2021
in pictures

Covid. Conflict. Climate change. Three great crises combined in 2021 to throw children’s lives and futures into chaos. But as our leaders floundered, it was children who so often showed us the way, who showed us the best of who we are.

This collection of images – our 2021 Year in Pictures – has been specially selected to celebrate some of those children.

Children who stand amid the ruin of war and refuse to let go of their dreams of an education and a better life.

Children who stand on the frontline of climate change – confronted by the worst nature has to throw at them – and call on the world to act.

Children who stood up to another year of lockdowns and lost schooling, still full of energy, spirit and determination to make a difference to the people around them.

The collection showcases our most evocative and creative images of 2021. It tells the stories of the children they feature and the memories of the photographers who took them. It captures moments of reflection. Moments of defiance. Moments of exhilaration.

Even amid the Democratic Republic of Congo’s devastating conflict, 12-year-old Veronique* and her family had been able to build what she calls a “good and normal life”.

Her parents had a steady income. They could afford to buy her clothes and send her to school.

But everything changed for Veronique the night armed groups attacked her village in Ituri province. She was forced to flee in the night, ending up taking refuge in a small tent with her mother at a nearby camp for displaced people.

“Since I arrived here, everything has become problematic,” she says. “I wanted to continue my studies, but now there is no way.”

DRC’s conflict has created one of the largest humanitarian disasters in the world, with devastating consequences for the education, health and well-being of millions of children.

We’re providing health, nutrition and protection services to children like Veronique, so they can make it through the toughest times of their lives.

Photographer Hugh Kinsella Cunningham:

“This portrait of Veronique was taken in one of dozens of displacement camps that dot Ituri province.

“I have been thinking about this portrait a lot recently, as just days ago, camps in the area were attacked, with thousands having to flee in search of shelter once more. Thousands are now living outside, exposed to the elements and further violence. There is no way of knowing if Veronique is among those now on the move again.

“This portrait, and the colours around it, which come from flowers picked in the province, are just a simple moment of stillness, where she is seen as herself: a calm and confident young girl, insulated from the chaos and upheaval that have defined her childhood.” 

In a remote village by a river in Sierra Leone, children are going to great lengths to get to school.

One such child is 13-year-old Tenneh. The only way she can reach the classroom is across a river. So she starts the day on the water in her canoe – no matter what the weather.

“When I am sitting in my boat on the way to school and the wind is blowing, I park and wait for the wind to stop. Then I jump back into my boat quickly so I can get to school early,” says Tenneh. “I want to be educated and help my parents.”

Her education is possible thanks to her own determination and our support. We’ve rebuilt schools in Sierra Leone, kitted out pupils and trained teachers.

“When the teacher gives us homework and we submit it, he corrects us nicely,” says Tenneh. “He takes good care of us.”

Now Tenneh’s school stands out, with students achieving above the national average in their exams.

We’re making sure girls like Tenneh in Sierra Leone can stay in school and grow up to be who they want to be.

Photographer Jonathan Hyams:

“The photo was taken in the morning during Tenneh’s journey to school. The team and I had to set off before sunrise to reach her village, making the five-hour journey by dirt road and by motor boat.   

“We found Tenneh in her bright red rain jacket, along with other members of her village, waiting for us in gentle rain on a sandy bank as we moored up the boat. From there, she guided us across to the other side of the island where she keeps her uncle’s wooden dugout canoe.

“Tenneh kindly agreed to let me join her in her small dugout canoe on her half-hour daily commute, paddling down river to reach her school. The canoe, with its rounded bottom, was precariously unstable, with the slightest of movements to the left or right risking both of us ending up in the water – camera and all! This really limited my shooting options – forcing me to shoot blindly with the camera sometimes dangling off the edge of the canoe to vary the angle.  

“Pressing the shutter became rhythmical, in time with each paddle, so her moving paddle and arms didn’t obscure her expression but instead naturally framed her face."

