Save the Children is a charity with a name that is either invisible to the public or misused by telemarketers.
Despite its low-profile, Save the Children is the largest global movement for children, says Natalia Beran, the agency’ s volunteer co-ordinator in Western Canada.
The 80-year-old Save the Children federation operates in more than 100 countries, using as its standard the United Nations rights of children.
Beran said the group isn’ t well known partly because it operates in the background, providing funds, research and lobbying for other organizations that deliver services to children and their families.
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The group operates in Canada, where one in five children live below the poverty line. A major project uses street kids to explain sexual exploitation – “basically scaring the kids” into an awareness of what can happen, Beran said.
“The basis of our work is children helping to design the programs.”
She said giving youth the powers to make change is a principle that applies to projects in Canada and overseas. In Burkina Faso, street kids are given vocational training. They raise chickens or grow flowers, which allows them to earn money and respect, and integrate back into their families and communities.
Sometimes the project indirectly benefits children, such as in Mali and Nicaragua, where unwed mothers are taught to raise rabbits, goats and grow beans. A mother who earns an income can feed her children.
Beran said prairie farmers who may not be able to donate money can help by talking about the group so others become aware of its work. Education about development work has become more difficult in Canada since the federal government cut that part of its foreign aid budget in the mid-1990s. Save the Children uses volunteers working with schools to raise some of its money through “penny trails” and Valentines Day fundraisers. It does not use telemarketers to phone people for donations, Beran said.
SSave the Children Canada expects to get 70 percent of its $14 million budget this year from the federal Canadian International Development Agency. Individuals and corporations will make up the rest.
To learn more about the charity, contact it at www.savethechildren.ca or call 800-325-6873.
