Our impact

Enfant dessinant dans une école au Burkina Faso
Creativity

Working together with children for a better future

Their names are Samjhana, Brian, Hasina, Hamidou, Versavia, Baba... Names that may not yet mean anything to you, but they speak volumes about the lives of millions of people around the world. Whole families and communities falling victim to natural disasters, armed conflict, forced migration, poverty, lack of basic hygiene facilities or malnutrition.  

Newborns, children, teenagers, young adults, all living in countries with difficult living conditions, sometimes extremely so, in places where the most basic rights are respected little if at all.

Can you help change their lives, permanently?

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Empowering children through the ripple effect of your support.
The impact of your generosity

Find out about our three programmes:

At the heart of the matter

As the leading Swiss organisation for children's aid, we operate all over the world and work each and every day through three programmes focusing on issues surrounding health, migration and access to justice.  

Our programmes are underpinned by three fields of expertise that help protect the lives, well-being and rights of children and young people worldwide:

Child protection concerns children and young people affected by troubling situations that require individual psychosocial treatment to improve their well-being.

Access to decent quality water, sanitation and hygiene (WaSH) aims to enable children and their families to enjoy their right to water, being one of the basic components in an adequate standard of living.

Information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D) enable us to develop solutions to support more children and members of their communities and become more effective in a constantly changing world.  

Our impact in 2023

5.2 million

children and members of their communities were supported worldwide both directly and through trained people

208 projects

were implemented in 30 countries

40,300 people 

were trained worldwide in subjects such as health and protection

Changing children’s daily lives for good

On the Kabaddi court with Hasina

“Now I play Kabaddi, I’m not afraid of the boys I meet on the way to school any more. I have the self-confidence and strength to face up to them.”     Hasina, 17 years old, India

Hasina is actively involved in Terre des hommes’ Kabaddi project in India. This original initiative offers young migrant women the opportunity to emancipate themselves by playing this contact sport, traditionally one reserved for boys. Through Kabaddi, this 17-year-old Indian woman has found a path and avoided getting married at a young age. 

Read Hasina’s testimonial
Girls playing in Kabaddi, India
Girls playing in Kabaddi, India

On the mining site with Hamidou 

“When we dig holes, we have to use dynamite to explode the rock. It’s difficult and dangerous work. You can spend 4 years on a site like this one before you find a single nugget of gold.”    Hamidou, 17 years old, Burkina Faso

Hamidou’s hands and arms are covered in dust. You can see the exhaustion and fear on his face. Fear of falling down the 80-metre hole the young gold prospector has had to dig. In Ganzourgou province, thousands of children leave school to work in gold mines, where living conditions are dreadful. To prevent accidents and the reduce the risk of exploitation, Tdh has set up a digital warning system.  

Read Hamidou’s testimonial
Hamidou Burkina Faso
Hamidou Burkina Faso

At the protection centre with Versavia

“I like being here a lot. I play with new friends every day in the children’s room. The leaders play with us all the time.”    Versavia, 3 years old, Ukraine  

With her parents Artur and Tatiana and her four brothers and sisters, Versavia has found refuge in one of the “Blue Dot” safe spaces in Modova run by Tdh and Unicef Moldova. Here, the little girl participates with other children in play and creative activities that help her to forget a little about the bombs and other horrors of the war in Ukraine. 

Read Versavia’s story
Versavia Moldavie
Versavia Moldavie

At school with Baba

“Every day when I arrive at school, I queue up to wash my hands before going into class. We also wash our hands at break time and after school.”    Baba, aged 10 – Nigeria

Every morning, Baba helps the younger children by pumping water with his foot while they wash their hands. His broad smile shows that he takes his role very seriously. In Nigeria, 400 children can now wash their hands every day thanks to Terre des hommes’ Gravit’Eau project, which provides mobile washbasins saving up to 95% in water use, and cutting the spread of diseases and epidemics by half.

Read more about the Gravit’eau project
Child at a Gravit'eau sink in Nigeria
Child at a Gravit'eau sink in Nigeria

On the Kabaddi court with Hasina

“Now I play Kabaddi, I’m not afraid of the boys I meet on the way to school any more. I have the self-confidence and strength to face up to them.”     Hasina, 17 years old, India

Hasina is actively involved in Terre des hommes’ Kabaddi project in India. This original initiative offers young migrant women the opportunity to emancipate themselves by playing this contact sport, traditionally one reserved for boys. Through Kabaddi, this 17-year-old Indian woman has found a path and avoided getting married at a young age. 

Read Hasina’s testimonial
Girls playing in Kabaddi, India
Girls playing in Kabaddi, India

On the mining site with Hamidou 

“When we dig holes, we have to use dynamite to explode the rock. It’s difficult and dangerous work. You can spend 4 years on a site like this one before you find a single nugget of gold.”    Hamidou, 17 years old, Burkina Faso

Hamidou’s hands and arms are covered in dust. You can see the exhaustion and fear on his face. Fear of falling down the 80-metre hole the young gold prospector has had to dig. In Ganzourgou province, thousands of children leave school to work in gold mines, where living conditions are dreadful. To prevent accidents and the reduce the risk of exploitation, Tdh has set up a digital warning system.  

Read Hamidou’s testimonial
Hamidou Burkina Faso
Hamidou Burkina Faso

At the protection centre with Versavia

“I like being here a lot. I play with new friends every day in the children’s room. The leaders play with us all the time.”    Versavia, 3 years old, Ukraine  

With her parents Artur and Tatiana and her four brothers and sisters, Versavia has found refuge in one of the “Blue Dot” safe spaces in Modova run by Tdh and Unicef Moldova. Here, the little girl participates with other children in play and creative activities that help her to forget a little about the bombs and other horrors of the war in Ukraine. 

Read Versavia’s story
Versavia Moldavie
Versavia Moldavie

At school with Baba

“Every day when I arrive at school, I queue up to wash my hands before going into class. We also wash our hands at break time and after school.”    Baba, aged 10 – Nigeria

Every morning, Baba helps the younger children by pumping water with his foot while they wash their hands. His broad smile shows that he takes his role very seriously. In Nigeria, 400 children can now wash their hands every day thanks to Terre des hommes’ Gravit’Eau project, which provides mobile washbasins saving up to 95% in water use, and cutting the spread of diseases and epidemics by half.

Read more about the Gravit’eau project
Child at a Gravit'eau sink in Nigeria
Child at a Gravit'eau sink in Nigeria

Working worldwide

Working alongside international institutions and bodies, as well as many local stakeholders, Terre des hommes is active in more than 30 countries spread across five regions worldwide.  

“Let’s make this a country where it is good to be a child.” This has been the wish we have held dear for all countries since the Foundation was formed in 1960, but a wish that has to be contrasted with the harsh reality of the world around us.

An overview of the regions where we focus our efforts to defend, listen to, protect and care for children and young people of all ages, with the aim of letting their voices be heard, and protecting their rights.   

Sub-Saharan Africa
Asia
Europe
Middle East and North Africa
Ukraine Emergency – War  
Sahel Emergency – Food shortage  
Gaza Emergency – War

Our flagship projects

Their lives are important. So are your donations.

Giving, whether a little or a lot, is important, because your donations are the lifeblood of our organisation, allowing us to take action on the ground, for and with children, where they need it the most. We get involved both in crisis situations that hit the headlines, and in those that are overlooked. Crises that jeopardise the well-being and security of many children and young people of all ages.