The climate crisis isn’t some future threat, it’s happening now – and it’s happening to children like Timothy. Here the teenager recounts the dramatic events of New Year’s Eve 2018 – the night his coastal village in the Solomon Islands was torn apart by a cyclone.

He explains how the disaster is symptomatic of disturbing changes to the local climate. And he calls on the world to act.

“Before it arrived, the sky was crystal clear, the stars were twinkling and the calm ocean didn’t make a sound. It was a truly joyful night until 30 minutes before the big countdown, when the weather suddenly changed.

“Dark clouds filled the sky and a strong wind blew hard against our houses. Huge storm-surge waves roared and rolled up the shoreline. Some people were running around in a panic.

“Suddenly, the roof of our house blew off and the walls were damaged by the huge rolling waves. So we fled to the church for cover.

“In the past 40 years cyclones like these have become more intense, and more destructive storms now form more often.

“Warming oceans could also drive more dangerous cyclones. We worry because it’s likely they will get bigger and more deadly. That’s why we need to come together and act now, before it’s too late.”

Photographer Collin Leafasia:

“The church was in the centre of the village and one of the few buildings made of solid concrete. It was dark and solemn but there was a small window at the very top where sunlight was streaming in.

“I asked Timothy to stand in the light so I could get a better picture. He walked into the shaft of sunlight and put his hands behind his back and looked up.

“What stayed with me was how Timothy walked around the church showing me where his family slept on the floor. He had a sense of reverence for the building.

“The little window at the top of the church roof provided a spotlight effect for the shot. I asked him to do whatever felt natural to him. I guess that’s why when I asked him to pose in the sunlit spot, he immediately put his hands behind his back and looked up.”

Wrapped in a fresh towel, one-week-old Bao Chau looks a picture of health as he emerges from his bath in Nghia Lo General Hospital in Vietnam.

We've been helping children like Bao Chau and his mum get access to high-quality maternal and newborn health services. Part of this work includes training health workers – like 52-year-old midwife Thi Hong Mo, who gave little Bao Chau his bath.

Photographer Linh Pham:

“We had been working around Nghia Lo Hospital for a while and I noticed Thi Hong Mo, a very sweet and experienced midwife. She seemed to have a special ability to make every child feel comfortable and happy.

“When she bathed baby Bao Chau, the bath was brief but it was filled with joy. I took the photo straight after Bao Chau had come out of the bath and was drying under the red lamp.

“What I love about this photo is the moment the baby tries to open his eyes, and the colour contrast of the red light from the drying lamp on his face and the green sheet beneath him.”

When their baby, A Thang, was born prematurely at home, his parents feared the worst. “The baby was very weak, his face had turned blue,” says dad A Ho. “We went to the hospital and he was put in an incubator for 24 days.”

The journey he describes so matter-of-factly was two hours down a mud track on a motorbike – the road is too treacherous for cars. Some parts of the road are so rough he even had to dismount and carry his wife Thi Xenh.

But they made it just in time, and the treatment the baby received at one of our supported health centres, An Luong Community Health Centre, saved his life. Four years on, A Thang is in good health and so is his newborn sister – thanks to the antenatal practices health workers we helped train passed on to the family.

It’s all part of our long-term work in Vietnam to give mums and babies access to high-quality maternal and newborn health services. 

Photographer Linh Pham:

“The family of Thi Xenh and Giang A Ho live high up in the mountains of Van Chan District, Vietnam. There is only one road through the mountains to the village, and it is accessible only on a motorbike.

"We started from An Luong Community Health Centre at the base of the mountain. It is a place where cinnamon is dried and processed, so the air is thick with the scent of fresh cinnamon.

“I was on the back of a modified dirt motorbike. It took us more than two hours to reach the family home. When we arrived, it was very foggy but I could see the family waiting for us on their front porch with their traditional dress on.

