This document is the summarized annual financial report of Stichting Child Helpline International for the year ending 31 December 2024..
As stipulated by Dutch reporting regulations for foundations, the full annual financial report of Stichting Child Helpline International is available upon request.
Contact us at: info@childhelplineinternational.org
Published August 2025
Child Helpline International Bruggebouw Suite 5.08, Bos en Lommerplein 280, 1055 RW Amsterdam, The Netherlands
www.childhelplineinternational.org
Child Helpline International is the global network of more than 150 independent child helplines in over 130 countries and territories around the world. Members of our network reported receiving almost 13 million contacts from children and young people in 2022, and almost four million of these contacts received further counselling, support, advice and protection.
Child helplines are most often the first point of contact for children who are in need of support and protection. Child Helpline International collects data and this exceptional resource is used to advocate on behalf of children and young people, to make their lives safer by highlighting the gaps in child protection systems.
Child Helpline International is a registered non-profit Foundation (stichting) registered in the Netherlands (2003).
Child Helpline International’s financial year coincides with the calendar year.
Foreword: Philip D Jaffé, Chair of the Supervisory Board
As we look ahead, the path for Child Helpline International is both clear and urgent. Children and young people across the world are experiencing various forms of distress: global conflict, displacement, economic uncertainty, mental health crises and increasingly sophisticated forms of violence – especially in digital spaces. Against this backdrop, we must ask ourselves: how do we ensure that every child has a voice, and that this voice leads to protection, healing and justice? The answer, in part, lies in the very heart of our work: child helplines.
Child helplines are a cornerstone of child protection. They are where children and young people go when the systems around them have failed or feel unreachable. They are where a child can speak freely, be taken seriously, and receive immediate support. Yet, despite their proven value, they remain woefully underfunded, under-recognized, and unavailable in more than 40 countries around the world. Our new strategic period presents us with a powerful opportunity – and a responsibility – to change that.
Our vision must be one of scale, quality and integration. Every child and young person, in every country, should have access to a high-quality, accessible, confidential and child-centred helpline. These services must not stand alone – they must be fully embedded in national child protection, mental health and digital safety systems. They must be staffed by trained professionals, guided by strong standards, and supported by meaningful policy and sustainable funding.
Child Helpline International has the credibility, capacity and commitment to lead this work. Through our data, partnerships and global reach, we are uniquely positioned to support national stakeholders, elevate children’s voices in policymaking, and drive a global shift in how societies respond to children in need.
The future we are working toward is one where listening to children and young people is not seen as optional or aspirational, but as essential to protecting their rights and safeguarding their wellbeing. That future is within reach, but it will take vision, courage and sustained collaboration.
I look forward to working with our members, our partners and our allies across sectors to make it a reality. Because child helplines are not just part of the child protection system – they are the entry point, the warning system and the bridge to safety.
And the time to invest in them is now.
Dr Philip D Jaffé Chair of the Supervisory Board (2025)
Foreword: Patrick Krens, Former Executive Director
Reflecting on the year 2024, I am proud to highlight the significant progress Child Helpline International made in strengthening its global network and furthering its mission to ensure that every child has access to the support they need, wherever and whenever they need it. 2024 was a defining year, characterized by important milestones in strategic planning, programme development, regional collaborations and global advocacy efforts.
A key achievement was the endorsement of our MultiAnnual Strategic Plan for 2025-2030, which represents a collective vision for the future of child helplines worldwide. The Theory of Change envisions a world where every child or young person has access to a high-quality child helpline, supported by a robust and responsive national child protection system. In this context, Child Helpline International will continue to focus on strengthening child helplines, fostering cross-sector collaboration, and advocating for systemic changes that will ensure the voices of children and young people are heard and their needs are met.
Throughout 2024, we remained agile and responsive to the ongoing crises affecting children across the globe. The war in Ukraine, the ongoing conflict in Gaza, and other global challenges called for swift action. Our network mobilized quickly, providing critical support to child helplines and frontline organizations most affected by these crises. Our Ukrainian Crisis Response project is a prime example of the power of collaboration. This initiative allowed us to provide specialized training, resources, and support to child helplines in affected areas, ensuring that vulnerable children received the care and attention they desperately needed during these tumultuous times.
Regional consultations in Europe and the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) regions played an essential role in fostering closer ties among child helplines, enabling members to share best practices and discuss the unique challenges faced by their regions. Discussions centred around conflict, resource limitations, and complex child protection systems, with many members sharing inspiring stories of resilience and culturally informed, traumasensitive responses to issues such as violence, exploitation, and emergencies. These consultations reinforced the importance of collective learning and solidarity in advancing child protection across different contexts.
One of the most notable moments of 2024 was our participation in the 1st Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children in Bogotá, Colombia. With over 1,400 participants from governments, civil society, and the private sector, the conference underscored the urgent need for global action to protect children from violence. At this landmark event, we launched the “Unheard Voices” campaign, which aims to bring attention to the more than 50 countries worldwide that still lack child helplines. This campaign is a call to action for governments, organizations and stakeholders to bridge the gaps in national child protection systems, ensuring that no child is left without the support they need.
Child Helpline International remains committed to adapting its strategies to meet the evolving needs of children and young people in an increasingly complex and challenging world. The resilience and dedication of its member child helplines, who continue to provide vital support to children and young people in every corner of the globe, is an ongoing source of inspiration. In a year marked by challenges, they once again demonstrated the crucial role of they play in ensuring that every child’s voice is heard and every child receives the protection and support they deserve.
