Kindernothilfe (KNH) was founded in Germany in 1959 as a non-profit organisation that seeks to support vulnerable and marginalized children all over the world. Since then, it has developed into one of the largest German children’s rights organisations focused on development cooperation.

Today we reach more than 2.1 million children worldwide, by partnering with local independent non-governmental organisations in designing and implementing 595 projects in 32 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean. KNH’s global head office is in Duisburg, Germany, with coordination structures in nearly all partner countries.

The Kindernothilfe Foundation and Kindernothilfe in Austria, Switzerland and Luxembourg are supporting our project work. Projects and programs are mainly funded through private donations (more than 80% from individual donors and 20% from public and institutional donors).

The “UN Convention on the Rights of the Child” is central to our work. Within this framework, we focus particularly on realizing children’s rights to protection from violence and exploitation and the universal right to education and participation. We work with children, their families and caregivers, as well as with entire communities to create a safe and sustainable environment for children. A

ll our local partner organisations are required to be committed to working according to the “Children’s Rights Convention”. The foundation of our work to realise children’s rights is our “Child Rights Approach”. Working according to the “Child Rights Approach” primarily means treating children as right-holders and agents of change. It also means holding duty bearers accountable, as they are the ones responsible for creating the environment where children’s rights are realized. Therefore, advocacy work is essential for the effective implementation of the “Child Rights Approach”.

KNH is at the forefront of child protection policy and safeguarding. We support all our partner organisations by providing training and consultation on how to develop and apply the required child protection and safeguarding policies within their work. Furthermore, we also offer this service and support to other organisations working with children. We have trained more than 650 organisations in child protection and safeguarding so far, continuously evaluating, adjusting, and updating the policies, as necessary.

Kindernothilfe is a member of several children’s rights focussed alliances and networks, such as National Coalition in Germany, Keeping Children Safe Coalition, ECPAT, Global Campaign for Education, the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers and many others. KNH also holds consultative status with ECOSOC.