Protecting children from harm begins in the very communities where children live, play and grow.
Communities around the world are working hard to keep children safe from neglect, exploitation and violence. By strengthening these networks and supporting community child protection, Save the Children helps ensure that local solutions prevent child abuse before it happens, respond quickly in times of crisis, and build safer environments for generations to come.
Why local communities are key to child protection
When it comes to keeping children safe, the strongest protection often begins at home. Families, neighbours, teachers and local leaders are the first to notice when a child may be at risk, and the first to act when something goes wrong. That’s why community child protection is at the heart of Save the Children’s work.
From rural villages to crowded cities, from areas recovering after disasters to regions living with ongoing conflict, locals have the knowledge and relationships needed to keep children safe. Community-led approaches ensure that solutions reflect culture, traditions and lived experience – because the best way of preventing child abuse is to address risks where children live, play and learn every day.
What community-led child safety really looks like
Community-led child protection is not a one-size-fits-all approach. It means working with children, families and local leaders to design responses that make sense in their context.
In practice, this might include:
- establishing child protection committees in villages, schools or faith groups.
- training teachers, health workers and caregivers to spot early signs of neglect or violence.
- creating safe spaces where children can share concerns and build resilience.
- supporting local organisations to deliver culturally appropriate services.
As Save the Children’s Fearless for Children strategy highlights, child safety must be embedded across all programs – before, during and after crises. That includes strengthening formal systems, but also backing informal community networks that children rely on most.
Building trust: Working with families and leaders
Trust is the foundation of local solutions. Families and community leaders often hold the authority to decide what’s acceptable and what must change. By working alongside them, we can address sensitive issues like child marriage, corporal punishment, or child labour in ways that foster ownership rather than resistance.
Our child protection framework stresses that “child protection is everyone’s business”. This means recognising the role of parents, elders, teachers and local councils. Programs succeed when these voices guide decisions, ensuring interventions are not only protective but also respectful of culture and identity.
Real impact: Stories of safer childhoods
In Bangladesh, Save the Children works with local leaders to embed child protection into all our programs – ensuring risks like trafficking or early marriage are front of mind for everyone. This helps provide a safe forum for children to report concerns and for adults to coordinate a timely response.
In Cambodia, we have worked with communities to build better social work support so families can seek out help. As a result of our work, the Cambodian Government has prioritised family-based care and committed to reducing violence against children through reform to child protection systems.
Here in Australia, programs delivered with Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations are embedding cultural safety into child protection, ensuring that First Nations children’s voices and traditions are central to decisions about their care.
Each of these examples shows that lasting change happens when communities lead the way.
How Save the Children supports community action
Save the Children’s 2025–2027 strategy commits us to evolving as a more locally led and globally connected organisation. That means shifting power and resources so communities can lead on protecting children, while we provide the evidence, technical expertise and advocacy to amplify their work.
We do this by:
- partnering with local organisations to design and deliver child protection programs.
- training community volunteers in child safeguarding, first aid and psychosocial support.
- advocating with governments to strengthen national child protection systems.
- ensuring children’s participation in decisions that affect them, recognising their right to be heard.
This combination of local ownership and external support creates a safety net that can respond to everyday risks as well as sudden emergencies.
Stronger together: A future where every child is protected
Protecting children from abuse, neglect and violence is not only possible – it is happening every day through the leadership of communities. When families, neighbours, teachers and leaders are empowered, children are safer, more confident and better able to thrive.
But this work cannot be done in isolation: it really does take a village. And in this case, that village includes local groups as well as international organisations, grassroots networks as well as governments – and even our supporters who help enable this work.
By investing in community child protection, we are helping create a future where child safety is the norm. Together, we can prevent harm before it happens, respond swiftly when it does, and ensure that every child grows up surrounded by care, respect and opportunity.
Donate today to support our child protection work.