In closing, I want to express my immense pride and gratitude for the tireless efforts of our global network and Child Helpline International team, and my heartfelt thanks to the partners and allies who continue to stand with them in their vital mission. Together, they will continue to build a future where every child’s voice is heard, their rights are respected, and they are safe, supported and empowered to thrive.
Patrick Krens Executive Director (2019-2025)
Foreword: Helen Mason, Executive Director of Child Helpline International
There is something deeply powerful about the moment a child chooses to reach out – it is an act of courage, and it is a call that must be answered. Data collected in 2024 showed that our global network of child helplines responded to more than 2.3 million counselling contacts. Behind each one was a child or young person in need of empathy, guidance or protection.
This is what drives us at Child Helpline International, and our members across the global network. Every contact to a child helpline is not just a conversation, it is a moment when a child’s right to be heard becomes real – leading to safety, support and systemic change. These moments are made possible by the extraordinary people who operate our member child helplines – professionals who listen without judgment, act with integrity, and hold the line of trust every single day. My team and I are honoured to stand beside them in this work.
This report has captured what we have achieved together. We have strengthened child helplines in Angola, Tunisia, Ukraine and across Africa. We launched regional learning and quality initiatives. We finalized our 2025–2030 Strategic Plan and began a bold new chapter in our shared vision. We brought the Unheard Voices campaign to a global audience – because the fact that more than 40 countries still lack a national child helpline should not be simply a statistic. It is an omission the world cannot afford to ignore.
And throughout the year, we listened – not just to data points, but to what children and young people themselves were telling us. That violence is widespread. That mental health is a daily struggle. That the impact upon children and young people spending more time online will grow and continue. Trusted, safe, confidential spaces to access support are crucial. They change lives.
As we move forward, we will deepen our work across three core areas: access, quality and integration. We will work to ensure that every child – no matter their location, language or circumstance – can reach a child helpline that is equipped to respond. We will raise the bar for quality through standards, learning and shared tools. We will work with governments, donors and UN partners to ensure that child helplines are further integrated as part of essential infrastructure for child protection, mental health and online safety.
To our members: your courage, skill and commitment are the heart of this network. You are making children’s rights real – one call, one message, one child at a time. To our donors and partners: your support does not just sustain our work – it enables transformation. Thank you for believing in our mission, and for standing with us in this urgent, deeply human endeavour. Together, we have the tools to build a world where no child is left unheard. Let’s make that world real.
Helen Mason Executive Director, Interim (2025)
Executive Summary: 2024 – Amplifying Voices, Strengthening Systems
In 2024, Child Helpline International supported its global network of child helplines to reach more children, respond to more complex needs, and build stronger, more resilient services. Through strategic partnerships, regional collaboration and evidence-based advocacy, we worked to ensure that every child and young person has access to a safe, trusted and high-quality child helpline – and that their voices lead to change.
Our child helpline members responded to more than 6.37 million contacts in 2023. Of these, over 2.3 million were counselling contacts – moments where children or young people received tailored support, care and referral. Yet nearly 900,000 contacts went unanswered, highlighting the urgent need for sustained investment and capacity strengthening. In addition, more than 40 countries worldwide still lack a national child helpline, leaving millions of children and young people with no direct access to help. Through our Unheard Voices campaign, launched at the Global Ministerial Conference in Bogotá, we are calling for urgent action to close these critical gaps in protection.
As shown in our report, Voices of Children & Young People Around the World: Global Child Helpline Data from 2023, mental health and violence remained the most common concerns:
● Mental health accounted for 31.9% of counselling contacts worldwide, with significant concerns around depression, self-harm and suicidal ideation – particularly among girls and LGBTQ+ youth.
● Violence, including physical, psychological, sexual and online, was reported in nearly one in four counselling contacts.
● Online methods of contact rose from 25% to 32%, showing a clear shift in how children prefer to reach out for help – often seeking greater privacy and control.
We continued to strengthen the global evidence base:
● 80 child helplines submitted data to our annual data survey, with improved data quality, leading to better reliability.
● We began piloting approaches to gather disaggregated data in an automated process, unlocking the potential to access more details and nuances around the lived experiences of children and young people, making it easier to scrutinize and research the data, rendering our findings more relevant.
● Our data informed national advocacy efforts, global policy discussions, and thematic publications that shape child protection responses.
2024 was also a year of deepening our commitment to quality:
● We supported the completion of Core Quality Standards self-assessments by child helplines across regions, with notable improvements in child-centred approaches, supervision, and feedback mechanisms.
● We launched two new eLearning modules on advocacy and child-centred service delivery and hosted 11 peer learning sessions online, with over 600 participants.
● Regional consultations in MENA (Dubai) and Europe (Denmark) provided platforms for members to share strategies on mental health, digital harm, governance and sustainability, strengthening collective learning and solidarity.
We also launched our new 2025–2030 Strategic Plan, outlining our vision for a future where every child has access to a high-quality child helpline, supported by data, driven by standards, and embedded in the systems that protect and empower them.
In 2024, we didn’t just respond - we built. We learned. We advocated. And we worked with and for our members to ensure that no child is left unheard.
Who We Are and Why It Matters
Child Helpline International (CHI) is a collective impact organization with more than 150 members in over 130 countries and territories around the world. We coordinate information, viewpoints, knowledge and data from our child helpline members, partners and external sources. This exceptional resource is used to support child protection systems globally, regionally and nationally, and to help our members advocate for the rights of children and amplify their voices.
