Sexuality education in Asia: Are we delivering?

'Sexuality education in Asia: Are we delivering?' is an assessment, from a rights-based perspective, looking at the policies and strategies in place regarding sexuality education in 13 Asian countries where Plan works.

Adolescents and communities, along with Plan, see the urgency of helping young people become informed about sexuality at an appropriately early age. This ensures young people can protect themselves from coercion, abuse and exploitation, unintended teenage pregnancy and sexuality transmitted infections, including HIV.

Læs den her!

Case study: Fighting HIV with Stepping Stones

Alexandra Villavicencio, an HIV positive mother from Guayaquil in Ecuador, has turned her life around and started fighting HIV in her community, with help from Plan’s Stepping Stones workshops.

When Alexandra was diagnosed with HIV she was torn apart when her family abandoned her, she was fired from her job and then discovered that her baby son was HIV positive too.

“It’s really horrible to feel alone, without family, without anyone’s support,” she said.

Læs mere her!

Creating a climate for innovation

This is the first revision of the Plan HIV Programme Framework Creating a Climate for Innovation adopted in June 2006. It is the result of Plan-wide consultations held in 2007.

The framework illustrates Plan’s response to HIV: one that is grounded in our strategy of corporate Child Centred Community Development. It is characterised by a long-term vision of effecting social change in communities, based on intimate local knowledge and a close relationship with local institutions. The aim of Plan’s response to HIV is to contribute to more effective policies and actions to promote, fulfil and protect the rights of children living in a world with HIV.

Læs den her!

Case study: Learning to live with HIV

It hasn’t been easy for Panthida, 40, from Thailand to live with HIV for the past 10 years. She lost her youngest child because of the virus.

“I had no idea what I should do or how to deal with HIV and AIDS. I thought that I would die soon after,” said Panthida.

It’s much the same for 33-year-old Orapin, who once had no knowledge of HIV and AIDS and was infected by her husband. “I thought that he was healthy and could be a good father of my future kids but I was wrong. He died 8 months after.”

Læs mere her!

Circle of Hope: children's rights in a world with AIDS

Plan first adopted a policy for children affected by AIDS in 1996. As HIV epidemics continued to expand globally, Plan’s response grew and evolved to reflect lessons learned at the community level, and also the increasing availability of effective medical treatment.

In 2006, Plan adopted a new framework for its response to AIDS called Circle of Hope which applies the practice of child centred community development. Central to this framework is a programme philosophy that starts with the rights of children and addresses these rights in a manner that is both comprehensive and appropriate to the child’s context.

Læs mere her!

Case study: Breaking barriers around HIV

Plan’s work is helping to empower marginalised people like Mariatou* - an HIV positive mother from Benin.

Mariatou lives in Couffo, a region in the south west of Benin with the country’s highest rate of people living with HIV and AIDS - 3.3% compared to the national prevalence of 1.7%. 

Diagnosed positive 7 years ago, Mariatou now heads up an association of nearly 100 members, all of whom are also positive.

Læs mere her!

Sexual health, including HIV: what we do

Millions of young people are denied the right to information and advice on sexual health and HIV and this can have long-term and devastating effects on their lives.

Plan works with partners and communities to:

• support quality reproductive and sexual health education and services
• advocate for the rights of children and youths living in a world with HIV
• provide prevention, care and support services to those living with HIV and AIDS
• challenge beliefs and attitudes that maintain unequal power relations between the sexes.

We directly involve children and young people in all of our work, helping them to identify problems and find solutions.

In 2012, Plan trained 86,809 community health workers and traditional birth attendants, benefiting 9,433 communities.

Plan advocates for more effective policies and actions that protect the rights of children. We work with communities and families to make sure those affected by HIV receive the care and support they need. We also advocate for children orphaned by AIDS to live with family members.

Our direct response programmes help communities in a variety of ways - from medical support to helping improve the livelihoods of families living with HIV.

Sexual health, including HIV

Plan's work to promote child rights and lift millions of children out of poverty is based around 8 core areas: education, health, water and sanitation, protection, economic security, emergencies, child participation and sexual health, including HIV. With that comes the three main campaigns Because I am a Girl, Count Every Child and Learn Without Fear.

Over the next year one of these areas or campaigns will be the focus for one month each.

The focus of December is Sexual health, including HIV.

Voices

“I went to stay with my maternal uncle, but life there isn’t easy. His wife beats me with a stick for the least little thing. Sometimes I cry the whole day and ask what world this is I’ve come into.” 17-year-old girl in Togo.

