Merger aimed at creating larger, stronger global network to bring medical help to children, families in humanitarian crises
LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The UK-based humanitarian aid agencies Merlin and Save the Children are merging, Merlin said in a statement released on Tuesday.
“By combining Merlin’s expertise and flexibility with the heritage and reach of Save the Children, we will create a unique proposition: a global humanitarian force that can provide faster and more cost effective support in a humanitarian crisis,” Carolyn Miller, head of Merlin said.
“For the last twenty years Merlin has been providing medical expertise in some of the toughest places across the globe. By joining Save the Children, this is a chance to realise our ambitious plans to reach and provide healthcare to more of the world’s most vulnerable people and secure a sustainable future for Merlin’s life saving work,” Miller added.
The two charities start working together on July 16, the statement said.
London-based Merlin, founded 20 years ago, specialises in providing medical care during humanitarian crises and works in 16 countries around the world. Save the Children by contrast, is nearly 100 years old, has teams in over 120 countries and has spawned 30 national chapters.
Merlin’s board of trustees stepped down as of Tuesday and, while Merlin remains a separate legal entity, it is officially part of Save the Children and has a new board of trustees, a Save the Children spokesman told Thomson Reuters Foundation.
The Merlin brand will remain in force during the transition phase but will be reviewed, the spokesman added.
“Save the Children has had a long term ambition to extend our frontline health work to help millions more children and their families globally,” said Justin Forsyth, head of Save the Children.
“By joining Merlin’s operations to ours we will massively extend our operational reach, working together to create a larger and stronger network of health workers around the world,” he added.
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