Our Work

All our work points towards one goal: the sustained well-being of children, especially the most vulnerable. We work with families, communities, and partners to help meet the needs of children through sustainable development. Our approach is participatory and community-driven, empowering communities to take ownership of their development journey.  

Our focus is on children because they are the best indicator of a community’s social health. When children are fed, sheltered, schooled, protected, valued, and loved, a community thrives.  

We work through four key focal sectors - education, economic development, health and nutrition, and water and sanitation. Crosscutting themes of gender equality, environment, resilience and disaster risk reduction, peace building, child protection and disability inclusion are intentionally interwoven into all our programmes to enhance their effectiveness and add value to our work in these focal sectors.

The grassroots community programming compels Area Development Programme teams to build stronger coalitions with community-based organizations, civil society, government, and non-government development organizations.  

We work with communities not just to improve life now, but to increase their resilience in an unpredictable future with possible scenarios ranging from relief emergencies to social, political and climate change. We also make sure that the gains made while we are in the community will be sustainable when we leave. 

Our work for child well-being is highly relevant with more than half the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) addressing the context of children and youth. Our integrated approach and commitment to building peaceful, equitable, inclusive, and resilient societies compliments the wide range of economic, social and environmental objectives set out by the Global Goals.

We bring life-saving support in times of disaster, responding to communities affected by disasters both within and outside our programme areas. Working in coordination with the government and other organizations, we cover a variety of activities from immediate relief responses that meet the urgent and basic needs of the affected population to long-term responses that would ensure lives returned to normalcy. 

Advocacy is also an essential element of our work, along with long-term community development and emergency response.  Our advocacy work ensures that community transformation is sustainable and scalable. As we work alongside communities to build a better world for children, we empower them to identify and address challenges in the policies, systems, structures, practices and attitudes that make it difficult for vulnerable children and their families to experience life in all its fullness.