Save the Children marks a 20-year Milestone in Central Asia

Wednesday 17 December 2014


Credit: PIERRE THIRIET / SAVE THE CHILDREN

November 2014 marks twenty years that Save the Children has been working in Central Asia. This represents a significant landmark of reaching out and helping millions of children and their families since 1994. 

To celebrate this glorious event, the Central Asia office organised an event in Dushanbe, Tajikistan on the 20th of November, corresponding to the 25th anniversary of the ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Government representatives, donors, international and local partners participated in the celebration together with 30 staff members from Save the Children. 

Running programs for 20 years in the two countries of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan has been no small feat and 2015 will see new challenges ahead as the current MDGs end and Save the Children begins to craft its new strategic plan for the short term, and a vision for the road to 2030 further on. Tajikistan still has 52 out of every 1000 newborns dying before the age of five from preventable causes and will not reach its MDG goal. Kyrgyzstan is closer to its target, but is still need for improving the nutritional conditions of children and mother-to-be, affected by iron and vitamins deficiencies.

In Tajikistan, there is a dire need to resolve the inequity of health care facing the mostly rural population. Many newborns and mothers still find themselves without access to proper health checks. Between the years of 2005 and 2012, 37% of children with pneumonia symptoms below the age of five were unable to find healh care. This childhood morbidity will create long-lasting negative legacy on families. 


Credit: PIERRE THIRIET / SAVE THE CHILDREN

We must all continue to protect children and ensure that they survive. Save the Children in Central Asia carries out programs with an integrated approach to health, nutrition, education, women empowerment and other connected themes.. Moving forward, SC will continue to work on improving health care services, developing better maternal and child health amenities and proper hygiene practices. One of the many projects developed by Save the Children includes bringing hygiene lessons into school curriculum and having children groups perform short skits on hygiene practices and oral health.

Zainab, a 9-year-old boy from Tajikistan, exclaims: “When I joined this project and the children’s club, I learned lots of things. Now my friends and I have no diarrhea, that’s because we are washing hands properly before we eat.”

The 20th Anniversary is a “tribute dedicated to all past and present staff members from the Central Asia office. All caring people know that there are places in our hearts that are not known until you love a child. Save the Children is our name, cause and purpose and has its heart in the right place,” says Thomas Wimber, Country Director of Save the Children in Central Asia.

Save the Children in Central Asia is a unique “2 country” office that works directly in both Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, improving children’s lives in ways unique to each country’s development needs through appropriate national and local partners and stakeholders. We have 200 staff covering nearly 70% of both countries, deployed from a total of 7 offices.