Every year, child helplines around the globe respond to millions of calls from children and young people and provide crucial counselling services. Until the founding of CHI in 2003, these organizations did their work in isolation with no access to one another. Now, we are working together every day to bring children’s voices to policymakers and influencers.
Every child has a voice, and we make sure that the world hears, listens to and acts upon those voices.
Our vision
A world where the voices of children and young people are heard and listened to, and their rights are realized, protected and ensured.
Our mission
As a global network we share research, data, knowledge and experiences to enhance the quality of response to children and young people in need of protection, support and guidance, and to advocate for their rights.
Central to our vision and mission are the sequential and interlocking universal factors of children having the rights enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, especially Article 12 (“Right to be heard and to have your view taken into account”), and having the possibility to be heard and have access to support anywhere in the world at all times:
We work towards our vision and implement our mission by supporting our members through capacity-building, learning, research, data collection, advocacy and strategic partnerships. We also advocate for national governments and international actors to recognize child helplines as essential components of child protection and mental health infrastructures. We are a convener, standard-setter, and catalyst, ensuring that the experiences of children and young people shape the systems meant to protect them.
We work in five interconnected ways:
● Access: We advocate for the establishment and expansion of child helplines in countries where they do not yet exist – and support our members to strengthen accessibility for all children, especially those most at risk of exclusion.
● Quality: We promote and implement Core Quality Standards (CQS) that help ensure child helpline services are safe, ethical and effective.
● Data: We collect and analyse data from across our network to elevate children’s voices and inform both national service delivery and global policy discourse.
● Policy Influence: We engage directly with governments, partners, donors and international bodies to position child helplines as essential services within child rights and protection frameworks.
● Sustainability: We coordinate support for our members with tools, training and partnerships that help enhance long-term funding, staff wellbeing and service continuity.
Listening to Children and Young People Around the World
Every day, thousands of children and young people reach out to child helplines in moments of worry, fear or confusion. These moments often go unnoticed by the outside world, but they are recorded – not in names or faces, but in numbers and patterns that show us where children are struggling. This highlights the key role of child helplines in child protection and child wellbeing.
In the data collected in 2024 (representing 2023), our network responded to over 6.3 million contacts, of which 2.3 million were counselling contacts, where trained professionals supported children and young people in crisis or distress. However, more than 884,000 contacts went unanswered, reflecting a systemic shortfall in national capacities to meet children’s most urgent needs Our annual data survey drew from 80 child helplines across 65 countries, representing a diverse cross-section of national contexts and service models. The findings – particularly in relation to mental health, violence and digital harms – underscore the need for coordinated child-centred responses at every level of the system.
Mental Health: A Growing Global Emergency Mental health was the most frequently cited reason for counselling contacts in 2023, accounting for 31.9% of all counselling contacts and representing over 795,000 contacts worldwide. In all the years for which we have data, mental health has been the most, or second-most, common reason for contacting a child helpline. Children contacted child helplines about depression, anxiety, fear and persistent loneliness. Suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts accounted for 16% of all mental health contacts, a figure that has risen 45% since 2020. Self-harming behaviours accounted for 9%, and concerns related to identity, self-image or belonging made up 8%.
Gender patterns were notable:
● Girls made nearly twice as many mental health-related contacts as boys.
● Nonbinary children were most likely to make contact about suicidal ideation (29%) and self-harm (13%).
Around the world, child helplines are the most accessible, low-threshold, confidential mental health resource for children and adolescents – particularly where formal mental health services are limited or stigmatized. Child helplines remain crucial child mental health services for prevention, psychosocial support and referral to other services.
Violence: Complex and Widespread Violence was the second most common issue, being the topic of 1 in 4 counselling contacts and representing nearly 600,000 contacts worldwide. Children described experiences of physical abuse (33%), psychological violence (17%), sexual violence (15%), bullying (14%) and neglect (12%).
Importantly, reports of sexual violence increased by 61% since 2020, a sharp and disturbing trend that signals growing risk, but at the same time a growing trust in child helpline services.
Gender disaggregation revealed:
● Girls were most likely to report sexual violence (21% of their violence-related contacts).
● Boys more often reported physical violence and child labour.
● Nonbinary children were more likely to report bullying and psychological abuse.
Child helplines often serve as the only accessible and child-friendly reporting mechanism available, especially in contexts where formal systems are fragile and underresourced. Child helplines are also often the first point of contact a child has with a child protection system, which help support safe disclosure and child-friendly processes.
Digital Harm and Changing Help-Seeking Behaviours
Digital spaces have become central to children’s lives, bringing many benefits but also exposing children to serious risks. Our members recorded an increase in contacts related to technology-facilitated sexual exploitation and abuse (TF-CSEA) over the past years, with 1.2% of violence-related contacts relating to TFCSEA in 2023. While for offline sexual violence, girls account for more than double than boys’ contacts, for TF-CSEA this difference is much reduced. The number of recorded contacts to child helplines related to online harms remains low in comparison to prevalence, which is likely a combination of a data categorization issue, an accessibility issue (e.g. no chat-based services), and a sensitization issue (e.g. children are not aware that online abuse is abuse). We are addressing this through our projects and partnerships.
As digital risks grow, so does the way children reach out for support:
● 32% of counselling contacts were made through online methods (website chat, forum, text message, social media, email, or mobile app), up from 25% in 2022.
● Use of voice-based methods (including telephone and in-person) declined from 71% to 67%.
