An infographic from Without Violence on the importance of protecting both boys and girls from violence and exploitation.

Misozi Sambo, a bright young woman from Zambia, is following her dream of becoming a teacher thanks to the intervention of our CEO Michael Kiely and friends back in Ireland who will now support her education.

How ChildFund has used solar and hydropower to transform a community in rural Zambia.

In the south-east corner of Zambia lies the district of Luangwa. At its eastern-most tip is Luangwa town, ostensibly a port town in a country that has no sea. Boats ply across the Zambesi and Luangwa Rivers that intersect here: look left, and there’s Mozambique; look right, Zimbabwe. Until recently, its potential as a trade post has been hampered by poor access. But now a new road has been built connecting this area to markets.

During its long history of political upheaval and conflict, Myanmar didn’t prioritize education — and its effects are still being felt today. In the 2016 Human Development Report, Myanmar ranked 150th among 187 countries for expected years of schooling. Linked to education are ongoing challenges of child labor and poor economic prospects, particularly in rural and remote areas.

When ChildFund Alliance set out to survey children around the world about their views on school and education, we expected them to tell us that going to school is important. We were thrilled when a definitive 98% of the 6,000-plus 10- to 12-year-olds we talked to said that education is, indeed, important to them.

ChildFund Alliance consulted with over 2,300 children in 40 countries and asked them about their priorities for the post-2015 agenda. In their "free charters" to world leaders they ask for the MDGs to be fulfilled and for violence against children to be added as a new global priority.

Even after 70 years of independence, we haven’t been able to send all our children to school. Worse still, there are crores [tens of millions] of child labourers in India, and their number is increasing in sectors such as agriculture, mining and domestic labour. “The root causes of child labour are poverty, illiteracy, lack of quality education and resources, and poor implementation of laws,” says Neelam Makhijani, country director & CEO of ChildFund India—a child development organisation. In an interview with FE’s Vikram Chaudhary, she argues that child labour and poverty go hand in hand, and suggests some reform measures that can, over time, eradicate this social evil. 

Childfund Alliance’s advocacy paper on post-2015 targets and indicators on violence and exploitation against children.