Creating lasting
change for children

Robert Myers, Chair of the Board		Patricia Erb President & CEO

Robert Myers, Chair of the Board

In 2011, your partnership with Save the Children helped save and improve the lives of over 50 million children, providing hope to communities around the world.

In East Africa, your generous outpouring of support alleviated the worst of the hunger crisis for many. Save the Children was able to provide timely emergency food, clean water, medicine and health care, as well as long-term, sustainable solutions such as irrigation systems and agricultural training.

You also helped us deliver programs and services in some of the world’s most challenging environments. In Colombia, which has experienced decades of violence, your partnership is helping to reach 36,000

children in conflict zones with a quality education that prepares them to build a more peaceful, productive society. In 2011, this program received a very positive evaluation from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) for its impressive results.

In remote areas of South Sudan, the world’s newest country, your help enables health workers to provide frontline care. Mothers can now seek prompt attention for a child who is sick with malaria, pneumonia, diarrhoea, or other life-threatening childhood diseases. The impact is nothing short of dramatic: “There are not as many children dying in our communities. There are not as many graves,” a health worker in South Sudan told us.

This annual report is full of such inspiring stories, and as we look ahead, there is potential for even greater impact.

I am excited about the ongoing deeper collaboration we are undertaking with our fellow Save the Children organizations worldwide to become a united federation by early 2013. As an integrated, global organization of 30 members working in over 120 countries, we will continue to speak with a powerful and effective voice for children. We will be able to pool our resources in efficient ways, and build on our collective strength of nearly a century of success.

Save the Children Canada looks forward to playing an active role in this exciting partnership, especially as we contribute our expertise in complex issues such as gender, and children who work.

On behalf of the board, I would like to express our sincere gratitude to all who support this critical work. It is an honour to partner with you to advance the cause of children’s rights. I hope that like me, you will be inspired by what has been done, and by what we can continue to do together.

Patricia Erb, President & CEO

Last year, I visited a refugee camp in Kenya that was receiving people fleeing hunger and conflict in Somalia. Through an interpreter, I talked with a girl of about 16. She had arrived exhausted, her feet bleeding, after walking for weeks with her brother, 7, and sister, 3. Her eyes had a haunted look as she described travelling through conflict zones and sleeping in the open among wildlife.

I was deeply moved to see the difference Save the Children had made for these children. We gave them food, sleeping mats and hygiene kits. We arranged for another Somali family to care for them until they could be reunited with their parents. We helped them receive vaccinations and a medical exam, and start attending children’s programs. They were safe—and they had hope for a better life.

Our work with this family was only a small representation of our capacity to deliver at scale: over the course of the East Africa hunger crisis, we reached nearly 3.5 million children.

That’s the wonderful impact of your partnership. In 2011, we responded to hunger in East Africa, the earthquake in Japan, and more, thanks to you, our supporters. You helped us advocate for the health and survival of the youngest, most vulnerable children through our EVERY ONE campaign. You helped us continually strive to find new and better ways to help children, such as in our successful education program in Colombia, which involved piloting an innovative project, scaling it up, and using positive results to influence government policy. This is truly sustainable change.

In my 20 years with Save the Children, I’ve seen the vital impact of what we do, and it continues to inspire me to do more. I see that girl in the refugee camp and the immediate attention she received. I also visit projects where we have been working for years, and I see the long-term impact on children’s lives. I see the power of what we can do together.

I am deeply grateful to you and every partner—every donor, staff member, organization and funding agency—who plays a part in this worthwhile effort. Thank you for helping to create lasting change for children.