Online channels can offer children greater privacy, accessibility and control, particularly for those facing violence, discrimination or stigma, but it changes how child helplines need to operate and the need for human and technical resources. For example, chat-based conversations on average tend to take longer than phone-based conversations. We have engaged with the CHAT-YOUTH project to support the development of best practices in chat counselling.
Our Key Projects in 2024
As we look back on 2024, we remain steadfast in our commitment to protecting children and young people, and amplifying their voices globally. Through a series of impactful projects, collaborations, and continued advocacy efforts, we have made significant strides in enhancing the capabilities of child helplines and advancing child protection systems worldwide. Our work in 2024 reflects our dedication to strengthening the global child protection network, advocating for children’s rights, and ensuring that every child and young person’s voice is heard, listened to and acted upon. With the invaluable support of our partners, donors and child helplines worldwide, we remain focused on our mission to create a safer world for children and young people.
CHAT-Youth EC Sub-Grant, Ghent University; University of Madrid
Child Helpline Data Pilot Research/Trilateral Research Ignite
Children’s Voices Ukraine (CVU): Phase 3.1 Terre des Hommes Nederland
Children’s Voices Ukraine (CVU): Phase 3.2 KIND CHIQual III European Commission
Empowering to Protect OAK Foundation
Operation Grant Ignite/New Venture Fund The Power in Their Voices OAK Foundation
Unheard Voices: Angola UNICEF Angola
Unheard Voices: Tunisia UNICEF Tunisia
Unheard Voices: United Arab Emirates Government of the United Arab Emirates
Up Africa! Safe Online
Duration Description
June 2024-July 2025
January 2024-June 2024
September 2023December 2024
April 2024December 2024
January 2024December 2024
CHI advisory and interlocutor role for CHAT-YOUTH research project. Support with outreach to our network, expert advice and attendance + presentation and CHAT-YOUTH Symposium.
Pilot project with one member to explore opportunities to improve the efficiency of obtaining data from members, aggregates the data automatically to increase reliability, deliver richer and more complex data sets.
The project aims to increase access and use of child helpline services by children affected by the War in Ukraine, and maintain quality of services through research, data collection, communications campaigns and translation of learning material.
Sub-regional workshops (one in person and one online) and two multidisciplinary workshops for national and regional actors, and bilateral knowledge/learning exchanges between child helplines.
Operational four-grant, 2024 was the third year of implementation. The project includes activities related to the Core Quality Standards selfassessment, and development of learning modules, data collection and improvement of reliability and access to child helpline data, as well as awareness-raising on child rights issues and 116 111 child helplines. Includes European Regional Consultation of Child Helplines and membership management.
Target Countries
All EU states members
USA
October 2021June 2024
30-month project until June 2024 with 2024 as the third year of implementation. Project focuses on improving capacity of child helplines to provide quality services to more children and young people through improved contact management (Aselo), Core Quality Standards and development of learning products. Also aims to improve data management through more reliable data collection, data storage, data interpretation and dissemination, as well as evidence-based advocacy.
Ukraine Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia
Ukraine Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia
All EU States
Global
July 2022-June 2024
Operational grant, general support for the organization.
Global October 2024March 2027
Global core funding focused on maintaining and enhancing core activities (Core Quality Standards, data collection and analysis) as well as strengthening fundraising approaches and visibility of Child Helpline International.
Global
September 2024April 2025
November 2022January 2025
December 2021December 2024
November 2024July 2026
Project focusing on assessing the services of the child helpline SOS Criança and improving the capacity of operators and other local stakeholders. This is done through an assessment visit and report (with recommendations and action points), as well as a training programme, to be delivered locally.
Scale-up project to provide technical support for the strengthening of 1809 Ligne Verte, including assessment, mappings, SOPs and training.
Build capacity of child helpline staff to better respond to children and young people through training modules, and linking with child protection services. Goal is to create conditions for setting up a national child helpline in the UAE.
2-year initiative in partnership with seven child helplines in the Eastern and Southern Africa region. Project aims to prevent victimization and strengthen survivors’ support; empower children, caregivers and families to prevent TF-CSEA and access early support; and strengthen national, regional and global infrastructures to effectively tackle digital harms to children. Joint initiative is centred around system strengthening and includes infrastructure updates, capacity-building, awareness-raising, partnerships and research, and is implemented in four distinct but interrelated phases.
Angola
Tunisia
United Arab Emirates
Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda
Strengthening Child Helplines to Strengthen Child Rights
Child helplines are more than services, they are a realization of children’s rights. When children and young people face violence or distress, or simply need someone to listen to them, a child helpline might be their first and only safe point of contact.
We work to ensure these services are accessible, child-centred, and embedded in national child protection systems. In 2024, we partnered with governments, UN agencies and civil society to strengthen national child helplines as a sustainable, systemic response to child rights and wellbeing issues.
Our role is to support national actors to build, improve and sustain child helplines, because when child helplines are strong, children’s rights are stronger.
Supporting the Scale-Up of National Child Helplines
Across several countries, we provided technical assistance and strategic support to help establish or strengthen national child helplines, ensuring that every child can access support that is safe, confidential, and rights-based:
● In partnership with UNICEF Angola, we supported the national child helpline SOS Criança through an in-depth assessment and training programme. This included reviewing service delivery, referral mechanisms, and staff capacity to better respond to children’s needs.
● Building upon our collaboration with UNICEF Tunisia, we supported the strengthening of Ligne Verte (1809), the national child helpline. Activities included a comprehensive service review, mapping of partners and services, the development of SOPs, and direct capacity-building for operators. The work was designed to enhance both quality and system connectivity.
