneurs increase food production and household income through technical assistance, capital and more profitable markets. Save the Children's advocacy efforts ensure that the impact of the hunger crisis on children is recognized and that governments commit resources and respond appropriately to increase food security.

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Program: US Programs

Program Description:

Emergency Response

Save the Children has emerged as a national leader in ensuring the safety and wellbeing of children before, during and after a domestic emergency. In addition to responding to disasters like Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Hurricanes Ike and Gustav in 2008, Save the Children advocates at the local, state and federal level for emergency preparedness, response and recovery plans that address the unique needs of children. We led a group of child-focused organizations that advocated for the creation of the National Commission on Children and Disasters. In addition, we are a member of National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters (NVOAD), a group of leading U.S. emergency response and recovery agencies, and we are the voice of children on the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) National Advisory Council

Read more about Domestic Emergency Response

 

Education

 

Early Childhood Development

Ensuring that young children across America are prepared to succeed in school is the basis of Save the Children's early childhood development program, Early Steps for School Success. Through a home visitation and parent-child group model, early childhood professionals work alongside families to help children develop strong literacy and communication skills before they enter kindergarten. The program, which serves over 3,100 children in nearly 60 communities, is proving to be successful, with three-year old children who have been enrolled in the program for a year or more scoring an average of 95.7 on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, more than 10 points higher than children in Early Head Start.

 

Literacy

Our literacy programs reach nearly 15,000 children in poor rural communities in 12 states across the U.S. Our staff works in groups and one-on-one with struggling readers to help improve their reading skills. Through structured tutorials and literacy activities we help children build their vocabulary and reading comprehension. We work with struggling readers to identify trouble spots and foster a love of reading. Save the Children partners with local schools and community-based organizations to offer in-school, afterschool and summer literacy programs for children.

More than 60 percent of children showed major improvement after participating in the literacy program during the 2008-2009 school year and the percentage of children reading at or above grade level nearly doubled from the start of the school year to the end. Children also read an average of 64 books throughout the year in our program.

Back-to-School Success Stories

 

Combating Childhood Obesity

 

Childhood obesity is a health crisis affecting more than 23 million American children who may face life-threatening health problems as a consequence. Save the Children created the CHANGE (Creating Healthy, Active, and Nurturing Growing-up Environments) Program in 2005 to encourage healthier eating and exercise habits for children. Through the program, children are offered 30 minutes of physical activity each day – half of the daily recommended amount for children – and a nutritious snack, like a full serving of fruits or vegetables, to improve their health. We also provide important nutrition information to schools, children and parents to encourage healthy eating choices. CHANGE is currently offered in 132 Save the Children-supported after-school, in-school and summer program sites in 12 states.

 

CHANGE for Children in Rural America: Toward a Healthier Future

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