“As we all hung out together on the front porch, the portrait just came naturally. A Thang was a bit shy, while his older brother A Tua was playful and running around. I wanted a straightforward portrait as the background, their dress and everything in between already speaks for itself.

“When we said goodbye to the family, A Ho took off his traditional Hmong dress, folded it neatly and offered it to me as a gift.  I politely declined but appreciated his sincerity and honesty.”

Getting a good start in life was already tough enough for kids from some of the country’s most deprived communities. Then the Covid pandemic made it even tougher.

That’s why we organised a Summer of Fun for children like 11-year-old Lexie from Wallsend – so they could get back to having a laugh with their friends. We also helped them catch up with their lost learning, so they’d be ready to go back to school.

Now life’s no longer on hold, Lexie can start thinking about who she can become: “I would like to be a PE teacher that works with underprivileged kids,” she says. “Kids should be helped to follow their dreams...”

Photographer Kate Stanworth:

“It was a warm summer’s day and the videographer and I chose the playing field of Lexie’s new secondary school to take photos and gather footage. We were looking to move away from simple documentary, and seek out some more creative and collaborative ways of creating pictures. When I showed Lexie some inspirational photos, she instantly became animated and full of ideas about how she wanted to be photographed. We went with them.

“It impressed me how Lexie’s future dreams involved helping others to achieve theirs – she wanted to teach sport to underprivileged kids, to help them be the best they could be.

“In the photo she is running across the playing field with open arms. The image seemed to capture her positive personality and her embrace of new possibilities, as she prepared to take the next steps in her life.”

Armed men forced 15-year-old Samira* from her village in Burkina Faso during the violence sweeping Africa’s Sahel region.

She and her family fled with nothing to start a new life in Yatenga province. Samira’s education was brutally curtailed – she was out of school for the next two years.

Girls in this region of Burkina Faso are often forced into early marriage – a threat that hangs over Samira. But she’s determined to continue her studies. She’s now enrolled in school and hoping to take extra lessons to help her catch up.

Photographer Adrien Bitibaly:

“I spent the morning photographing Samira at a school in Yatenga province in the north of Burkina Faso. Light entered through small windows on either side of the classroom, casting a soft diffused light across Samira and her classmate's faces.

“The pastel shades of the pale blues and pinks of the girls’ uniforms and headscarves and the washed out chalk on the blackboard gave the image an almost painterly quality.”

Imagine being ripped from the home you have known your whole life. The places you knew, the children who were your friends, the toys you played with – all gone forever. Your parents have no work, you have no school.

This is what Balkissa*, 13, from Niger has been through.

“We were at peace before the arrival of the insurgents,” says Balkissa. “They killed people in and outside the village. We were shocked.”

Now imagine the strength it takes, after you’ve lost everything, to rebuild your life. This is the strength Balkissa has shown. She’s at one of our supported schools and, after struggling to adjust, she is finding her feet, meeting new friends and performing well in class.

Balkissa is one of a million people uprooted from their homes by an escalation of violence between non-state armed groups in Africa’s Sahel region.

In response, we’ve launched a landmark programme to tackle the education, protection and mental health needs of children caught up in the crisis.

Photographer Apsatou Bagaya:

“Balkissa’s mother and siblings were with her in the yard when we arrived. They greeted us and offered us water to drink.

“I photographed Balkissa at about 5pm against a black cloth, which I fixed against a wall to create a daylight studio in their home. I wanted to capture her strength and defiance.

“They’re a beautiful, courageous family, whose bravery has helped them survive so much."

Pollution and climate change pose a serious threat to the health and well-being of millions of children in Pakistan. The country’s urban air pollution is among the most severe in the world. On street corners, people burn huge amounts of solid waste, including plastic and rubber, releasing toxic gases.

We commissioned photographer Nad É Ali to capture the reality of pollution in Lahore, as part of a wider creative photography project documenting the stories of children living through the effects of the climate crisis.

