Save the Children Sweden’s work in Middle East and North Africa
Save the Children Sweden initiated its operations in the Middle East and North Africa region in 1963 with service provision and support to capacity building, mainly in the area of health, in the former People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen (South Yemen). In the early 1990s, the programme began to change and support increasingly focused on the rights of the child and on more countries in the region. At the same time, cooperation with civil society was also initiated.
The peace process between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in the 1990s and the Oslo agreement in 1993, which was supposed to be the first step towards an independent Palestinian state created new opportunities in the Middle East region. An office was established in Jerusalem in 1997 and activities were initiated in the West Bank and Gaza as well as in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. Since 2000, the regional office has been located in Beirut.
The most important programme areas for the Middle East and North Africa programme are violence and abuse against children, education, child participation, discrimination and civil society organizational development.
Save the Children Sweden cooperates with almost 40 partner organizations and allies in the region. Most of them are local NGOs, semi-governmental associations and community based organizations providing services and working for the enhancement of the rights of the child in their local contexts. Some are organizations with national coverage: higher councils for childhood, government ministries and national coalitions of NGOs. We also cooperate with UN agencies covering the whole region or several countries in the region, such as the UNICEF, UNHCR and UNESCO.
More than half of the partner organizations and allies are located in Yemen and the programme is centred round Yemen, the occupied Palestinian territories and Lebanon.