What Do We Mean By 'Working on the Edge'?

Too many children are leading lives in tough situations where they are
cut off from essential services and denied the protection they need.

These are often children without parental care, neglected or persecuted by their governments, ignored by international media and missed by large overseas agencies.

WHAT DO WE MEAN WHEN WE SAY 'THE EDGE'?

Over the years in all of our work, we have gone to places far from the media spotlight and worked with some of the most marginalised children in the world, living in some of the toughest situations. We have partnered with local organisations, supported communities to realise their rights and ensured that children's voices are heard.

You will mainly find us in the places where the cameras do not click, where many aid agencies do not venture and where children facing hardship and discrimination are simply overlooked.

Finding these places, getting into these fragmented communities, is not always easy. We can often meet resistance and sometimes we have to go against the flow.

Group of young Congolese children sat on a mat outside with a teacher and homemade learning materials. He is explaining counting to them with some sticks.

THE EDGE IN 1990 AND THE EDGE TODAY

When our work began , in 1990, the children on the edge we served were those incarcerated and forgotten in Romanian orphanages.

Today, the “edge” takes us into refugee camps, slums, and warzones where we support Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, Congolese refugee children in Uganda, and Syrian refugee children in Lebanon, and those facing internal displacement in Kachin State, Myanmar, caste discrimination in India and poverty, and exploitation in Uganda and Bangladesh.

The geography and circumstances may be different tomorrow, but we’re always ready to go — by invitation only— into marginalised communities where children are affected by poverty, displacement, conflict, and persecution.

By creating protective environments that generate hope, life, colour and fun, we enable children to realise their rights.