Save the Children

The country director for Save The Children Luke Eldos said the project known as Building Bren Blong Pikinini or Building the Brain of the child will stretch over 4 years throughout the country.

He said the aim was to give Vanuatu's children a strong foundation to grow from.

The Secretary-General of the local Christian Council of Churches, Pastor Shem Temar said the development of Vanuatu relied on helping children get a good start in life.

Thanks to a US$32.6 million climate finance deal with the Green Climate Fund, the government of Vanuatu and the Australian government, the programme will help communities in Vanuatu, a South Pacific nation of roughly 80 islands, adapt to the rapidly growing threat of the climate crisis.

As cases of COVID-19 continue to rise in Fiji, Save the Children is providing grocery packs to feed hundreds of children whose families' incomes have been impacted.

The Fiji government has been urged to form a clear strategy on social support for families during the outbreak.

The call comes as a surge in food shortages has Fiji's charities run off their feet, while health authorities struggle to contain the spread of the virus on the main island Viti Levu.

There are now over 600 active cases since the latest outbreak began in April.

The MOU brings together the three strategic service delivery partners.

“We had learned that in Vanuatu we have many and strong local capacities available in the country to respond to emergencies. Some strong local organizations and actors have demonstrated during TC Harold which shows Vanuatu has the local capacity,” said Save the Children Country Director Luke Ebbs.

We operate 6 branches in Vanuatu and this partnership will assist Red Cross to build and strengthen its capacity to reach out more effectively during disasters,” said VRCS Interim SG Dickinson Tevi.

150,000 people continue to be affected in the aftermath of TC Harold across Sanma, Malampa and Penama provice with Santo (and surrounding islands) and Pentecost being the hardest hit areas.

Save the Children estimates that around 70% of homes have been destroyed in Sanma, and in some communities not a single home is standing. This has forced people into crowded evacuation centres with extremely limited access to hygiene items and facilities.

The damage to an entire generation of children could soon become irreversible without immediate help, it adds.

The stress of war has led to increased bedwetting, self-harm, suicide attempts and aggressive behaviour among many children, according to a new report.

The findings are based on hundreds of interviews in Syria.

Save the Children says its study is the largest of its kind into the mental health and well-being of Syria's children amid the war, which began in 2011 and has left more than 300,000 people dead.

The study says girls as young as 10 are forced to marry much older men in countries including Afghanistan, Yemen, India and Somalia.

Save the Children says early marriage can trigger a cycle of disadvantage across every part of a girl's life.

Conflict, poverty and humanitarian crises are seen as major factors that leave girls exposed to child marriage.

The finding is one of many to feature in a report by the aid agency Save The Children, based on a wide ranging exploration of child trafficking practices in the Solomons.

Researchers discovered that some logging site managers have been finding children for some of their laregely foreign workforce, and there are also reports of girls being recruited for sexual exploitation in Honiara schools.

The affected population has received aid through a mixture of distribution, emergency training and service provision across six sectors: Health, Shelter, Education, Food Security & Livelihood, WASH, Child Protection.

With shelter, food and hygiene the most pressing needs in the immediate aftermath of the cyclone, Save the Children worked in partnership with the World Food Programme and the National Disaster Management Office to effect food distributions to the entire populations of Epi, Tongoa, the Shepherd Islands and the outer islands of Efate – almost 23,000 people.

The affected population has received aid through a mixture of distribution, emergency training and service provision across six sectors: Health, Shelter, Education, Food Security and Livelihood, WASH, Child Protection.

With shelter, food and hygiene the most pressing needs in the immediate aftermath of the cyclone, Save the Children worked in partnership with the World Food Programme and the National Disaster Management Office to effect food distributions to the entire populations of Epi, Tongoa, the Shepherd Islands and the outer islands of Efate – almost 23,000 people.