Nelson Mandela om fattigdom

I anledningen af denne måneds tema: citater, kommer det mest sete indlæg på denne blog nogensinde igen. Det er blevet set, i skrivende stund (juni, 2013) 7303 gange og bare i løbet af i dag 24 gange.

Nelson Mandela sagde i en tale i London sommeren 2005, at: ”ligesom slaveri og apartheid er fattigdom ikke et naturligt fænomen. Det er skabt af mennesker og det kan elimineres af mennesker. Elimineringen af fattigdom er ikke godgørende, det er en handling i retfærdighedens navn. Det er en beskyttelse af en basal menneskerettighed, retten til værdighed og et anstændigt liv. Så længe fattigdom findes er der ikke sand frihed.”

Denne gang får I også den originale tekst med:

"Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. And overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life. While poverty persists, there is no true freedom."

Hele talen kan ses og læses her!

My favourite quotes

"Life is what you make it. Always has been always will be." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did so throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

"Always do right. This will gratify some people, astonish the rest." - Mark Twain

"What we see depends mainly on what we look for." - Sir John Lubbock

"Keep your face always toward the sunshine and shadows will fall behind you." - Walt Whitman

"Ever tried? Ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." - Samuel Beckett

"Blessed are those who can give without remembering and receive without forgetting." - Elizabeth Bibesco

"Never bend your head. Always hold it high. Look the world straight in the eye." - Helen Keller

"We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand." - Randy Pausch

"the greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do." - Walter Bagehot

DRØMME

Dette er et gammelt men meget populært indlæg fra 2009 som bliver udgivet igen i anledningen af at denne måneds tema er citater, jeg planlagde dette indlæg i juni og jeg burde meget gerne være i Kenya når dette indlæg udkommer, jeg vil prøve at finde ud af om de er kommet tættere på deres drømme.


Jeg besøgte Bondo i november 2009. Jeg var ude på vores venskabsskole. Jeg blev bekræftet i, at det er det rigtige sted vi hjælper. De har drømmene og de har viljen til at gøre alt for at nå dem - selvom oddsene er imod dem.

Her er nogle af deres drømme

My name is Linet Akoth. I am in standard seven. I am fourteen years old. I want to be a teacher in my future.

My name is Nicholas Odongo. I am 17 years old. I am in standard seven. I want to be a doctor.

My name is Erick Omondi. I am in std. 7. I would like to be a driver in my future. I am 15 years old.

My name is Melda Atieno. I am 14 years old. I want to be a nurse I my future. I am in class six.

My name is Eveline Akinyi. I am in standard six. I am eleven years old. I want to be a sister in my future.

My name is David Okoth. I am fifteen years old. I am in class seven. When I finish my school I want to be a mayor in my future.

My name is Matthews Ogundo. I am in standard seven. I am 15 years old. I would like to be an engineer in my future.

My name is Selestine Adhiambo. I am in standard seven. I am thirteen years old. I want to be a teacher in my future.

My name is Irine Akinyi. I am twelve years old. I am in standard six. When I grow up I want to be a lawyer.

My name is Gilliane Akelo. I am in standard six. I am twelve years old. When I grow up I want to be a teacher.

My name is Sharone Awuor. I am in standard six, I am thirteen years old. In my future I would like to be a journalist.

My name is Florence Aoko. I am in standard six, I am thirteen years old. I want to be a doctor in my future.

Perseverance

“It doesn’t matter if you try and try and try again, and fail. It does matter if you try and fail, and fail to try again.” - Charles Kettering

“It’s hard to beat the person who never gives up.” - Babe Ruth

"To create a little flower is the labour of ages." - William Blake

"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life. It goes on." - Robert Frost

"Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Fall seven times, stand up eight." - Japanese Proverb

"Keep on going, and the chances are that you will stumble on something, perhaps when you are least expecting it. I never heard of anyone ever stumbling on something sitting down." - Charles F. Kettering

"He conquers who endures." - Persius

"Some men give up their designs when they have almost reached the goal; While others, on the contrary, obtain a victory by exerting, at the last moment, more vigorous efforts than ever before." - Herodotus

"All great masters are chiefly distinguished by the power of adding a second, a third, and perhaps a fourth step in a continuous line. Many a man has taken the first step. With every additional step you enhance immensely the value of your first." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Plan Foundraising countries slogans

Plan International and Plan Ireland: Promoting child rights to end child poverty.

Plan International USA: Promising futures, community by community.

Plan Australia: Let's tell a different story.

Plan UK: Working with the world’s poorest children so they can move themselves from a life of poverty to a future with opportunity.

