Universities emphasize service learning because it is beneficial to students and the community. In addition to helping learners to understand different issues and improve their critical thinking skills, service learning allows a community to benefit from additional human resources and the availability of different viewpoints on organizations' work. This paper suggests that learners should conduct service learning at Save the Children not only to develop a richer understanding of the importance of protecting children's rights but also to improve their skills. The agency safeguards the welfare of children of many countries by providing access to education, health and responding to natural disasters. Although the organization faces challenges due to possible lack of funds or volunteers, it stresses community partnerships to achieve its goals. Accordingly, students who work with Save the Children through service learning have a higher likelihood to understand solutions to problems that impact children's lives than those who do not.
Key words: children's rights, community partnership, education, health.
Save the Children
Few social issues draw global attention than children's rights. Emphasis on the social issue is critical because it enables governments and communities to cater for the well-being of children, especially as research indicates that child neglect adversely affects one's development and hinders social adjustment (Koizumi \ Takagishi 2014). Accordingly, it is imperative to ensure that children are not exploited or abused and that they access quality health care and education. Conducting service learning at Save the Children Organization helps students to develop civic responsibility, broaden their understandings of children's rights and improve their human relation skills. Learners should accentuate service learning at the organization to increase their awareness of children's rights and enhance their critical thinking skills.
Community Organizations and Partnerships
Save the Children emphasizes community involvement to attain its goals of protecting the rights of children in many countries. In other words, the organization has established and maintained a constructive collaboration with communities to provide support for education, emergency response and health. According to Daro \ Dodge (2009), community involvement is essential because people in a certain community identify local issues that may enable agencies to develop and conduct programs that offer lasting solutions. As an illustration, a community in Africa may identify lack of proper education as the main issue affecting their children. As a result, Save the Children devotes its resources to respond to the issue as opposed to conducting other programs that may not match the community's needs. Therefore, community organization and partnerships play an instrumental role in ensuring that Save the Children achieves its objectives.
Cross-Cultural Challenges and Humanitarian Considerations
Save the Children may encounter cross-cultural challenges, in particular, when it conducts its programs in various parts of the world, including Asia, Africa and America. The problems arise from significant differences in cultural values that inform host communities' attitude and reaction toward the organization's programs. However, recognizing and valuing diversity and focusing on problems that face children in these areas allow the agency to attain success. What is more, Save the Children conducts emergency response programs that seek to ensure the well-being of children during disasters, including hunger, earthquakes or war. The efforts aim at providing care and protecting vulnerable children. To illustrate, the organization has offered help to children affected by calamities, including Hurricane Harvey, Syrian war, Rohingya crisis and child hunger crisis in Africa. Indubitably, emphasis on these humanitarian considerations protects children from harm in the face of different disasters.
Volunteers
The success of Save the Children's programs and campaigns across the globe depends significantly on the willingness of different people and businesses to volunteer either through workforce or finances. As the world continues to witness various calamities or conditions that negatively affect children's well-being, the organization accentuates the need for individuals to devote their resources to support different initiatives. As an illustration, the agency emphasizes fundraising functions and athletic events that raise money to be used in initiatives that seek to either raise awareness of children's plight or protect them from harm. According to Morrow-Howell, Hong \ Tang (2009), voluntary in response to social issues enables communities and organizations to find solutions to different problems because they combine their skills and knowledge. Besides, the agency stresses the formation of Save the Children clubs in universities and high schools in the United States not only to contribute funds but also to raise awareness for the organization. The strategy may motivate students to desire to gain a keen understanding of the agency's activities and determine how they can volunteer.
Roadblocks and Challenges
Lack of adequate funding and proper laws that ensure that all students receive a quality education in spite of their social class or race are fundamental challenges that affect children as they seek to achieve their academic objectives. Due to poverty, some students may be unable to access high-quality education since they cannot purchase all instruments that facilitate their education. Equally, lack of enough funding may limit Save the Children's ability to assist needy children, despite its desire to help them to achieve their educational goals. Furthermore, some communities may neglect their children because they do not appreciate the importance of children's rights. For this reason, Ruiz-Casares, Collins, Tisdall \ Griver (2017) advise the public to be knowledgeable of children's needs to enable them to contribute considerably to any efforts that seek to promote their welfare. In the same way, the government's unwillingness to pass laws that promote the equitable provision of services to all children presents another significant problem. Without a doubt, these challenges undermine the agency's quest to safeguard the future of every child irrespective of their backgrounds.
Future Vision and Improvement
Save the Children's vision remains its desire to offer every child an equal opportunity to excel and be free from harm, notwithstanding one's race, region or social class. This vision has motivated the organization to offer help to many children in different nations, especially in response to situations or problems that undermine their ability to thrive or live. According to Pemberton, Gordon, Nandy, Pantazis \ Townsend (2007), this approach increases child survival because consistent research presents a correlation between children rights and survival. However, although the agency has achieved considerable success in efforts to find solutions to children's problems, it ought to improve in some areas to ensure sustainability and continued growth. For instance, the organization should enhance its partnerships with governments and communities before investing in a particular program. In addition to ensuring that it identifies problems that affect children in different areas, the strategy would enable the agency to avoid any resistance that may be mounted by a given community. Correspondingly, Save the Children ought to raise the awareness of its programs among students to encourage them to conduct service learning at the agency. Undoubtedly, students who engage in service learning at the organization would not only increase their understanding of children's rights and gain experience but would also cement their beliefs and values in issues that affect the society.
In essence, students should conduct their service learning at Save the Children to enhance their understanding of the importance of protecting children's rights. An in-depth evaluation of the agency reveals that it values the welfare of all children, and hence a student would learn how to apply one's classroom knowledge in the real world, particularly in helping in defending children's rights. Besides partnering with communities and governments to assist vulnerable children, the agency conducts emergency response programs to protect children from harm. However, it faces challenges that arise from differences in cultural beliefs of various communities it serves and lack of adequate funding that may otherwise allow it to offer equal opportunities for all children around the world. Despite these challenges, the organization has the vision to improve the lives of children. Therefore, due to the important role Save the Children plays in the society, students should collaborate with it through service learning to benefit themselves, the agency and the society as a whole.
References
Daro, D., " Dodge, K.A. (2009). Creating Community Responsibility for Child Protection: Possibilities and Challenges. Future Child, 19 (2),67–93.
Koizumi, M., " Takagishi, H. (2014). The Relationship between Child Maltreatment and Emotion Recognition. PLoS ONE, 9(1),1-3. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0086093.
Morrow-Howell, N., Hong, S., " Tang, F. (2009). Who Benefits From Volunteering? Variations in Perceived Benefits. The Gerontologist, 49 (1), 91-102. doi:10.1093/geront/gnp007.
Pemberton, S., Gordon, D., Nandy, S., Pantazis, C., " Townsend, P. (2007). Child Rights and Child Poverty: Can the International Framework of Children's Rights Be Used to Improve Child Survival Rates? Plos Medicine, 4 (10), 1567-1570. Doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0040307.
Ruiz-Casares, M., Collins, T.M., Tisdall, E.K.M., Grover, S. (2017). Children’s rights to participation and protection in international development and humanitarian interventions: nurturing a dialogue. The International Journal of Human Rights, 21 (1), 1-14. Doi: 10.1080/13642987.2016.1262520.
