Save the Children now operates in approximately 120 countries. It was launched by a woman who got arrested for handing out flyers.
A Protest That Changed History
Eglantyne Jebb was a British social reformer educated at Oxford. After World War I, she saw photographs of children starving in Germany and Austria due to the Allied blockade. Outraged, she created flyers and distributed them in Trafalgar Square in 1919. She was arrested for the protest, but the prosecutor was so moved by her commitment that he offered to pay her fine and made the first donation to her cause.
On May 19, 1919, Jebb and her sister Dorothy Buxton formally launched the Save the Children Fund at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The organization raised substantial funds almost immediately.
Writing the Rights of the Child
Jebb's vision extended beyond emergency relief. In 1924, she drafted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, which was adopted by the League of Nations in Geneva. It became the precursor to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, one of the most widely ratified human rights treaties in history.
A Century of Impact
Today, Save the Children supports millions of children and families worldwide. Between 2022 and 2024 alone, the organization helped 43.5 million children and families to prevent malnutrition. Jebb's belief that every child deserves protection remains the foundation of its mission.
Learn more on our Save the Children page.
