Save the Children Sweden’s work in South and Central Asia
Save the Children Sweden started its operation in South and Central Asia in 1973, in Bangladesh. The regional programme was established in 2002 and in 2006 the regional office was registered in Nepal. Save the Children Sweden has country programmes in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan and is participating member in Save the Children in Sri Lanka.
Save the Children Sweden promotes children’s participation and works closely with local communities to address violence against children – primarily corporal punishment, sexual abuse and exploitation, early marriage and other forms of violence. We also work to promote child-friendly environments and ensure that all children have access to basic services including quality inclusive education.
Save the Children Sweden is working with partner organisations in the countries of the region; in Afghanistan we are working with 10 partner organisations together with Save the Children Norway; in Bangladesh with 23 partner organisations together with Save the Children Denmark; in Pakistan we are working with 9 partner organisations and our Regional Office for South and Central Asia is working with 10 partner organisations.
We are working on emergencies with specific focus on protection of children during and after emergencies. By building strong network and relationship with the International Save the Children Alliance and extending technical support to the Tsunami Response in India and Sri Lanka, the emergency response in Nepal (floods), and implementing emergency programmes in Pakistan (earthquake) and Bangladesh (Sidr), we recognised the need for strengthening Child Led Disaster Risk Reduction (CLDRR). Accordingly, Save the Children Sweden’s emergency response programmes have linked objectives to the Declaration of State and Donor Agencies for Disasters and the Millennium Development Goals. The focus has been on marginalized communities and children. As disasters seriously affect children, we have emphasized the importance of child centered disaster risk reduction and emergency preparedness programmes at community, local, national and regional levels.