UNICEF is the driving force that helps build a world where the rights of every child are realized. UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is also the world’s largest provider of vaccines for developing countries. As a global authority UNICEF is able to influence decision makers at the global level and turn the most innovative ideas into reality.

For the highly trained professional who is committed to promoting peace and human development through international cooperation, UNICEF offers unique opportunities for challenging and effective work. Its mandate is to advocate and promote programmes to meet the special needs of women and children. UNICEF support at country and regional levels involves its staff in a wide range of issues in a rapidly changing environment.

Approximately 85 per cent of the organization’s posts are located in the field. Seven regional offices and over 160 country offices worldwide, 36 national committees, a research centre in Florence, and headquarter locations in New York, Copenhagen, Geneva, Brussels and Tokyo work on helping children survive and thrive, from early childhood through adolescence.

UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is an international development agency that promotes the right of every woman, man and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity.

UNFPA supports countries in using population data for policies and programmes to reduce poverty and to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV/AIDS, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect.

Welcome to the International Finance Corporation (IFC)! IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector. We help developing countries achieve sustainable growth by financing investment, providing advisory services to businesses and governments, and mobilizing capital in the international financial markets. Our vision is that people should have the opportunity to escape poverty and improve their lives. As an institution, we are guided by our values -- excellence, commitment, integrity, teamwork, and diversity.

A Wealth of Experience for a World of Change IFC staff are at the forefront of innovation developing the private sector in emerging markets. Join our team and make a difference in the lives of people in developing countries.

OUR HUMANITARIAN WORK
In 2011 Save the Children responded to 53 humanitarian crises, benefiting more than 7.6 million children.

We make sure that children affected by floods, famines, earthquakes and armed conflict get life-saving medical aid, shelter, food and water – fast. We safeguard children and help reunite separated families. And we help children recover from crises by providing emotional support and safe places to learn and play.

We prepare ourselves and at-risk communities, so we can act rapidly and reduce disaster risks for children. After large-scale emergencies such as the Haitian earthquake and Japanese tsunami, we remain on the ground to help children and their families rebuild their lives.

Our latest emergency operations
Around 1 million young children in West Africa are facing starvation. because of crop shortages and rising food prices. We are getting food, water and medicine to the most at-risk children. And we are working with communities and partners to reduce families’ vulnerability to future crises. This kind of action will help prevent the deaths of 250,000 children from malnutrition in East and West Africa each year.

Around 65 percent of the refugees fleeing violence in Syria are under 18. We're scaling up our work to support these vulnerable children. In Lebanon, our child-friendly spaces serve around 1,700 children every day. In Jordan, we are distributing food vouchers to 4,000 refugees.

We prepare children and their communities to reduce the impact of extreme weather. And we have relief supplies ready in vulnerable areas. Typhoon Bolaven recently left 20,000 people in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea homeless. We are working with local partners to ensure families have adequate shelter, clean water and sanitation. We are responding to the needs of thousands of children displaced by floods in the Philippines, by distributing household materials and running hygiene promotion sessions to reduce diseases.


HEALTH
Every year, almost 7 million children die before their fifth birthday, mostly from preventable causes. Millions of children become ill or die because they lack access to health services or an adequate diet. The world can save these children’s lives. The time to act is now.

Save the Children is a global leader in improving children’s health. We use evidence-based approaches to tackle life-threatening conditions, reaching as many children as possible. In 2011 we treated 5,119,322 cases of malaria, pneumonia, diarrhoea and malnutrition around the world.

We are strengthening community-based health systems in more than 20 countries. In Afghanistan, we work with the Ministry of Health to train local women as community health workers so they can save the lives of mothers and babies cheaply and simply. Working with others to scale up this kind of innovation has helped halve child mortality in Afghanistan in less than 10 years.

Children are most at risk in the first month of life. That is why we are implementing our Saving Newborn Lives programme in 18 countries. In Nepal, we helped to develop a model of community-based newborn care that is now being adopted nationally by the government.

We reduce the impact of HIV and AIDS by increasing awareness of safe practices and helping families to access counselling, food, healthcare and education. In 2011, our HIV and AIDS work benefited almost 10 million children and adults around the world.


EDUCATION
Education improves life-long health, income and prospects. Save the Children works to ensure that every child receives a good quality education and gains the skills and knowledge they need to thrive in the 21st century.

