Children's Emergency Fund

Since our founding, Save the Children has been committed to helping children in crisis, and our ability to do so quickly and efficiently depends on our Children’s Emergency Fund.

Flexible humanitarian funding has never been more important. Malnutrition and food insecurity rates continue to soar around the world due to prolonged drought, conflict, economic instability, and increasing food costs from to the war in Ukraine, leading to an unprecedented hunger crisis.

Our Children’s Emergency Fund is an essential resource as we prepare for and respond to this increase in need. It also makes it possible for us to pre-position supplies in disaster-prone areas so we can act quickly to save lives, distribute essential supplies, restore education and livelihoods, and re-establish a sense of normalcy for children and families as quickly as possible.

Through our Children’s Emergency Fund, we’ve been able to reach over 11.7 million people between January and July of this year. It is with great pleasure that we share some updates on the work that you have helped make possible so far in 2022.

• We have reached over 11 million children and adults so far in 2022.
• 37 countries have been supported with emergency funds in 2022.

Some highlights and impact:

Mali: Funding from the Children’s Emergency Fund has supported internally displaced children through our Child Friendly Spaces and learning centers along with food and cash assistance to mitigate food insecurity.

Afghanistan: In Afghanistan, we were able to provide multi-purpose cash transfers to vulnerable families at risk of displacement in areas where no other organizations were able to provide support.

Colombia: We’re delivering emergency kits to meet the most urgent needs of people displaced by conflict in Colombia. These include hygiene kits, dignity kits, food, and psychosocial support materials for children.

Mozambique: The Children’s Emergency Fund contributed toward establishing education and child protection services for internally displaced people in Cabo Delgado in Mozambique.

Bangladesh: We responded to two major fires in a refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar. Through the Children’s Emergency Fund, our staff was able to act as first responders, delivering clothes to families impacted by the fires and reconstructing homes quickly and efficiently.

USA: After the devastating flash floods in Eastern Kentucky, our staff worked to meet the needs of children and their families by distributing meals and emergency supplies, providing cash to families, and supporting schools and childcare facilities by providing educational supplies.

When a crisis occurs and children’s lives and futures are threatened, there is no time to lose. Your generous support for our Children’s Emergency Fund allows us to respond across the globe wherever and whenever there is need. 

Links:

• Save the Children - Emergency Response

Around the world, a deadly combination of COVID-19, conflict and climate change has pushed hunger and malnutrition levels to a record high and put countless children’s lives in danger. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 274 million people will require humanitarian assistance in 2022.

Save the Children is immensely proud of the incredible strength of our child-focused humanitarian work. With the support of the Children’s Emergency Fund, and your donation, we are prepared to respond to disasters quickly, focusing on children’s needs with unmatched experience and local partnerships that enable us to know what is needed. The Fund also gives us the ability to respond to ongoing crises such as conflict and hunger and to crises the world largely ignores that nevertheless endanger children’s lives and futures.

In the past year, the world’s children were confronted with a continuous stream of humanitarian crises – including war in Ukraine, a devastating cyclone in Madagascar in February 2022; the August 2021 earthquake in Haiti; Hurricane Ida here in the U.S.; acute ongoing food shortages in Yemen and the tragic upheaval confronting Afghan boys and girls. Save the Children’s ability to respond quickly and efficiently to those crises and many others depended – and continues to depend – on our Children’s Emergency Fund.

Notably, the Children’s Emergency Fund enabled us to meet the most urgent needs of children and families in Ukraine as tension escalated earlier this year. The Fund also enabled us to respond immediately when huge numbers of people started to flee Ukraine and seek safety in neighboring countries. With this flexible funding, we continue to respond to changing contexts in Ukraine and in the region.

In short, the Children’s Emergency Fund is now more important than ever. With the crisis in Ukraine increasing hunger for millions globally due to inflation and skyrocketing wheat prices, the lives of children in the world's most fragile contexts, such as Afghanistan, Yemen, Lebanon and Syria, are now at even greater risk. This invaluable pooled fund will help ensure we can continue to be there for them – and for children affected by natural disasters and other crises in the days and months to come.

Links:

• Save the Children - Emergency Response