Displaced Children: Facilitating Regional Collaboration and Shared Learning
With support from Terre des Hommes Netherlands and KIND, we worked with child helplines in Ukraine, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia under the Children’s Voices Ukraine project. Together, we addressed the needs of children affected by war and displacement by:
● Supporting trauma-informed approaches to counselling;
● Facilitating bilateral knowledge exchanges and regional workshops;
● Strengthening cooperation between child helplines and child protection authorities.
This initiative demonstrated the importance of collaboration, continuity, and consistency in support to children, especially those experiencing crisis or displacement.
Online Harm: Strengthening National Responses
As children spend more time online, the risks they face are evolving. In many countries, child helplines are the first responders to technology facilitated child sexual exploitation and abuse (TF-CSEA), grooming, and cyberbullying. In response to these urgent risks, we launched Voice Up Africa, a regional initiative supported by Safe Online, to strengthen national child helpline responses to online harm.
Working with child helplines in Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda, the project supports:
● System-wide coordination and referral mechanisms for TF-CSEA cases;
● Capacity-building for counsellors and staff to recognize and respond to digital risks;
● Community engagement and awareness-raising to promote digital safety;
● Integration of child helplines into broader child protection strategies.
This work is not about crisis intervention alone. It is about building systems that are ready, responsive, and grounded in children’s rights.
Improved Technology for Contact Management and Reporting
As part our Voice Up Africa project, we also engaged with our partner Tech Matters to strengthen contact management, methods of contact and data collection in Tanzania and Ethiopia through the upgrading or instalment of Aselo, a modular and fully customizable system co-developed by Tech Matters and our members. These efforts enabled the project to clearly define the technological needs of the Ethiopia and Tanzania child helplines and their operating environments including status of allied services such as TF-CSEA reporting portals and hotlines. Similarly, initiations of technical infrastructure updates were initiated with our members in Uganda and Mozambique, with services provided by other companies.
Building a Culture of Quality and Learning
Quality is not a checklist but a culture. It grows through reflection, peer exchange, and an openness to challenge and change. In 2024, we supported our members with quality assurance frameworks, and online and in-person learning activities.
Our Core Quality Standards for child helplines (CQS) were developed collaboratively with our members in 2020 to define what good practices looks like across nine core functions that support accessible, ethical, and rightsbased child helpline services.
The CQS self-assessment survey supports child helplines to reflect on their practice, identify gaps and plan improvements. It is a practical tool and a statement of intent, as well as a monitoring and impact assessment tool. During the assessment conducted in 2024:
● Globally, child helplines met or exceeded the 75% benchmark in 8 of 9 core standards and 30 of 44 detailed standards;
● 18.5% of child helplines reached the quality threshold for all standards, up from 11% from the previous year.
● The most significant gains were in staff supervision, child-centred service delivery, and feedback systems.
● We are building on our quality assurance work with:
● A series of eLearning modules, one for each of the 9 CQS areas, of which 3 were developed in 2024.
● Templates and good practice resources drawn from members to promote network learning.
● Targeted follow-up for child helplines based on assessment results, through the piloting of an online audit methodology in 2025.
Regional Consultations: Shared Purpose, Local Insight
In 2024, we facilitated Regional Consultations in the European and Middle East and North Africa (MENA) regions, creating spaces for members to reflect, share strategies, and strengthen their role within national child protection systems.
In Europe, the consultation focused on four key themes: mental health; technology and data; governance; and sustainability. Members explored the rising demand for suicide prevention support, the ethical use of AI, and the need for stronger member voice and financial resilience. Promising practices were shared, and common challenges identified, from digital adaptation to underrecognition of child helplines in national systems.
In the MENA region, discussions centred on the need for trauma-sensitive support, limited referral pathways, and the absence of community-based mental health services for children. Child helplines highlighted systemic gaps, while reaffirming their role as trusted, accessible services, often the only ones available to children in distress.
Together, these consultations reinforced a shared commitment: to strengthen child helplines not only as services, but as integral parts of the systems that protect and uphold children’s rights.
Embedding Learning Across the Network
Learning is not an event, but an approach. In 2024, we continued to build this across the network.
On our eLearning platform, currently home to more than 25 learning modules for child helplines, and with over 600 users, we launched two eLearning modules on good practices related to our Core Quality Standards for Child Helplines. Over 25 members engaged in focus groups or discussions related to development of our good practice eLearning modules.
We facilitated 11 peer learning sessions (6 global, 5 regional), with over 600 participants across all sessions, covering:
● Suicide prevention and mental health
● Inclusive access to child helplines
● Responding to online harms
● Sustainability and fundraising
Through the Children’s Voices Ukraine project, we organized:
● Two regional workshops (in-person and online), focused on trauma-sensitive counselling, case management, and system navigation for children affected by war and displacement;
● Two multidisciplinary exchanges with national protection authorities and mental health actors;
● Bilateral learning sessions between helplines to share tools, strengthen referrals, and build crossborder consistency.
This work reflects our belief that learning is a condition for quality. And quality is a condition for trust.
Improving Data to Drive Change
We do much more than merely collect data from our members: we amplify the voices of children. Every contact to a child helpline represents a child or young person choosing to speak up about something that is an issue for them. Our role is to ensure those voices are not just recorded, but acted upon by governments, partners and the systems responsible for their protection.
