Introduction
The World Childhood Foundation is an international child-rights foundation that funds innovative programmes, strengthens child-protection systems and builds partnerships to prevent the sexual abuse and exploitation of children.
History and Background
The World Childhood Foundation, commonly known as Childhood, was founded in 1999 by Her Majesty Queen Silvia of Sweden.
Queen Silvia’s commitment to establishing the organization developed through her engagement with children’s rights and her encounters with children affected by exploitation, street-based vulnerability, institutional care and other forms of abuse.
In 1996, Queen Silvia served as patron of the First World Congress against the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children. The experience reinforced her determination to establish an organization dedicated to protecting vulnerable children.
The Foundation was created with the support of 14 family foundations, philanthropists, private individuals and companies that shared its vision. Each founding partner contributed US$1 million, creating an endowment whose returns help cover the Foundation’s administrative expenses.
During its early years, Childhood addressed child sexual exploitation and the risks associated with institutional care. It also supported children living in poverty, on the streets or in orphanages, particularly in countries where established social-protection systems had weakened.
Its work later expanded to include online child safety, refugee children, child-friendly justice, support for families, prevention of offending and protection for children facing heightened risks.
The Foundation has its international office in Stockholm and maintains national operations through Childhood Brazil, Childhood Germany and Childhood USA.
Mission and Purpose
The World Childhood Foundation’s vision is a world in which all children are free from sexual abuse and exploitation.
Its mission is to inspire, promote and develop solutions that prevent the sexual abuse and exploitation of children.
Childhood identifies weaknesses in child-safety systems and invests resources and expertise in innovations, partnerships and methods that can protect children, particularly those facing the greatest risks.
Its work is based on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and aligned with Sustainable Development Goals 5, 16 and 17, covering gender equality, peaceful and inclusive societies, and partnerships for sustainable development.
The Foundation’s broader thematic work addresses child-supportive environments and relationships, child online safety, and child-focused responses to abuse.
Its 2025 impact framework also identifies five connected areas: trusted adults, digital safety, justice and healing, neglected risk groups, and prevention of perpetration.
Governance and Structure
The World Childhood Foundation is a private, religiously and politically independent foundation.
Queen Silvia serves as honorary chair and remains closely associated with the Foundation’s global child-protection mission.
The Swedish board of directors is responsible for organizational governance, strategic direction, financial oversight and funding decisions. Kenneth Bengtsson serves as chairman, while Princess Madeleine of Sweden is deputy honorary chair.
Board members contribute knowledge from business, philanthropy, child rights, organizational leadership and social sustainability. They do not receive compensation for their board service.
The secretary general oversees the Foundation’s operations and works with programme, advocacy, partnership, communications and administrative teams. Paula Guillet de Monthoux serves as secretary general.
International and national offices cooperate on global priorities while developing programmes and partnerships relevant to their respective countries.
The Foundation also uses external advisers during its grant-assessment process. Final grant decisions are made by the board of directors.
Funding and Grants
The World Childhood Foundation receives financial support from companies, foundations, philanthropists and private donors.
Its founding endowment helps finance administrative expenses, allowing a greater proportion of subsequently raised funds to be directed toward programmes and partnerships.
Corporate partnerships are an important component of Childhood’s funding model. Companies may contribute financial resources, professional knowledge, technology, public awareness and access to networks that help child-protection solutions grow.
The Foundation makes grants to grassroots organizations, pioneering practitioners and other institutions developing solutions to prevent child sexual abuse and exploitation.
Its grantmaking approach combines financial support with continuing dialogue, mentoring, organizational development and technical knowledge. Childhood frequently acts as an incubator for emerging ideas, helping promising projects test their methods, improve their capacity and become sustainable.
First-time grants are normally approved for a maximum of one year. Successful partners may apply for continuation funding, with the total project relationship potentially extending for up to six years.
Pilot grants may support preliminary studies, experimental approaches and small or emerging organizations with limited experience of institutional funding.
Funded partners must submit financial and narrative reports, including an audit report for each grant period. Childhood programme managers generally monitor projects through regular visits and may offer additional capacity-building support.
Grant Application Process
Organizations must first complete an eligibility assessment and confirm that their work matches the Foundation’s geographical and strategic priorities.
Eligible applicants submit a concept note. Childhood contacts an organization for further discussion when the proposed concept aligns with its priorities, after which the organization may be invited to submit a complete application and budget.
General application deadlines are ordinarily 15 April and 15 October. The board generally makes grant decisions in mid-June and mid-December, with project periods beginning on 1 July or 1 January.
As of September 2026, Childhood was accepting letters of interest from relevant organizations based in Moldova, Sweden, South Africa, Thailand and Ukraine. Applicants from other countries were not being considered through that particular open process.
Major Programs and Initiatives
Child-Supportive Environments and Relationships
Childhood supports programmes that strengthen the relationships and environments surrounding children.
These initiatives help parents, caregivers, teachers and community professionals recognise risks, respond appropriately to concerns and provide children with trusted adults.
Family-strengthening programmes address vulnerabilities before they develop into situations involving violence, exploitation or abuse.