Plan Begium: elk kind telt (Flemish) or chaque enfant compte (French) meaning every child matters.

Plan France: tendons la main aux enfants pour qu'ils puissent la lâcher meaning something along the lines of: reach out to children so that they can let go.

Plan Germany: gibt Kindern eine Chance meaning give kids a chance.

Plan India: there's a plan for every child.

Plan Italy: promuoviamo i diritti dei bambini per sconfiggere la loro poverta which means something along the lines of: promote the rights of children to overcome their poverty.

Plan Finland: usko lapsiin which might mean faith to children.

plan Norway: for og med barn which means for and with children.

Plan Sweden: För och med barn (same as Norway) for and with children.

Plan Netherlands: Girls first.

Plan Spain: paremos la pobreza infantil which means stop child poverty.

Plan Switzerland: les enfants changeront le monde (French) or mit Kindern die Welt verändern (German) which means children change the world or change the world with children.

There are more, either I could not find it or my knowledge of the language's letters was too limited, so if you can translate the one from Hong Kong, Japan or Korea, or if you can find or know the one from Canada, Denmark or Columbia or if you have better translations feel free to comment.

Courage

It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.” - E. E. Cummings

Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point." - C.S. Lewis

"Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "I will try again tomorrow." - Mary Anne Radmacher

"The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice, it is conformity." - Rollo May

"Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Courage is the discovery that you may not win, and trying when you know you can lose." - Tom Krause

"If you wait to do everything until you're sure it's right, you'll probably never do much of anything." - Win Borden

"Don't wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. So what. Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful." - Mark Victor Hansen

"Courage is simply the willingness to be afraid and act anyway." - Dr. Robert Anthony

"Anyone can give up, it's the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength. That takes courage." - Unknown

Quotes/slogans

Plan's work to promote child rights and lift millions of children out of poverty is based around 8 core areas: education, health, water and sanitation, protection, economic security, emergencies, child participation and sexual health, including HIV. With that comes the three main campaigns Because I am a Girl, Count Every Child and Learn Without Fear.

Over the next year one of these areas or campaigns will be the focus for one month each, as there are only eleven, I have chosen to make November something a little different.

The focus of November is quotes and slogans from Plan, children and other people around the world.

Because I am a Girl: Growing up in El Salvador

This film looks at 4-year-old Heidi from El Salvador, who is part of Plan’s global cohort study which follows 135 girls from birth to their ninth birthday in 2015.

The film is narrated by her young mother Mirna, and sheds light on the life of a young, single mother in El Salvador. 

Mirna is part of a Plan project for vulnerable girls, which offers counselling and legal advice. It also supports the girls as they seek further education or work.

Se videon her!

Because I am a Girl: I'll take it from here

Da jeg ikke kan være med direkte på den Internationale Pigedag får i nogle indlæg fra sidste år igen, så i kan mindes hvilken success det var!

Watch this innovative stop-motion film on the plight and power of girls around the world.

Shot in Malawi with the participation of children and young people in the community, it shows how education can give girls the chance to move from poverty to oppportunity.

75 million girls around the world are out of school. Plan's Because I am a Girl campaign aims to support millions of girls to get the education, skills and support they need to transform their lives and the world around them.

Dance off! Girls and boys unite to change the world

Watch the video to see how girls and boys in El Salvador dance their way to a more just world for both sexes.

The scenes and choreography in this film were designed and performed by the Network and Evolution Plan Youth Groups in El Salvador.

Se videoen her!

In pictures: World glows pink for girls campaign launch

Da jeg ikke kan være med direkte på den Internationale Pigedag får i nogle indlæg fra sidste år igen, så i kan mindes hvilken success det var!

Landmarks across the world are being lit up bright pink to celebrate the global launch of Plan's Because I am a Girl campaign today - the first ever international Day of the Girl.

Globally, 1 in 3 girls is denied an education. Plan's Because I am a Girl campaign aims to support millions of girls to get the education, skills and support they need to transform their lives and the world around them.

Because I am a Girl: So, what about boys?

Like girls, boys and men are affected by negative gender stereotypes – but they also hold the power to create gender equality that will benefit everyone.

Watch the video to see how gender equality cannot be tackled by girls and women alone; how and why men and boys can, and should, contribute to creating a more equal society.

Plan has launched the fifth of its 'Because I am a Girl' reports, which reveals how gender equality is good for boys too.

Se videoen her!

FNs Internationale Pigedag

Da jeg ikke kan være med direkte på den Internationale Pigedag får i nogle indlæg fra sidste år igen, så i kan mindes hvilken success det var!

