2022 Annual Report – Save the Children Australia

We launched a new name for our work in Australia - 54 reasons. Our name change reflects our commitment to keeping children’s voices at the centre of everything that we do. As a core part of Save the Children Australia, 54 reasons exists to give a powerful voice to children, generate systemic change, and provide the high-quality services children need to fulfil their rights.
Responding to the 2022 floods, 54 reasons delivered Child Friendly Spaces in evacuation and relief centres in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria, giving children a place to play, learn and receive emotional support. 54 reasons also worked with families and schools on recovery efforts to ensure children received the support they needed to mitigate the long-term impacts. We do this through our Journey of Hope in-school recovery model, Mobile Youth Outreach and Mobile Play2Learn.
We launched our Child Rights Practice Framework, child i view, bringing together evidence-informed practice elements that contribute to positive, strong and sustainable outcomes for children. child i view recognises children as active agents who have their own distinct experiences of the world. It articulates 'why we do' 'what we do' and 'how we do it', and keeps us accountable to the children we are here to support.

Our programs in the Pacific have helped to sustain critical health, education and protection services in Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu through the COVID-19 pandemic. The Fiji Cash Assistance Project came to an end, having reached over 21% of the Fijian population. In Tonga we were one of the leading humanitarian responders to the volcanic eruption and subsequent tsunami.
With support from the Global Partnership for Education, we provided learning resources and Personal Protective Equipment so Tongan children could safely go back to school following the volcanic eruption and tsunami. We also installed water tanks and updated emergency procedures in 12 schools across the Solomon Islands.
The first years of a child's life are critical for their lifelong development, which is why in 2022, together with support from the Australian Government, we helped parents give their children a nutritious diet in Vanuatu, investigated the impact that cash transfers have on children's development in Papua New Guinea, and put educational technology in the hands of children who need it most in Solomon Islands.

For Ukraine, the International Programs department, in an unprecedented partnership with our social enterprises Library For All and lnclusiv Education, led a strategic Education Technology (EdTech) response with Save the Children International to ensure children and teachers continued their education.
Through technical innovation we accelerated our impact and reach in four countries across Asia. These projects, which were supported by the Australian Government, helped to bridge the digital divide for ethnic minority children in Vietnam, increasing immunisation rates in the Philippines, preventing and reducing violence against children and women in Cambodia, and helping children and young people to develop solutions to promote online safety in Thailand.
We celebrated the successful completion of our four-year Building Peaceful Futures project in Iraq. Together with our partners, we supported the safe and dignified return of more than 177,000 people displaced by the 2014 conflict in Northern Iraq. With support from the Australian Government through the Australian Humanitarian Partnership, returnees were provided with inclusive access to legal support, water and sanitation services, employment assistance and health services.

In 2022 we spoke out on youth justice, impacts of disasters and climate change, child protection and disengagement from school. We played an active role promoting children’s rights in the development of Australia’s new International Development Policy. We launched the Save the Planet pseudo-political party designed to give young people a voice to put climate change at the centre of the Federal Australian election, and we continued our advocacy to raise Australia’s minimum age of criminal responsibility.
In October, after years of private and public advocacy, the government repatriated 13 innocent Australian children and their mothers from North East Syria. These children can now leave the horrors of war behind them and focus on recovery and reintegration in Australia. We are continuing efforts to repatriate the more than 30 Australian children still in Syria.
We helped fight famine globally by advocating for urgent relief to respond to the hunger crisis, especially in the Horn of Africa, working in collaboration with other Non-Government Organisations. We supported the visit of Australian parliamentarians and journalists to visit hunger crisis locations in Africa. Our advocacy efforts contributed to an increase in Australian government funding.

Save the Children Australia is partnering with Jamukurnu-Yapalikurnu Aboriginal Corporation (JYAC) to deliver an innovative education model for Martu young people. The JAYC-owned ‘Martuku Jikiku Maya’ Student Hostel was established under Save the Children’s management to provide a culturally informed, nurturing environment for Martu students that wish to remain “on or near country”, rather than travelling to major cities and boarding schools, to meet their educational needs.
Through our long-standing partnership with GSK, Save the Children was able to deliver programs to improve health and literacy outcomes for the Doomadgee community. In 2022, five GSK staff and Save the Children’s Partnerships Account Lead challenged themselves to the 66km Larapinta Trek through Australia’s Red Centre and raised almost $50,000 for the remote community of Doomadgee.
Our partners dug deep in 2022 to help those affected by the conflict in Ukraine. Over $1.81 million was raised , including $1.35 million from Rio Tinto. Our partners and their fantastic staff raised $245,834 through staff fundraising. PayPal included a give-at-check-out appeal which raised $61,400 from their customers.

In 2022 over $3.3 million was gratefully received from supporters who left a gift in their Will. We honour their vision and generosity that provided crucial program funds for children where it was needed most. We celebrate all who have pledged gifts in their Wills and thank them for letting us know they are extending their precious support to include a transformational legacy for children.
In September, board chair Larry Kamener hosted our online event: Empowering children in the face of changing climate. Larry spoke about the significance of the gift to Save the Children in his own Will and how long-term challenges require the long-term solutions that these gifts provide.

In 2022 we redirected 1,948,062 items from landfill. This includes clothing, accessories, homewares, books and furniture.
We saw the re-opening of our Bateau Bay warehouse and Op Shop after the devastating Northern NSW floods.
Our shops implemented an innovative approach to volunteering after the impacts of COVID-19, such as our partnership with Youth Jobs Now!

2022 Annual Report: Our impact through programs and activities