One example is the mentor-mother model developed with Philani in South Africa. Experienced mothers were trained and supervised to visit new mothers and infants living in economically disadvantaged communities.
The initiative began as a pilot involving 20 mentor mothers and subsequently expanded to 220 mentor mothers serving approximately 15,000 families in Cape Town.
Child Online Safety
Childhood invests in technologies, research and partnerships that protect children from online sexual exploitation.
Its work addresses grooming, the distribution of child sexual abuse material, technology-facilitated offending and emerging threats involving artificial intelligence.
The Foundation brings together child-rights organizations, law-enforcement agencies, researchers, technology companies, programmers and public authorities to develop more effective prevention and detection tools.
The LIBRA initiative, developed with Web-IQ, introduced technology capable of identifying child sexual abuse material without requiring professionals to download or directly view illegal content.
Stella Polaris is another technology-focused programme. This four-year initiative strengthens collaboration among police, prosecutors, child-rights professionals, AI specialists, researchers and technology companies seeking to use artificial intelligence responsibly in the fight against child sexual abuse.
Child-Focused Responses to Abuse
The Foundation supports systems that respond to abused children in a safe, coordinated and developmentally appropriate manner.
This includes improving access to justice, therapeutic support, child-sensitive investigations and professional services that reduce the risk of further trauma.
Childhood has played an important role in introducing and expanding the Barnahus model, also known as the Child Advocacy Centre model.
Barnahus brings law enforcement, medical care, social services, child protection and therapeutic support together within a coordinated child-friendly setting.
With Childhood’s support, the model has been established or advanced in countries including Sweden, Belarus, Germany, Poland, Moldova and Brazil.
Justice and Healing
Childhood supports programmes that help children who have experienced abuse access justice and recover from trauma.
Projects may strengthen legal procedures, train professionals, provide counselling or improve coordination between police, courts, healthcare providers and child-protection agencies.
The objective is to ensure that investigations and services respect children’s rights, reduce repeated questioning and avoid causing additional harm.
Neglected Risk Groups
The Foundation prioritises children whose vulnerabilities are frequently overlooked by mainstream protection systems.
These groups can include children with disabilities, LGBTQI+ children and adolescents, children in institutional care, refugee and displaced children, children living on the streets and those affected by conflict or poverty.
In Cambodia, Childhood and its partners have examined and addressed the heightened risk of sexual abuse faced by children with disabilities.
In Ukraine, supported projects have worked with children with intellectual disabilities, families and professionals while strengthening awareness of child protection during conflict and displacement.
Perpetration Prevention
Childhood invests in interventions intended to prevent sexual abuse before it occurs.
This work includes research, early-intervention services, helplines, therapeutic approaches and programmes for people concerned about their sexual thoughts or behaviour.
In 2024, Childhood helped enable the first United States helpline of its kind for young people seeking help regarding concerning sexual thoughts and behaviours.
The approach recognises that protecting children requires both supporting potential victims and developing evidence-based measures that reduce the risk of offending.
Advocacy, Research and Capacity Building
The Foundation promotes stronger child-protection laws, professional standards and public policies.
It produces research and evaluations, communicates evidence, participates in international forums and increases awareness of child sexual abuse among governments, businesses and communities.
Childhood also trains and mentors partner organizations, helping them improve safeguarding, financial management, programme implementation, monitoring and organizational sustainability.
Its advocacy contributed to placing child sexual abuse more prominently on the international agenda and supporting the global commitment under the Sustainable Development Goals to end violence against children.
Impact and Examples of Work Funded
Over its history, Childhood has invested in more than 1,300 initiatives, projects and grassroots organizations addressing violence, sexual abuse and exploitation of children.
The Foundation’s 2024 Impact Report recorded an investment of US$8.3 million in 137 projects across ten countries.
Those programmes provided direct support or strengthened protection for approximately 115,000 children. Achievements included inaugurating the eleventh Childhood-Haus in Germany, advancing Barnahus development in Brazil and intensifying child-protection activities in Ukraine.
In 2025, Childhood worked with 133 projects and programmes designed to improve children’s safety. Two-thirds of the multi-year projects completed during the year demonstrated the potential to create lasting systemic change.
Reported milestones included state-funded child advocates in Sweden, a commitment to federal funding for Childhood-Haus centres in Germany and the adoption of an online child-protection law in Brazil.
The expansion of Barnahus demonstrates the Foundation’s long-term approach. Rather than supporting only individual children, Childhood helps develop coordinated models that can become integrated into national child-protection and justice systems.
Its support for mentor mothers in South Africa similarly shows how an initial pilot can develop into a larger programme reaching thousands of families.
The Foundation’s investments in artificial intelligence, online detection tools and cross-sector collaboration address rapidly changing risks within digital environments.
Conclusion
The World Childhood Foundation is an international grantmaking and child-rights organization dedicated to preventing the sexual abuse and exploitation of children.
Since 1999, it has combined grants, innovation, advocacy, research, capacity building and partnerships to develop solutions that protect children both online and offline.
Its support for grassroots organizations, Barnahus centres, family-strengthening programmes, digital safety tools and neglected risk groups demonstrates an approach focused on long-term and systemic change.
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