About Us

About Save the Children 

Here in Australia and around the world, we give a powerful voice to children and champion their rights. As a global organisation, in 2019 Save the Children directly reached 38.7 million of the world’s most vulnerable children in 117 countries.

Our history

Eglantyne Jebb, a pioneering teacher and sociologist, founded Save the Children in England in 1919. With a strong vision for children’s rights, in 1923 Eglantyne wrote what she believed were the fundamental rights of every child. This powerful statement was adopted by the League of Nations in 1924 (forerunner to the United Nations [UN]), and now underpins the current UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Nine decades later, these fundamental rights continue to create the foundation for everything we do. At a time when women had only just won the right to vote, Eglantyne was a pioneer for child wellbeing and revolutionised the way we treat children.

In the same year Save the Children began in England, our first Australian branch opened in Melbourne to assist refugees affected by war in Europe. Over the next 50 years, state divisions and more Australian branches were established to assist children in Europe and the Middle East. Improving the health and education of children in Australia became a priority in 1951. Welfare centres and preschools for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in Victoria were among our first Australian projects.

In 2022 we revealed a new name for our work in Australia – 54 reasons. The children we work with asked for something accessible, relevant, playful and engaging. The name is inspired by the 54 articles in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Our services continue to support children and young people to learn, grow, dream big, feel safe and supported. 

Your support is critical in helping ensure every child gets a healthy start in life, an education and the chance at a better future. Thanks to supporters like you, our services are helping improve the lives of children here in Australia and all around the world. 

We simply couldn’t do the work we do without you.

Becoming a global movement

As we continued to grow, so did other Save the Children offices around the world, and today Save the Children has become a truly global movement for children, working in 117 countries. Globally, we share one name, one strategy and one vision of the change we want to achieve in the world. In this way, we can work both as Save the Children Australia, and as part of a global movement with Save the Children International.

With the generous support of more than 116,000 Australians, corporate partners, trusts and foundations, and local, state and federal Australian governments, Save the Children Australia supports some of the hardest-to-reach children and young people around the world.

In 2019 we supported 41 projects in 15 countries. In Australia we reached 33,674 children and adults in 199
communities. We are also a leading member of the Save the Children Association (registered in Geneva) – a group of 30 Save the Children organisations that share a global vision and strategy for improving the lives of children worldwide.

To take advantage of our global scale and ensure we are as efficient and effective as possible, the members of the Save the Children Association work through a single structure, Save the Children International (registered in London), when implementing projects internationally. This means Save the Children’s projects in Australia and the Pacific are implemented directly by us, while our international projects are implemented through Save the Children International and local Save the Children partners.

Read Save the Children's 2020 Annual Report to learn more about our work around the globe or watch our video.

Our ambition for children by 2024

Take a look at Save the Children Australia’s 2022-2024 Strategy that sets out our ambition for what we want the world to look like for children by 2024 and how we’re going to help make that happen.

Our policies

Our policies, procedures and guidelines ensure we uphold the integrity of our work and that we are always working in the best interests of children. Save the Children's policies guide our employees to understand their roles and responsibilities to children and assists them to positively and respectfully engage and empower children and families.

Here's a snapshot of some of Save the Children's policies: