Professor Jenny Harrow's presentation to Voluntary Action History Society :Fifth International Conference, University of Huddersfield 10-12 July 2013 The activities of the International Union for Child Welfare from 1946-1948 is examined in the context of social conditions in Europe. Themes include models of relief, relations with national governments, and fundraising practices; and considers intra-country and cross country flows of aid. Conclusions are drawn concerning IUCW’s emphasis on its NGO (not ‘voluntary’) status, its lack of expectation that governments will (or should) be always leading provision, thinking and expertise in children’s welfare, and the extent to which inter-organisational networking and joint philanthropic working for children’s interests were blurring the boundaries of what constituted the IUCW from its very beginning.

1. Voluntary Action History Society :Fifth International Conference,
University of Huddersfield 10-12 July 2013
Austerity in another time: work and philanthropy in the
International Union for Child Welfare,1946-1948
Professor Jenny Harrow
ESRC Centre for Charitable Giving and Philanthropy
Cass Business School, City University London , United Kingdom
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2. The 1948 ‘Special Number’ of the International Child Welfare Review
provides a formal account of its work and that of 21 of its 40+ nationallybased members during 1946- to 1948, its first two years.
 part annual report on achievements and challenges
• part reflection on the mix of national member organisations’ priorities
for and extent and nature of giving to children
• part commentary on the strains as well as hopes for international NGO
collaboration
• part expression of the demands of working within its international
principles, whilst accommodating members’ national autonomy.
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3. The Context
• the extent of privation facing children world wide, enforcing its focus on
relief prompting the recurring theme of the existence (and presumption of
world “solidarity” regarding children’s relief needs
• chronic financial) insecurity of IUCW and its members as a fact of life;
austerity features as a given, and an experience to be worked round,
through local and global philanthropy
•
the development of inter-governmental agencies and shifting perceptions
of governmental action , whilst supporting the importance of ‘NGO (“not
voluntary”) status
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4. The paper’s focus
• the shared and contrasting models of relief being undertaken
• the variety of models of relationships with governments being
reported
• the fundraising strategies and directions which underpin member
organisations’ work for the development of child welfare in their “new
conditions”
A descriptive and interpretative analysis of the document is
presented, using the “mute evidence of the written text”
(Hodder, 2003, 151).
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5. The International Union for Child Welfare
Founded September 1946
from merger between the Save the Children Fund International Union (1913)
and the International Association for the Promotion of Child Welfare
(founding dates disputed, 1913 and 1926 )
“aiming to make known the principles of the declaration of the rights of the
child, to relieve children in distress and to raise standards of child welfare
and contribute to the physical, moral, and spiritual life of the child.”
a federated organisation, member organisations grouped in ‘national
sections’ ;
a Geneva HQ, where research, relief and administrative departments were
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headed by a Secretary-General

6. As at July 1 1946”, IUCW reported “active members” in
18 European countries, 2 in North America, 1 in Central America,
6 in S. America and 3 in Asia.
“disbanded in April 1986 allegedly for reasons of internal financial
management” (Beigbeder, 1991, 93)
Barooah (1989, 102) describes it as “unfortunately wound up”, asserting
that “it has played a very important part in child welfare and deserves not
to be forgotten”.
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7. 1946-1948 -a period “(which)..saw the flowering of international
humanitarianism, a s a somewhat chaotic “non-system”.
(Beigbeder,1991,10)
-
1947, economic reconstruction foundering, Europe divided, the Marshall Plan
- Food the daily preoccupation across Europe ; calorific intakes too low to
sustain a proper level of health for long in Italy, Austria ,Germany
-Shields and Brian (2002, 88) find that “ in 1946, there were 147 000 orphans
in Italy, 200 000 in Greece, an unknown number in Germany and countless
more in other countries ;total number of orphans in Europe estimated at
13 000 000”
-together with mass displacement, disability ,disfiguration and disease among
children (TB, malaria, gastroenteritis , venereal disease)
IUCW characterises its work as work as “difficult but necessary”…….
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8. Resources issues for IUCW HQ ,1946-1948
Core costs – “the task is complicated by the extremely inadequate resources
and chronic insecurity of the administrative budget; and a degree of success
has only been achieved by taking advantage of vacancies and modifying
other posts”
Imbalances in members’ resources at national level
Expenses “…the perennial discussion about the ‘necessity’ of expenses,
slightingly referred to a administrative expenses, whereas they are the very
life-blood of an organisation. A great deal of misunderstanding and prejudice
still persists on this subject, due in the main to ignorance…..”
new inter –governmental organisations, able to make direct public
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appeals….

9. “The United Nations, concentrating solely and exclusively on the UNICEF,
which is already supported by the Governments, has completely lost sight of
the future of the international non-governmental organisations concerned
with child welfare which have given yeoman service in this cause and have
made campaigns such as theirs possible. They have been at work not only for
decades prior to the war but during the war whereas the idea of the UNICEF,
approved in 1946, only began to operate in 1947”.
IUCW seeks a “readjustment on both sides and a delimitation of functions, if
only in the interests of economy of effort and to ensure cohesion and
maximum efficiency”….
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10. Models of relief, 1946-1948
Responsiveness to highly immediate basic needs predominate : e.g.
shipments from Argentina, of “ 2 cases of clothes to China, 9 and 19 cases of
clothes and shoes to Latvia and Poland respectively, 4 cases of meat extract
to Germany and 4 cases of toys to Great Britain”
Greece: the “distribution of 88,500 toothbrushes and an equivalent number
of tubes of toothpaste distributed to children attending Athens clinics and
those in rural areas”
Chilean provision for Austria where “the foodstuffs will cover the needs of a
children’s home throughout the winter”.
Feeding schemes most prominent: “ feeding schemes are considered to be
one of the most rational ways to give speedy and efficient help” e.g. Swedish
organisations in Germany “experimenting” in 1947 with canteens for 9,000
students

11. Temporary respite through children’s holidays widely reported
Belgium - Belgian Red Cross , as a mark of thanks to its Swiss counterpart,
invited 30 Swiss children on holiday, who were “in need of sea air”.
Netherlands - “a certain number of German children to come temporarily to
Holland” had had to be the subject of an appeal to the US Save the Children
Federation for foodstuffs, since “the guarantee of food supplies (was) a prior
condition for the (entry) consent of the Ministry of Social Affairs”
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12. For the most part, work foregone or evidence of children refused service or
support was rarely reported
An exception is the Patriotic Foundation for Social Welfare and Assistance’s
(PIPKA) report for Greece on child feeding conditions, where
“after February 1947 , PIPKA was obliged to cut down the individual rations
and to retain on the register only children up to two years’ of age and
expectant mothers in cities of over 10,000 inhabitants. That is to say , all
children over two years; of age everywhere and babies in the smaller towns
and villages received no milk at all”.
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13. Models of relationships with governments
• Advocacy on ‘the child’s behalf’: e.g. child smugglers in Germany
• State intransigence: e.g. refusal to sanction professional posts in Greece
• State takeover? “at the beginning of 1948 the Bulgarian Union for Child
Welfare was undergoing complete reorganisation (and ) were unable to
send in a report or supply any precise information for plans for the current
year”
• State burdening the NGOs Poland, “..the Central Committee wishes to
stress that their help is limited to those who do not qualify for state
assistance, chiefly war victims, repatriates, refugees, orphans and halforphans.”
• Disappointment and regret with state action : voluntary hospital closure
• Smooth, facilitating relations with government: Swedish government gave

14. Fundraising strategies
The nature of the reports
Pre-date the era of the ‘annual report as fundraising tool’ ; or a contemporary
tool in its own right?
matter of fact ,retrospective accounts of what they had done and for whom
few reports setting out to be emotionally charged (Greece, Poland the
exceptions?)
Retrospectively poignant e.g. describing the popularity across Europe of Swissproduced pamphlets on
“”How I look after my Baby”, “How I dress my Baby” and “completing the
series, a small handbook of recommendations in case of illness or accident, ‘My
Baby is Ill”.
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15. Financial sponsorship of individual children central
In Bolivia, sponsorship by Bolivian families of European children were a central
feature, supplemented by funds gained through “a bridge tea at the French
Legation, donations by local firms and a Play by the English Colony’s Dramatic
Society in La Paz”
Italy, the child sponsorship scheme for children placed in institutions) begun by
the Italian Red Cross in 1945,
The Swedish report discusses the complexities of sponsorship development in
Europe “until conditions became more or less stabilised” and then a rapid
growth in Swedish sponsorship for Austrian, Belgian, Czech, Dutch, French,
Hungarian and Italian and Polish children by 1946, with “preparations
underway to start sponsorship for German children”
In the US, US schools as well as children were sponsored, mostly “rural schools
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with one or two rooms”

