Save the Children Sweden is a politically and religiously unaffiliated non-governmental organization which is very well-known and highly esteemed in Sweden. We have over 89,000 members in 249 local branches and 26 district branches all over Sweden. We work internationally in eight regions around the world.
A membership organization
Save the Children Sweden is a membership organization, whose highest decision making authority is a general meeting every second year to which the district branches select representatives. The general meeting selects a board and a chairperson. The current chairperson is Inger Ashing. The daily work is conducted by the secretariat in Stockholm and is lead by a secretary general. Elisabeth Dahlin is the secretary general.
Personnel
At present, about 200 people work at the head office in Stockholm and our eleven regional offices in Sweden. At our eight regional offices around the world there are 37 ex-patriates and 544 nationally employed.
Active members
Through our local branches we have members in every municipality in Sweden, members who in many different ways all support the work for children's rights. They are supported by eleven regional offices around Sweden. More information about the local work is available from Save the Children Sweden's membership portal (in Swedish).
Save the Children Sweden’s youth association
Save the Children Sweden's youth association was established in 2003 for young people between 7 and 25. It is one of the larger youth associations in Sweden with about 7 000 members.
Member of the International Save the Children Alliance
Save the Children Sweden is an active member of the International Save the Children Alliance, an umbrella organization of 28 member organizations which are working together in over 120 countries. The work is coordinated from the Alliance secretariat in London. The work of the Alliance includes thousands of projects, from emergency relief to long-term development. More information can be found on the International Save the Children Alliance’s website.
It all started in England and Sweden in 1919
Save the Children Sweden was founded on November 19, 1919. Six months before, the first Save the Children organization, Save the Children Fund, had been formed in England, by Eglantyne Jebb. When the First World War was over England and the allies were enforcing a trade embargo against the enemy and the news about three million starving children was shocking. Eglantyne Jebb held lectures, made appeals and handed out flyers, with the aim of having the trade embargo lifted and the giving of humanitarian help. A child should not have to suffer through no fault of his own, not on the enemies' side either. On May 19, 1919, she arranged a mass meeting in Albert Hall, which was the start of the first Save the Children organization. Eglantyne Jebb knew that society must change for children to be better off and she was one of the first to formulate the term "child's rights".
Save the Children Sweden has been working for children’s rights since the beginning and were very active in the process of making the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child a reality. It was adopted by the UN in 1989.
Finances
The result of donations in 2010 amounted to 440,1 million Swedish Crowns. The total income in 2010 amounted to 910,6 million Swedish Crowns.
Here you can find the Annual Report for 2011.