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How together we make a difference to children in war

We often ask supporters to sign online petitions or email ministers on behalf of children caught up in wars or humanitarian crises like Syria or Gaza.

But what do these actions actually achieve?

Syrian children in a refugee camp. Together, we making a difference to their lives.
Syrian children in a refugee camp. Together, we are making a difference to their lives.

Well they haven’t brought about world peace just yet but they have taken us a step closer towards making sure the children affected by these conflicts are safe and can look forward to brighter futures.

Trying to achieve change for children in some of the world’s most serious and protracted crises is not at all easy and it sometimes can be even harder to measure what change a campaign action has brought about.

So here’s our approach, step by step:

1. We think and then we think again

Before we start campaigning we think long and hard about what needs to happen for children to be protected, what factors we can actually influence, how we can do it and who can do it.

2. When you can help, we’ll tell you

Having thought carefully about what needs to be done we often realise that only you – our supporters – have the power to inspire change.

People in positions of power want to know what members of the public care about – and they want to hear from you directly.

3. When we are making progress, we’ll tell you

Recently, more than 2,000 supporters emailed their MPs asking them to urge the Foreign Secretary to do more to help protect children in Gaza.

We’ve met with officials and presented your calls, and we know your message was heard loud and clear.

There’s a lot more the UK government could be doing to help protect children in Gaza, and now we’ve made this case directly to those who can help make it happen. This is just one small step, but in the right direction – and we know it really matters.

4. We won’t give up – and we know you won’t either

We have been campaigning to help protect children in Syria since the start of the deadly war four long years ago.

We won’t give up and we know you won’t either because on the 4th anniversary of the war in Syria last month thousands of you wrote to the International Development Secretary Justine Greening asking her to champion education for Syria’s children at a major funding conference in Kuwait.

In the run-up to the conference Britain announced £100m in new funding, and this week Greening wrote to us to outline the steps the government is taking to make sure children in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon can access education and child protection services.

We’ll of course keep you in the loop about any further progress – big or small – that we can make together to protect children caught up in these conflicts, or in any of the many other wars going on around the world.

There is clearly so much more to do and we really look forward to continuing to campaign together to make sure all children, wherever they are, can enjoy a safe future, free from violence.

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