In 2024, we continued to strengthen our approach to data collection, analysis and dissemination, not simply to observe trends, but to shift policy, improve practice, and make visible the realities children themselves report by improving the quality and detail of data. Reliable and detailed data is essential for accountability and advocacy, which drives change in the systems that must listen, protect, and respond.
Improving Data Quality and Coverage
We made concrete progress on improving the quality, validity and reach of child helpline data:
● 65% of our active membership submitted data, with coverage rates ranging from 81% in Europe to 36% in MENA.
● 61% of submitted datasets required no follow-up clarification, a steady and positive improvement from previous years, showing stronger internal data management and clearer definitions.
We began piloting new methods for disaggregated data collection to improve detail and reliability. In 2024, we launched a pilot project with Trilateral Research and one child helpline member in the United States to explore automated data transfer and aggregation, aimed at increasing reliability detail, and timeliness of data reporting, while keeping it safe and ethical. We also explored new options for analysing anonymized case summaries through Natural Language Processing.
Improving Data Usability
We also piloted an approach to gaining access to and analysing disaggregated data. Members who operate Aselo with our partner Tech Matters already have their data mapped onto the CHI data framework, and using Aselo makes data extraction quick and simple. We approached one Aselo-using member, located in Jamaica, and requested their raw and anonymized data. Upon their approval, Tech Matters shared the data with us, and we scrutinized it for insights on suicidality, a topic relevant for the member’s advocacy and partnerships. This approach is easy to implement with a potential for far-reaching benefits for advocacy, research, and practice.
From Numbers to Narrative: Data for Advocacy and Influence
The numbers alone are not the story, but the evidence behind it. Our role is to turn that evidence into insight and action on children’s rights, through the voices of children. In 2024, child helpline data directly informed three major data publications:
● Voices of Children & Young People Around the World report (2024).
● Amplifying the Voices of Children and Young People in Europe (2024).
● Supporting Children and Young People’s Mental Health in Europe (2024).
Global Advocacy and Influence
We believe that children’s voices must inform the systems that affect them. Our global advocacy work is grounded in what children share through child helplines –the stories of fear, resilience, silence and hope that often go unheard in official spaces. In 2024, we continued to amplify these voices on the global stage and influence policies.
Unheard Voices: Making the Case for National Child Helplines
At the 1st Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children in Bogotá, we launched our Unheard Voices campaign, a global call to action to address a critical gap: more than 40 countries still lack a national child helpline.
Unheard Voices aims to change that. Anchored in our vision of child helplines as essential components of national child protection systems, the campaign draws attention to countries where children cannot yet reach out to a child helpline, or where access is limited by geography, cost or infrastructure.
In 2024, we:
● Released a short advocacy animation spotlighting the gap in global coverage, launched in November to coincide with the Conference.
● Drew on our global data report showing that more than 884,000 counselling contacts went unanswered in 2023 due to capacity shortfalls – a powerful indicator of unmet need even in countries that do have child helplines.
Looking ahead, Unheard Voices will support country-bycountry engagement to assess feasibility, map services, and advocate for toll-free, 24/7, multi-channel helplines that are truly accessible to every child. Because until every child has someone to turn to, we cannot say that any child protection system is complete.
Elevating
the Role of Child Helplines in Global Policy Spaces
Throughout 2024, we used every opportunity to bring child helpline perspectives into international policy arenas such as:
● 1st Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children in Bogotá, Colombia. Launch of the Unheard Voices campaign; high-level advocacy positioning child helplines as essential components of national child protection systems.
● International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN) Conference in Edinburgh, United Kingdom. Promoted the integration of child helplines in global protection responses; shared insights on mental health, violence and digital harms.
● Internet Governance Forum (IGF), 19th Annual Edition in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Advocacy on digital access, equity, and the role of child helplines in preventing and responding to online harm.
● WeProtect Global Alliance Global Summit 2024 in Abu Dhabi, UAE. We presented CHI’s data and member experiences in tackling TF-CSEA; reinforced the need for integrated digital safety systems.
● European Commission Child Rights Network and Victims’ Rights Platform Meetings in Brussels, Belgium and online where we engaged in EU-level discussions on child rights, digitalization, quality assurance, and funding for child helplines and support for child victim’s of violence.
● Protection through Online Participation (PoP) Experts Consultations in London, UK & Paris, France, where we contributed to research on ethical child participation and digital engagement in online platforms and services.
Across these platforms and many more, we reinforced a simple message: child helplines are not just service providers, they are systems enablers, accountability tools, and safe entry points for children into protection, mental health support and justice systems.
Governance
We are member-driven organization, structured to ensure that decision-making power, strategic direction and accountability rest with those closest to children’s realities. Our members form the heart of our global network, and our governance model reflects our commitment to transparency, equity and shared leadership.
Our Membership: Diverse, Committed, Global
In December 2024, our network consisted of 154 member child helplines from 132 countries and territories around the world, including long-established national services as well as newly emerging child helplines. Our members share a commitment to children’s rights and a belief that every child should be heard.
Our most recent membership satisfaction survey showed that 86.2% of our members were satisfied with our services.
A Bottom-Up Governance Model
Our governance framework is anchored in the Assembly of Child Helplines, which holds the highest authority in the organization, including approving strategic plans and appointing Regional Representatives to the Supervisory Board.
The Supervisory Board provides strategic oversight and accountability. In 2024, the Supervisory Board was chaired by Corinne Dettmeijer, who concluded her term after serving as Chair since 2022 and as a member since 2018.
