The Fight the Famine Council was initially started earlier in 1919 to put political pressure on the British government to end the blockade, the first meeting having been held at the home of Catherine Courtney, at 15 Cheyne Walk.

[3] Jebb used fund-raising techniques to gain exposure, for example, making Save the Children the first charity in the United Kingdom to use page-length advertisements in newspapers.

[7] From 1921 to 1923, Save the Children created press campaigns, propaganda movies, and feeding centers in Russia and Turkey to accommodate and educate thousands of refugees.

Although Russia was largely closed off to international relief and aid, Save the Children persuaded Soviet authorities to let them have a ground presence.

The campaign gained national appeal, eventually allowing the organization to charter the SS Torcello to Russia with 600 tons of relief supplies.

Improved conditions meant Save the Children's Russian feeding program was able to be closed in the summer of 1923, after having won international acclaim.

During this same time, work in the United Kingdom focused on improving conditions for children growing up in cities devastated by bombing and facing huge disruptions in family life.

Disasters in Ethiopia, Sudan, and many other world hotspots led to appeals that brought public donations on a huge scale, and a consequent expansion of the organization's work.

[12] Members lead on activities within their home territory and work with donors to develop programs abroad, which are coordinated and delivered by a central body – Save the Children International – via teams on the ground in each country.

All members of the association are bound by the International to Save the Children Alliance Bylaws which include The Child Protection Protocol and Code of Conduct.

In May 2012, Save the Children's country director for Pakistan, David Wright, revealed that the organization's work had been badly disrupted ever since Afridi had made his claim, with medicines held up for long periods at airports, staff unable to get visas, and so forth.

[24] Pakistani investigators said in a July 2012 report that Shakil Afridi met 25 times with "foreign secret agents, received instructions and provided sensitive information to them.

[27][28] On 11 June 2015, Pakistani authorities ordered all Save the Children workers to leave Pakistan within 15 days, and the organisation's office in Islamabad was closed and padlocked.

Save the Children UK chief executive Justin Forsyth had three complaints of misconduct directed towards him by female staff, while Brendan Cox was publicly accused of sexual assault.

An anonymous source told The Times that the organization had been previously warned of the typeface's origin before its adoption, and that the decision to change it was made one year prior.

Senior staff members denounced the organization for prioritizing Israeli hostages' concerns over the humanitarian crisis affecting Palestinian children in Gaza Strip in a widely shared internal letter.

In response to the letter, Save the Children CEO Inger Ashing acknowledged the "long-standing issues" of diversity, equity and inclusion.

While Save the Children implemented measures such as diverse selection panels and DEI training, staff expressed skepticism about the authenticity and impact of these initiatives.

For example, comparable roles in Belgium and Sri Lanka were assigned vastly different pay scales, with the latter being far below local living standards and in some cases even below national minimum wages.

[42][43] In September 2023, Hisham Al-Hakimi, the Safety and Security Director at Save the Children office in Yemen, was arrested by Houthi movement members and kept incommunicado.

[50] In 2023, SCGV was announced as a contributor to a USAID Catalyze EduFinance's initiative to expand access to and improve the quality of early childhood development in South Africa.