Save the Children Spain Annual Report 2012 summarises the nature of its activities in 2012, shedding light on developments that have been pushed forward in the course of the year and what programmes are currently in place to help.

The year 2012 ended with more than two million children living below the poverty line in Spain. The percentage of households where all of its active members are unemployed is steadily increasing. The younger children are being deprived of their fundamental rights according to the provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, such as the right to an adequate standard of living in order to ensure their physical and mental development. Children who are not being adequately nourished, have no access to extra-curricular activities or are affected by parental job loss are facing significant health and educational impacts. One of the most affected groups by the economic crisis are the children, who bear no responsibility for the current crisis.

To attend to the needs of vulnerable children and their families, Save the Children offers psychological support and educational reinforcement, and provides aid for food, hygiene and school supplies. The organization also works closely with local governments, public administrations, institutions, and political and juridical actors involved in the policy formulation process.

Outside of Spain, the humanitarian crisis in Africa’s drought-hit Sahel left 18 million people without food, forcing them to sell all their possessions in order to feed themselves. Save the Children’s programmes in Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and Mauritania have reached one and a half million children and their families.