Piji Protopsaltis (The Smile of the Child, Greece)
MENA Ohaila Shomar (Sawa, Palestine)
Other Supervisory Board members were:
● Dorothy Rozga (Secretary)
● Mark Vogt (Treasurer)
● Natasha Jackson (Representative of the GSMA)
The Supervisory Board was also guided by:
● Jeroo Billimoria, Founder & Special Advisor
● Marta Santos Pais and Benyam Dawit Mezmur, Special Advisors on child rights
● Baroness Valerie Howarth, Patron
Our Management Board in 2024 consisted of:
● Patrick Krens, Executive Director
● Helen Mason, Director of Partnerships & Operations
Co-Creating Our Future: The 2025–2030 Strategy
In 2024, we finalized our new 2025–2030 Strategic Plan, guided by a consultative process with members, staff, donors and child rights experts. The strategy builds on our previous work while responding to a changing global landscape, including children’s evolving digital lives, increasing mental health needs, and rising demand for inclusive, accountable services.
Emerging priorities include:
● Expanding the reach and strengthen the capacity and quality of child helplines to ensure access to a highquality child helpline for all children and young people.
● Strengthening the network of child helplines to respond to increased digitization of society.
● Enhancing reliable and detailed child helpline data collection on the voices and lived experiences of children and young people to inform policy and practice.
● Enhancing recognition and integration of child helplines and children’s voices in child rights and child protection policy and practice.
● Enhancing sustainability and impact of Child Helpline International.
The strategy was launched at the end of 2024, providing a shared roadmap for collective action, with the network’s voices and values at its core.
With Gratitude: Our Supporters, Our Partners, Our Members
In 2024, the progress we made would not have been possible without the unwavering support of our donors, and the commitment of our partners. Together with our members, they have helped us move closer to a world where every child’s right to be heard and protected is fully realized.
We extend our heartfelt thanks to our donors, whose contributions enabled us to advance our mission and realize our vision:
OAK Foundation, Adessium Foundation, European Commission, Ignite Philanthropy, New Venture Fund, Terre des Hommes NL, KIND, UNICEF Angola, UNICEF Tunisia, Safe Online, Ghent University, University of Madrid.
We are deeply grateful to our partners for their valuable collaboration, shared purpose, and strong commitment to improving the lives of children and young people around the world. Their expertise, leadership and engagement continues to amplify our collective impact.
Thank you to: Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action (CPHA), Arab League, ASEAN, African Union Commission (AUC), CARICOM, Catalyst 2030, Childlight, Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), Council of Europe, Child Protection Area of Responsibility (CP AoR), European Commission, ECPAT, Global Child Forum, GSMA, International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC), Ignite Philanthropy, INHOPE, International Olympic Committee (IOC). ISPCAN, International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Internet Watch Foundation, KIND, Missing Children Europe, OAK Foundation, Organization of American States (OAS), OHCHR, Plan International, Safe Online Fund, SAIEVAC, Save the Children, SRSG on Violence Against Children, Tech Matters, Terre des Hommes NL, Together for Girls, Brave Movement, UNICEF, UN Special Rapporteur on the Sale and Sexual Exploitation of Children, Victim Support Europe, WeProtect Global Alliance, World Vision International, and Zain.
And above all, we thank our remarkable members –the child helplines who work tirelessly every day to respond to children, adapt to emerging challenges, share knowledge across borders, and advance child rights in every region of the world.
Together, we are building a future where no child is left unheard.
Annual Accounts 2024
These Annual Accounts 2024 are a summary of the full financial report of Stichting Child Helpline International for the year ending on 31 December 2024. As stipulated by the Dutch reporting regulations for foundations, the RJ650, a copy of those full Annual Accounts 2024 is available upon request.
Statement: Corinne Dettmeijer, Former Chair of the Supervisory Board
I am proud to present Child Helpline International’s Annual Accounts for 2024. Once again, the year underscored the critical importance of Child Helpline International’s mission to ensure that every child and young person around the world has access to the help and protection they need.
I would like to take this opportunity to re-emphasize the four key recommendations that guide its work and vision:
● Universal access to child helplines for every child and young person. To support the realization of the UNCRC, every child and young person must have free and unrestricted access to a high-quality child helpline offering support, guidance and referrals.
● Sustainable high-quality child helpline services. Reliable, long-term funding is crucial to sustain and enhance child helpline services, enabling them to meet the evolving needs of children and young people.
● Empowering youth voices in policy through child helpline data. Child helpline data is a powerful tool for safeguarding children’s rights and promoting their wellbeing. Beyond providing counselling, child helplines capture objective insights into children’s lived experiences, offering vital information on the prevalence and characteristics of help-seeking behaviour.
● Structured partnerships to end violence against children and young people. To end all forms of violence against children, partnerships are essential among governments, child helplines, child protection agencies and specialized organizations.
Child helplines have become prominent across various thematic issues. We have observed a significant rise in cases related to technology-facilitated child sexual exploitation and abuse, mental health concerns and general violence, and our child helpline members are there to address these issues and provide children and young people with the help and support, information and advice that they need.
Child helplines are a core component of national child protection systems, however more than 50 countries around the world still lack a national child helpline service. Child Helpline International’s vision is that child helplines will be available to children and young people in every country and territory around the world.
Child Helpline International cannot achieve its ambitions alone. As mentioned in its key recommendations, structured partnerships are not just beneficial but essential for ensuring the sustainability, adaptability and effectiveness of child helpline services.
