September 2022 – Moving Child supports Save the Children

In 1919 Save the Children International (SCI) was founded in Great Britain by the teacher and social reformer Eglantyne Jebb and has since worked with 25,000 employees worldwide for the rights and protection of children. The German branch of the organization Save the Children Deutschland e.V. (SCDE) was created in 2004. Last year, Moving Child supported the SCDE in two of its projects.

The first project, “Save back to school” project in Yemen (see also our blog post from last year), was especially significant for Moving Child. Save the Children has been working in Yemen since 1963. The prolonged state of war, the destruction of many schools and school closures due to the pandemic lead to many children in Yemen dropping out of school and education in general. The “Safe back to school” program is especially important here as many parents keep their children at home because the way to school and everyday school life are too dangerous. Save the Children establishes contact with the children, distributes learning materials for home-schooling, and supports the children’s return to school.

In concrete terms, we supported Save the Children in rehabilitating five particularly badly damaged schools in the Lahj governorate so that the children there can learn safely. The buildings are now connected to the nearest water source, and boys, girls, and children with disabilities each have their own latrines, basins for washing and drinking water. Classrooms were also renovated, some were newly built, and even have solar-powered lighting and fans.

In all these classrooms in Al Qabbitah and Torelbah districts, which are in particularly hard-to-reach areas of Lahj, children can now learn again. Schoolchildren are taught here in mixed classes, among other things, in writing and reading. Since there are different levels of knowledge and a mixed age structure in these classes, the children are also encouraged individually. The aim is to prepare them for formal education in state schools. And not only that: the children also have the opportunity to stay at school after class to do their homework and play with others. More than 300 children can exercise their right to education here and get a chance for a better future.

The second project that Moving Child supported was the Corona emergency aid in India (see also our blog post from last year). As part of this project, we supported children who were affected by the consequences of the extremely high number of Corona infections in May and June 2021. Many are orphaned and vulnerable. The supply of the children with food, hygiene products, medicines, and psychological and social help is often interrupted or not possible at all. Among other things, Save the Children took care of the urgently needed medical and social care for the children in India.

As part of this project, Save the Children India worked in the four states of Assam, Odisha, Delhi, and Rajasthan. Together with the government, Save the Children teams and local partnerships were able to provide important support. Almost 160,000 children were reached as part of this mission. Among other things, childcare facilities received food packages, medicines, hygiene sets, protective masks, corona tests, and other information material. There was psychosocial first aid and individual counselling for children, relatives, and people with children in custody. In addition, orphans and vulnerable families were supported in taking advantage of other state protection programs and support systems. There was an information campaign for the population including murals, posters, and flyers on adequate corona protection measures such as washing hands and information on corona vaccination.

Moving Child is touched and excited to see how many people have been reached and supported through the work of Save the Children and the shapes these joint efforts have taken. This year, Moving Child is also committed to the Save the Children project “Emergency aid for children from Ukraine“.