His negatives were treated with pollutants found in the city – including bleach and caustic soda, which are used in the garment and textile industry, and pollute wastewater.

We’ve formed 29 eco-clubs in schools across the country where students can learn eco-friendly practices, such as reducing the use of plastic, good waste-disposal, and tree plantation. 

Photographer Nad É Ali:

“It was lunchtime in the outskirts of Lahore near Kasur City and the sun was disappearing behind the clouds and then reappearing again, when I took these photos of the brick kilns.  

“There are many kilns in the area and they are poisoning the environment and damaging people’s lives. Despite the large number of kilns and the harm they are causing, no action is taken against them.”

Cambodia’s Tonle Sap is the largest freshwater lake in Asia and one of the richest fishing grounds in the world. But now climate change is threatening this natural, life-sustaining abundance. Fish stocks are rapidly depleting, pushing thousands of families who rely on the lake for their livelihoods into poverty.

Chenla lives with her family of six in a small boat on Tonle Sap. They rely on selling the fish they catch in the lake to make a living. They make around £3.50 per day, which only covers the cost of rice and gasoline for the boat. When there are storms, they can’t go out and fish so they don’t earn anything at all.

“I have lived here for five or six years now, and we don’t have a house to live in,” she says. “We only have that small boat for all of my family.”

Chenla’s father Sambath has lived on the lake since 1979 and noticed some disturbing changes in that time. It’s getting hotter, he says, and the rainfall patterns are changing. He reports that there are fewer fish in the lake, leaving him struggling to feed his family – a reality shared by many families he knows.

He admits many of the community’s problems are self-inflicted, caused by overfishing and deforestation.

But despite all this, Chenla strives to improve their lives. She wants to study hard and get a job to support her parents and siblings.

Photographer Lim Sokchanlina:

“It was a bright day and Chenla was playing and swimming with her young brothers. While she relaxed, I took some portraits of her on the lake in front of her boathouse.

“She asked me to take some pictures of her alone and other photos of her with her brothers. I took the photos on my film camera as well as my digital one because I would love to print some for them."

MengHy is up at 5am every day to catch fish, selling them to support what remains of his family. He was abandoned by his parents years ago. Now he lives with his grandfather, Ky, and uncle, Southea, in a small floating house on the shores of Tonle Sap Lake.

The question now is: how long can they rely on the lake for a living?

Climate change has laid siege to this delicate ecosystem. Their grandfather Ky says he’s noticed the drop in the number of fish in the dry season, and the water is now so dirty they cannot drink it.

As with other Lim Sokchanlina photos from this series, this image has been exposed to climate change-causing chemicals. It was treated with DCP, which is a greenhouse gas found in solvents, as well as with mud, which gives the image its yellow tinge.

Photographer Lim Sokchanlina:

“Our boat reached MengHy's floating house around 8am. The sky was clear and very bright, and the family gave us a lovely warm welcome. 

“Soon MengHy was swimming and playing. He’d come back to check on us, then go back to playing in the lake.

“He loves swimming so I thought it best to take portraits of him in water. I asked him to stand in the shallow water for me for a few shots. His friend on a boat was telling him to smile and he laughed.

“Then I let him do what he wanted as I photographed him. He held onto a rope that tied his boat to a tree. Those moments were great shots.” 

“The sky was orange… like seeing a blood orange, splatter all over.”

This is how nine-year-old Romy describes the afternoon in October 2019 when bushfires raged around her home. It was the day the climate crisis became a terrible reality for this girl from Batemans Bay in Australia.

As the fires closed in, the family took refuge on a local beach with thousands of others. Then Romy’s parents, Margie and Gary, took the courageous decision to drive directly through the bushfires to reach the safety of the nearest evacuation centre.

When they finally returned home, they found their house miraculously intact, but the destruction of the bush and its wildlife left the place eerily quiet.

The family are piecing their lives back together, but Romy still lives in fear. “The thing… that worries me a heap is that what if there's more fires? What if our house burns, then?”