"Vi har længe talt ned og set frem til i dag: FNs og verdens første Internationale Pigedag. I dag går Plans globale kampagne 'Because I Am a Girl' for alvor i gang.

Verden over er berømte monumenter badet i pink lys: Empire State Building, London Eye, Real Madrids stadion, Pyramiderne, Niagara Falls og ikke mindst Den lille Havfrue på Langelinie.

Plan har siden 2009 været en af de primære drivkræfter i arbejdet for at sikre pigerne deres egen mærkedag. Vi glæder os over, at den i dag er en realitet og håber, det øger engagementet for pigers rettigheder verden over."

Because I am a Girl

Plan's work to promote child rights and lift millions of children out of poverty is based around 8 core areas: education, health, water and sanitation, protection, economic security, emergencies, child participation and sexual health, including HIV. With that comes the three main campaigns Because I am a Girl, Count Every Child and Learn Without Fear.

Over the next year one of these areas or campaigns will be the focus for one month each.

The focus of October is Because I am a Girl.

Case study Plan and Nokia: Giving African children a voice

From radio shows to child helplines, watch the video to see how Plan's partnership with Nokia is helping children across Africa to speak out on child rights and bring about change.

Although there are 2 billion people under the age of 18 in the world they often have few opportunities to express themselves. Plan operates child media programmes in more than 30 countries worldwide to help children speak out on issues that matter to them using various mediums - such as radio, music and video.

The programmes give children the opportunity to gain self-confidence, make their voice heard and drive change in their community.

Læs mere og se en video her!

Our future, our say

An important aspect of Plan’s approach is to encourage children to participate actively and genuinely in their own development. The dreams, opinions and frustrations featured here are echoed across the world as children demand progress on the promises made, insist that their rights are respected and call on world leaders to do the job that they and their predecessors committed to undertake.

Children have fundamental rights, not least of which is the right to participate in their own development. To do this genuinely, they need appropriate opportunities to address decision-makers at all levels, from parents to world leaders.

Læs mere her!

Case study: Bangladeshi street children share their dreams

Bangladeshi street children had a chance to tell the world about their dreams by showing off their pictures in an art exhibition held at the Bangladesh National Museum in Dhaka, the capital city.

Some 28 street children created 80 pieces for the 'Our Dreams Drawn' exhibition held 2-4 June to raise awareness of their plight. About 400,000 girls and boys live on the streets of Dhaka and are often excluded from basic services like healthcare and education.

“I drew butterflies because I want to be like them,” said Kakoli, one of the artists. “They are so colourful and happy. And now I am very happy that my picture has been sold. I will keep the money and use it for starting a beauty parlour when I grow up.”

Se billederne her!

Turn up the volume

Turn up the volume reports on Plan’s youth media projects around the world and looks into their impact.
 
Media projects involving children and young people are both fun and beneficial for the children who participate. They can generate many positive spin-offs at the individual and community level – and for society at large.
 
There is a need to hear from the most vulnerable, who are seldom consulted by the adults around them. To address the needs of children and young people, it is vital to involve them and let them speak for themselves. These projects provide an essential platform for children and young people to speak out about their own circumstances and experiences, using their own words.

Case study: Girls speak out at UN

A delegation of girls from poor rural communities across the world are sharing the harsh reality of their lives at a United Nations meeting in New York.

The 9 Plan-supported teenagers from Cambodia, Cameroon, Malawi, Pakistan and Sierra Leone will tell the Commission on the Status of Women* (CSW), of the daily challenges girls face in their communities – from early and forced marriage to polygamy and domestic violence.

Læs mere her!

Child and youth media

Plan operates close to 60 child media programmes in over 30 countries to help children speak out and promote their rights.

Producing their own media - such as radio, music and video - is often revolutionary for many children, providing them with the chance to gain self-confidence, make their voice heard and communicate with each other.

Læs mere her!

Child participation: what we do

Plan helps millions of children to learn about their rights and speak out about issues that affect them.

Children have the right to take part in decision-making but all too often their involvement is limited or non-existent.

From setting up local youth groups to supporting young delegates at international conferences, we help children to express their views and influence decision-makers. By strengthening their confidence and leadership skills – through projects such as media and journalism – we support children to lead advocacy initiatives and make positive change.

We also work with their families and communities so they understand how important it is for children to have a voice and contribute as active citizens.

Plan delivers targeted programmes so that we can reach the most marginalised and vulnerable groups, including those outside of school, younger children and children with disabilities. We also support children’s and youth organisations in monitoring government implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.