We support programmes that are proven to promote learning in school and in the community. And we influence global and national policy to improve children’s access to quality education, from pre-school care through to adulthood.

Research shows that many children in developing countries struggle to learn to read. To address this, our innovative Literacy Boost programme supports basic reading skills among young children. After successes in Malawi, Nepal, Mozambique and Pakistan, we are expanding the programme to benefit tens of thousands of children. As well as training teachers to be more effective, Literacy Boost involves whole communities in promoting reading through activities such as reading camps and reading buddy schemes.

We deliver education programmes to reach children who are missing out on school. For example, we run one of the largest community education programmes in Bangladesh, giving 155,000 out-of-school children access to education in community centres and youth clubs. These children attend more classes and achieve higher grades than their peers in formal primary school.

With UNICEF, we coordinate providing education to children during emergencies, ensuring that particularly vulnerable children don’t miss out on the benefits that education brings.

Thanks to our long-term education work in partnership with the Government of Laos, everyone living in Bolikanh district can now read and write, increasing their ability to break the poverty cycle.


CHILD PROTECTION
Sexually exploited. Recruited into armies. Shut away in institutions. Millions of children around the world are in danger of abuse, neglect, exploitation and violence – at home, in school, in the community or during humanitarian emergencies. Save the Children keeps the most vulnerable children safe from harm.

We bring about lasting changes to ensure children are safe and protected. We influence national and international policy and practices by listening to children, educating parents and mobilising communities. And we work with partners to strengthen child protection systems.

Our ongoing lobbying helped to secure a European Union Directive on combating child sexual abuse, exploitation and child pornography, to protect millions of children.

In Cambodia we have worked with local authorities and civil society partners for 10 years to strengthen child protection systems.

Following our TV and radio campaign, 5 million people in Romania now understand that physical and humiliating punishment harms children. Our campaign also influenced the government to review its strategy on child mental health.


CHILD RIGHTS GOVERNANCE
Securing children’s rights underpins all of Save the Children’s work. By ensuring that governments fulfil children’s rights, we achieve positive outcomes for children.

We are promoting change from the ground up, by engaging children, families and civil society in strengthening child rights systems. And we ensure that governments and international bodies meet their commitments to children’s rights.

Thanks to our advocacy, the government of Nepal is increasing its budget for children by a third and is establishing child welfare boards in all districts. In Zimbabwe, our pressure has led to budget increases of more than 60% for the ministries of education and health.

Following long-term lobbying by Save the Children and 80 partner organisations, children whose rights are violated can now make a complaint to the United Nations. For the first time, children have the same access to justice as adults, forcing governments to take children’s rights more seriously. In five African countries, we are developing ways of tracking national and regional government consultation and spending on child malnutrition.

We involve children in decisions that affect their lives. For example, we supported children’s groups in Nicaragua to influence local authorities, leading to a 70% increase in municipal investment for children.


ADVOCACY
As the world’s leading independent child rights organisation, Save the Children is committed to persuade and challenge those with power and influence to make a better world for children.

What is advocacy?
For Save the Children, advocacy is defined as “a set of organised activities designed to influence the policies and actions of governments, international institutions, the private sector and civil society to achieve positive changes for children’s lives”.
Advocacy is a long term process that starts in the field with the voices and priorities of children and whose goals can be achieved through a combination of different approaches, including working closely with decision-makers, lobbying, or raising public awareness of an issue. Advocacy is also, crucially, about making sure that policies designed to benefit children are put into practice.

Child participation in advocacy
Save the Children is enabling children and young people to have a voice in the issues that affect them and their peer group worldwide. Children have a unique voice – they talk about issues clearly and simply. They also cut through technical jargon and are not interested in politics. They just want things to change. Decision-makers do not usually come into contact with children so when they do, they often find it refreshing, and they take notice of what children say. Girls and boys in many different situations around the world have organised themselves to take collective actions and to promote and support their rights. They have succeeded in making their parents, local communities, media, local and national governments, and the international community aware of their concerns, priorities and solutions.

Advocacy Offices
In order to further children’s rights at the international, pan-European and pan-Africa level, Save the Children has established four Advocacy Offices, based in Addis Ababa, Brussels, Geneva and New York. The role of the Advocacy Offices is to work at the global level for policy change that will benefit children, targeting the United Nations, the European Union, the African Union, and their regional bodies.