Matthew Abbott’s images highlight the devastation now being wrought by climate change on the Australian bush and its people. Taken on a medium format film camera, the negatives were exposed to sunlight to create a visual representation of the extreme heat of the bushfires.

Photographer Matthew Abbott:  

“We arrived at Romy’s home about 4 or 5pm. That’s when you get a softer, warmer light.

“I used a Hasselblad medium format film. I would shoot the film first and then unroll the film deliberately in sunlight so the film roll edges would be exposed. Then I would squeeze the film to allow for these bursts of light across it.

“It’s a very unpredictable way of working. You have no idea if you are completely ruining your film or your images – it’s like a leap of faith in some ways. 

“With film, you always end up with something really special if you try new things with it and experiment. The photograph itself is a really nice moment, then those light leaks help create a dream-like moment. They encourage the viewer to consider how the fires have affected the lives of these children.”

The pandemic and repeated lockdowns hit many UK families hard.

As schools shut down, we were there to help children cope and keep learning. As the economy was plunged into deep freeze, we helped families survive the financial pressures.

We support the Smallshaw Hurst Pantry Store in Manchester, for example, run by a team of 28 volunteers. Members pay £3 and can choose from a range of fresh, frozen and dried foods, to the value of around £15.

Roughly 50 families use the pantry every week and about 144 are registered – Kiki’s family are one of them.

Photographer Hanna Adcock:

“I met Kiki at the food pantry with her mum, her grandmother (GiGi), two brothers and baby sister. The next day we spent the afternoon together at their home in Greater Manchester. The whole family was so welcoming and their closeness really came across.

“Kiki is full of energy and loved the camera, with a catalogue of poses ready at any time!

“I gave her my camera for a while in the garden and she loved taking photographs. She was really considered and took images of her favourite things – a plant she was growing, some flowers and her siblings. Inside the house she asked for the camera again and took portraits of her family. Sharing photography together made the whole experience great.  

“After trampolining, digging, jumping and running around the garden for a few hours we were all pretty shattered. We went inside to join the rest of the family, but after a few minutes’ downtime Kiki was getting ready to play ball at the front of the house. This portrait was taken just before she left. The sun was starting to get a bit lower in the sky, so the light fell nicely through the net curtains. Most of the family had left the room so it was easier to get a natural, quieter moment.”

Yara* chose to photograph a flower as part of our photography project in Za’atari refugee camp because “every time it falls, it springs up again”.

Since fleeing Syria’s brutal civil war in 2013, Yara has lived almost half her life in Za’atari. “I felt that I had lost my homeland, I was very sad,” she says. “I have left everything beautiful.”

Yara says that living in Za’atari leaves her “feeling alienated”. But at least now, after enrolling in Coaching for Life – a unique programme run by us and the Arsenal Foundation – she has hope of a better future.

The programme uses football to give children the support they need to explore and manage their emotions, develop their decision-making and conflict-management skills, and build resilience and relationships.

The programme inspired 16-year-old Mariyan* to take the photo of her teammates’ hands – showing how she feels to be part of a team. She says Coaching for Life has taught her: “Tolerance, love, helping others, self-confidence, courage and spreading good.”

Mariyan is a teenager of many talents. “I have hobbies that I like to share with others,” she says. “Writing novels, poetry, thoughts, stories, rap, drawing anime and designing movements on songs."

2021 was a desperate year for Afghanistan’s children.

As winter closes in, widespread hunger is making it even worse. Millions are being pushed to the brink of famine.

Some parents are being forced to take heart-breaking measures to feed their families, like giving up their children. Single mother Fatima, pictured, says she was offered money for her 18-month-old twins Ara* and Milad*, but refused.

The children are both weak and unwell, and Ara is severely malnourished. But Fatima* can’t afford to take them to hospital.

We gave Ara therapeutic food, and provided the family with blankets and warm clothes to help them get through the winter.

