We see tomorrow in today’s child

from the chair
the
year 2015 was significant in many ways. It marked the end of the 15 years’
term that the leaders from across the globe had given to themselves to
realise 8 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The focus has been to
collectively tackle the most crucial issues facing humanity such as poverty, education,
maternal mortality, infant and neo-natal mortality among others. It was in the same year
that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted to carry on the momentum
generated by MDGs.
The world has made significant progress in achieving many of the MDG goals. However,
India continues to lag behind in curbing maternal mortality and child mortality to expected
levels. It has also failed to address prevalence of hunger. As per the Census 2011 report,
89 million children in the age group 0-3 were malnourished, with 35.6 million among them
underweight.
Save the Children is committed to ensure that “Every Last Child” survives, learns and
fulfils his/her potential irrespective of who they are or where they live. To do this, we are
campaigning in India and globally to remove barriers resulting from poverty, discrimination
and a lack of political voice. These barriers exclude millions of children from basic
healthcare, nutrition and education each year.
Over the next 3 years, we will work to ensure that 15 million of the world’s excluded
children have access to life-saving healthcare and quality education – contributing towards
progress on 2030 global goals. This will help prevent 600,000 child deaths and help 50 million
more children to learn. India has an important role to play in achieving these goals.
Our current global strategy also recognises the trend of dramatic increase in absolute
numbers of deprived urban children and the imperative to respond to their needs. To
address this, the members of the confederation have come together to drive an Urban
Strategy Initiative. This initiative will expand our urban footprint by implementing
breakthrough urban pilot programmes, targeted research, learning and capacity building,
resource mobilisation and new partnerships.
Save the Children has been in existence for almost 100 years. It has a wealth of expertise
in ‘what works for children’ globally. We now wish to make this knowledge accessible
to all to achieve the greatest impact for children. I take pride in stating that Save the
Children India is now going to lead the hub for generating, identifying, applying and sharing
knowledge globally.
Thanks to the tremendous support of our donors, partners, collaborators and colleagues;
we achieved large scale impact by reaching over 1.5 million children across India. I am truly
thankful to all those who have contributed towards our successes and achieving superior
outcomes for children. However, to achieve our future objectives we need much greater
support not only from our current well-wishers but also from a large number of new
supporters from the corporate world, institutions, government and citizens. I look forward
to a surge in support in attaining an equal world for all children ensuring “Every Last Child”
has an equal chance for a bright future.
Best Wishes,
Harpal Singh
Every child
deserves the
best chance for
a bright future
chair, save the children
governing council
4 Save the children annual report 5