16. IUCW at HQ, long experience: with the sponsorship scheme “created in
1921 by the late W.A. Mackenzie (this was) a practical form of assistance”.
The Secretary-General’s concerns that after 1945, with some improvement in
conditions, sponsorship numbers had fallen, with consequent breaking of
bonds between sponsor and child (however “unimpeachable the decision” i.e
to support those in even greater need) that could not be done without
“serious consequences”.(ibid. 20).
Although failures at national member level had occurred in some instances
e.g. leaving the sponsors without news, so that they lost interest), “the real
solution was not to stop the sponsorship but to find new sponsors”.

17. Keeping track of funds
In Rumania for example, since March 1948 , the budget of Save the Children
Section had been included in that of the Rumanian Red Cross, prompting an
independent effort to raise new funds for foodstuffs and clothing by
“organising teas, exhibitions and bring and buy sales” ; useful when
combined with impact reporting
following gifts of Vitamin D oil, “the results of the Vitamin D distribution are
now being collated.” (ibid, 108),
Celebrity-linked fundraising was not widely reported , closest was that of
Belgian citizens’ funding of a Belgian children’s holiday in Great Britain, as “ a
gift to celebrate HRH Princess Elizabeth’s twenty first birthday”

18. Increasing public awareness through mild shock tactics
Direct ’demonstration’ action or mild shock tactics ,to increase public
awareness, is little reported:
The example from Sweden stands out, of a major public exhibition showing
“ a typical bombed home from present-day Europe …
also the ordinary food ration in Austria and the ragged food clothing and
miserable foot wear worn by people in war-stricken countries”.
However, specific reference to the public response is omitted ,other than a
reference to their interest in sampling the ‘Swedish soup’ dispensed by
relief workers abroad.
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19. Financial turmoil or health in national economies
reported variously, mostly not as a lever for increased private giving but as
an explanation of declining contribution.
In Peru, for example, collections from business firms was reported, partly to
cover the difference in the official exchange rate and that required to be
used for the associated spending, since “the Peruvian government declined
to grant the dollars and Swiss francs at the official rate”.
positive economic responses in receiving nations were also a basis for
ending particularly targeted support; for example the US IUCW member, its
Save the Children Federation, reported that “it has been decided to
terminate gradually the work of the Federation in Belgium, since Belgium
has made a gratifying economic recovery”

20. The lack of the direct voice of the child is marked
perhaps in its place , a minority of member reports provide the names of the
crucial field as well as headquarters staff, projecting some sense of
personalisation, if not reality, in the otherwise highly formal narratives.
The report from Great Britain provides particular instances of implicit
authority, as in its work in Italy , where “ relief work had earlier been carried
out in Displaced Persons’ camps, and in the autumn of 1946, Miss Harley
was sent out”, subsequently surveying the need for localised nursery school
work, and requiring further schools’ experts and administrators.
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21. Reflections on IUCW 1946-1948
Blurring of the boundaries of IUCW: in some countries, the IUCW was
replicated at national level (e.g. Argentina, Bulgaria, Finland) ; in others the
Save the Children organisation was the only reporting representative, ; in
others the sole reporting agency was the national Red Cross organisation, (e.g.
Italy , China)
Most confusing in Hungary and Rumania where the IUCW member was the
national ‘Red Cross–Save the Children Section’
Moreover a number of members were closely co-operating with UNICEF…..
Hard to assess its importance when it appears simultaneously vital and
nebulous. the pressures on IUCW in respect of children’s urgent needs appears
to have been such that this report either glosses over such challenges, or
accepts them for what they are, a organisational hindrance to be overcome for
child welfare’s gains.

22. IUCW’s prevailing view that neither governments nor new
intergovernmental organisations should be the only arbiters of children’s
welfare, already an ‘embattled’ sense for NGOs…
for NGOs, the “struggle for existence, even penury of means may give birth
to qualities but also failings”, the freedom of expression, ability to embark
on new ventures and offer independent judgment which NGO status brings
“may offer the greatest service”
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23. Given the generally calm, downplayed, descriptive ,matter of fact content
of this “Special Review”, one contemporary feature stands out
The advertising message – or report sponsor – on the Review’s back cover,
emulating current fundraising thinking on encouraging giving through signs
of happiness, and not despair. ……
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24. www.shaw-trust.org.uk