Photographer Michal Przedlacki:

“We were in one of five Save the Children mobile health clinics that tour the villages of Jawzjan province every day.

“There was a lot of noise, lots of women with babies, literally hundreds of patients a day – because the health system has collapsed and mobile Save the Children teams provided the only available health care.

“At one point, a young mother with a tiny, severely malnourished child approached the doctors and nurses. Doctors examined the little girl Aya, and provided therapeutic food for her.

“I photographed the boy Milad as he was resting. He was covered with a blanket, in a cold room they cannot afford to warm. I could see from his eyes that he’d had a hard night. His mother told me that he and other kids were crying out of hunger, and begging for food that simply was not there.

“I wanted to convey the closeness of a parent and child – but also the seriousness of their situation. Even though he was sick, I had the feeling that the child had a sense of inner peace, coming from the physical presence of his mother – her hand touching the little one regularly, reaffirming her presence – and the child's unlimited trust in his parent."

DJ comes to the Food Pantry Store we support in Manchester, with his grandmother GiGi, mum Thaila, and siblings Kiki, JJ and Eliana.

The pantry has helped the local community get access to good healthy food as they struggled to cope with the financial fallout of the pandemic.

We also helped provide activity packs at the pantry to give children something to look forward to each week. Many families describe the packs as a “godsend”, especially during lockdowns and school holidays. They help families to bond, children to be creative and the whole community to make new friends.

Photographer Hanna Adcock:

“I spent a wonderful day with DJ and his three younger siblings in Greater Manchester. With the sun shining, we mostly hung out in the garden where DJ showed me various tricks on the slide, swings and with his football.

“DJ was a calming presence with his siblings, considered, and a bit quieter. He loved drawing and writing stories, creating some incredible animated flip books.

“This photograph was taken just after he’d shown me some impressive contortionist moves on the slide!”

She may be just eight years old, but in the words of her mum “my girl Monica is a child with the mind of a big person – she helps me a lot.”

That might be partly the product of what she’s already been through in her short life.

As their homeland Venezuela faced economic meltdown, Monica and her family – along with millions of other Venezuelans – left the country. Now she lives with her mother and three siblings in a slum in Colombia. Monica’s mum can’t find work and the family struggles to get enough food. “We eat some days, but sometimes we don’t,” says Monica.

Severely malnourished, Monica’s youngest sister, Luz*, had to spend 15 days in hospital and at one-and-a-half is still unable to walk.

We’re helping the family get the food, clothes and medicine they need.

Meanwhile Monica helps her mum look after Luz, and wants to become a teacher or doctor when she grows up so she can “look after children”.

When we met Monica, she was looking forward to a special celebration that weekend. “It is my birthday on Saturday, and I will invite all the children. There will be cake, a piñata, candles, toys, everything and presents.” Maybe that’s why she’s beaming.

Photographer Nadege Mazars:

“We were in La Guajira, not far from the border with Venezuela. It was hot, as always in this desert region of northeast Colombia. Monica lives with her family in a settlement called Maicao, which is mainly made up of Venezuelan migrants – a slum built around the old landing strip of the Maicao airport. 

“I took several portraits of the little girl. First I asked her to look at me, then at her friends behind me – other children who were laughing at the sight of these strangers. Monica was laughing too.

“She was at the heart of the story we wanted to tell. The story of a little girl starting her life, facing a difficult future in a large family where every day is a struggle to feed themselves. The story of a little girl with a bright smile, taking care of her brothers and sisters, sometimes of her mother, playing with her friends with invented toys. The story of one of the many little girls in Maicao.”

2021 was another tough year. But with your help we reached millions of children around the world and together we can make 2022 better.

We can support children to learn, grow and become who they want to be and by choosing to donate to Save the Children you can join us in helping every child to reach their full potential. You can find out more about what we do here.

Photographer responses have been edited for clarity and length.

*Names changed