In 2025 I stepped down from my role as Chair of the Supervisory Board of Child Helpline International, after six years of service, two consecutive terms, and fulfilling the role of Chair since November 2022. I want to extend my deepest gratitude to all of our donors, partners and supporters for their unwavering commitment to our work. Together with them Child Helpline International and its members will continue to make a significant impact on the lives of children and young people worldwide, ensuring that every child and young person has a voice that is heard, listened to and acted upon, no matter where in the world they might be, and that every single one of these children and young people has the opportunity to grow up in a safe and supportive environment.
With my most sincere appreciation,
Corinne Dettmeijer
Supervisory Board Member (2018-2025) Chair of the Supervisory Board (2022-2025)
Balance
Sheet as of 31 December 2024 (after appropriation of net result)
PRINCIPLES OF VALUATION OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES
● The Annual Accounts 2024 are prepared in accordance with the accounting principles generally accepted in the Netherlands. The Dutch accounting guideline RJ650 for Fundraising Organizations is applicable. The annual accounts are prepared in Euro. Assets and liabilities are valued at face value, unless otherwise indicated.
● Comparison with prior year: The principles of valuation and determination of result remained unchanged compared to the prior year.
● Foreign currencies: Assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies are translated into Euros at yearend exchange rates; exchange gains and losses are charged to the statement of income and expenditure. Transactions in foreign currencies during the financial year are translated into Euros at the rate of exchange ruling on the transaction date.
● Tangible fixed assets: Since 2012, we have expensed all purchases at cost except capital investments (where applicable) funded by the European Commission, which are depreciated* at 33.33% per annum.
● Receivables are valued at face value less a provision for possible non-collectable amounts.
PRINCIPLES OF DETERMINATION OF RESULT
● Result is determined as the difference between income generated by contributions, membership fees and others, and the costs and other charges for the year. Income is recognized in the year in which it is realized.
● Costs are recognized at the historical cost convention and are allocated to the reporting year to which they relate. Depreciation is provided by the straight-line method over the estimated useful economic life. Tangible costs of fundraising in 2024 were negligible, amounting to small expenditure on online ad credits.
● Cash flow statement: The cash flow statement has been prepared applying the indirect method.
Statement of Income and Expenditure in 2024
Spent on purpose
1: Improve Quality and Standards
2: Develop Research and Data Management
3: Expand Advocacy and Campaigning
4: Sustainable organization
*98% of expenses were spent on the objectives.
Notes to the Balance Sheet
Continuity Reserve:
We work to ensure sustainability of the organization so that in the case of a funding shortage,our international network of child helplines is not affected. Therefore, we aim to create a continuity reserve to cover operational and programme costs for a period of six months.
We do not wish to create any other reserves than continuity reserves. This six-month timeframe is based on a prudent assessment of the time required to source additional funding. According to the advice expressed in “The Code Wijffels” this reserve should not exceed 1.5 times the operational costs. On 31 December 2024, the reserve was well below this limit. The continuity reserve is built up by income primarily from private donors and membership fees. We have no investments.
CONTINGENCIES AND COMMITMENTS
Long-term financial obligations:
Our annual office rental commitments is approximately €28,000. The lease contract, initially signed for a two-year term until 30 June 2024, has now transitioned to a rolling basis with a three-month notice period for termination.
Notes to the Statement of Income and Expenditure
The European Commission funding requires us to co-finance our award on a contractual basis; we met this requirement in 2024, which was 20% of the total project budget.
During the year an amount of €26,294 (2023: €36,999) has been received as in-kind donations.
Direct expenditure
Direct expenditure relates to those costs directly related to achieving our four goals, which are:
1. To improve quality and standards.
2. To develop research and data management.
3. To expand advocacy and campaigning.
4. To facilitate a sustainable organization.
Costs allocation
Child Helpline International is a network organization that raises money to cover the costs of serving its global membership of Child Helplines. This is reflected in our output model where all costs are allocated to the four goals as per the strategy as captured above.
Overhead amounted to €28,890 (€28,153 in 2023).
The accumulated costs of the remuneration (salary and social security costs) of the Executive Director amounted to €89,343.
The average number of employees during the year 2024 was 6.4 FTEs (2023: 7.5 FTEs). This average is derived from the calculation of 13,436 workdays according to the Verzamelloonstaat 2024 divided by 2,096 (total number of working hours for a FTE per annum).
The pension contribution charged to the profit-and-loss account amounts to €31,927 for 2024
Overhead: operational and administrative costs
These are defined as costs that cannot be linked directly to one of our four goals, for example, governance costs and audit fees. Please refer to Overhead – Page 20: Statement of Income and Expenditure for 2024.
Presentation of the income statement
The income statement is presented so that the expenditure against the objectives of both the current and previous years are shown.
Cash Flow Statement
Analysis of Budget Compared to Realization:
Significant fluctuations of 5% in income compared to prior year
Type
Income
Increase or decrease
Decrease on prior year
Cash at Year-End Increase
Explanation
Income was relatively high in 2023, due to the Ukraine crisis response project funded by UNICEF. This project ended in 2023.
First tranche of Oak funding was received in December 2024 and planned sub-grant was not expensed until January 2025.
Child Helpline International is a collective impact organization with over 150 members in more than 130 countries and territories around the world.
We coordinate information, viewpoints, knowledge and data from our child helpline members, partners and external sources. This exceptional resource is used to help and support child protection systems globally, regionally and nationally, and to help our members advocate for the rights of children and amplify their voices.
Child Helpline International
Bruggebouw Suite 5.08
Bos en Lommerplein 280 1055 RW Amsterdam
The Netherlands www.childhelplineinternational.org
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