This review describes the progress of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in addressing children's needs worldwide in the 10 years since the International Year of the Child in 1979. Specific aims of the study were: (1) to review major NGO initiatives for children, especially initiatives involving interaction with the United Nations, during the past decade; and (2) to place that review against the background of what has actually happened to children around the world in that decade. A brief foreword and preface are followed by 11 chapters which focus on: (1) trends; (2) the rights of the child and the drafting of the Convention on the Rights of the Child; (3) child labor; (4) refugee children; (5) street children; (6) children in war and peace; (7) children with disabilities; (8) health; (9) education; (10) participation of children in broad social mobilization for general socioeconomic development projects; and (11) the bottom line, an overview both of the harsh realities of the decade just past and the signs of progress that nevertheless emerged from it. Appendices provide lists of people interviewed, organizations providing documentation, and acronyms. (RH)