SAVE THE CHILDREN
Around the world, too many children still start life at a disadvantage simply because of who they are and where they are from.

We are gravely concerned for children around the world caught in the middle of armed conflict in countries such as Afghanistan and Ukraine.

The combined impact of conflict, climate change, COVID-19, and the rising costs of food and fuel mean that 783 million people around the world don’t know where their next meal is coming from.

Children’s rights to survival, protection and education are under immediate threat. We can do something about it. Help us protect children to ensure they not only survive but thrive.

VSO is the world’s leading international development charity that works through volunteers to create a fair world for everyone. At VSO we pride ourselves on doing development differently. We fight poverty not by sending aid, but by working through volunteers and partners to create long-lasting change in some of the world’s poorest regions. We bring key stakeholders together to co-ordinate collective action, from local organisations to national governments. Our programmes in Bangladesh , Africa and Asia focus on health, education and livelihoods, with an increasing emphasis on resilience, peace building, social accountability, gender and social inclusion. We’re not about delivering quick fixes, but instead we focus on long-lasting, sustainable change that will improve the lives of generations to come.

Nowadays, Bangladesh has been regarded as the growth market with its robust economic growth of 6% per year, a population of 163 million (2019) people, and abundant inexpensive labor resource. However, 20.5% (2019) of people are still struggling in the poverty and economic infrastructure is not well developed. Also, the nation is vulnerable to natural disasters such as cyclones and floods, and therefore, it is susceptible to climate change. JICA as a top bilateral donor in Bangladesh, aiming to support the people in Bangladesh, is focusing on two pillars, namely: (a)accelerating sustainable economic growth and (b)overcoming poverty. As the support for economic growth, we continue to cooperate in infrastructure development such as transportation and electricity, and also provide support for revitalizing the private sector. In order to overcome various social vulnerabilities to overcome poverty, we provide support in the field of basic education, health care, rural development, governance, and disaster countermeasures nationwide.

Funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), UK Aid Direct supported small and medium sized civil society organisations (CSOs), based in the UK and overseas, to achieve sustained poverty reduction and the United Nations’s Global Goals.

The fund was flexible, adaptive and demand-led, responding to UK government priorities. Project themes included conflict prevention, disability inclusion, education, ending modern day slavery, health, livelihoods, nutrition, WASH and women’s empowerment.

All projects have now ended, and this website will no longer be updated. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all grant holders and civil society organisations involved in the programme. We are proud that UK Aid Direct has been able to reach nearly 9.8 million vulnerable and marginalised women, children and men, through 196 grants since the start of the fund in 2014, and through projects delivered across 39 countries.