Plan's approach to water and environmental sanitation

Safe water and environmental sanitation (WES) services such as solid and liquid waste facilities, vector and pest control as well as food hygiene, are vital for ensuring the healthy development and dignity of children. The lack of such facilities is responsible for over 2,000,000 child deaths each year.

This working paper aims to position Plan’s approach to WES within the context of the broader international development goals and within Plan’s own commitment to Child Centred Community Development (CCCD). It looks at the main challenges linked to WES and details the ways in which Plan staff can put our approach into practice.

Læs mere her!

Before and after: A snapshot of life in Bangladesh

Picture this: Living in a remote community in northern Bangladesh where 44% of the population earns less than a $1 per day. The literacy rate is low – 42% to be exact. 29% of students complete the fifth grade and only 7% of the children that make it to secondary school are girls.

Now imagine this: As a pregnant woman in that same community, you live too far away to seek adequate care during labour. Your newborn’s chance of survival is slim, but your life is at risk, too. If your baby survives childbirth, keeping it healthy is a challenge. If your child is born a girl, keeping her safe from child marriage is even more difficult. 90% of girls in this community marry before age 18.

Læs mere her!

A Journey to School: Faridah's Story

Faridah is a 17-year-old girl living in Pakistan. At the age of 12, she was forced to drop out of school. By the age of 15, she was married to a much older man.

Despite these circumstances, Faridah has been determined to receive an education. As a student at one of Plan’s Non Formal Education (NFE) Centers, Faridah is attending class, despite the backlash that she has received from her family.

Læs mere her!

A Journey to School: Balancing School and Work

Twelve-year-old Maria has to juggle her schoolwork with supporting her family.

“My mother is sick and our father abandoned us while I was still inside my mother's womb, so every morning I wake up at 4 a.m. to take some goods to the nearby market. I sell these things even before I get to school, as the money I earn is used to buy food for my family.”

Maria puts her needs after those of her mother and her siblings. As a result, she often attends school without eating breakfast and does not have a proper school uniform.

Læs mere her!

Case study: Harvesting rainwater in Nepal

Families from Damgade in Makwanpur, Nepal, used to be afraid of the dry months from February to May, when they were forced to travel long distances each day to access drinking water – but not anymore.

With support, community members formed a user committee to raise funds, manpower and oversee the construction of household water tanks throughout Damgade.

Læs mere her!

A Journey to School: Maryuri's Story

Maryuri’s father was afraid that she would meet a boy at school, become pregnant, and drop out. Instead of discussing his fears with his daughter, he demanded that she drop out of school.


“My dad did not want me to go to school because several students age 13 and 14 had got married, fallen pregnant, and left school,” Maryuri says. “He believed I would do the same.”

Læs mere her!

Amira: I wandered lonely as a cloud

Just 2 years ago, Amira could not read or write. Now watch as she confidently reads aloud Wordsworth's poem 'Daffodils'.

Amira is one of 11,000 girls across Pakistan who are benefiting from Plan's non-formal education centres. The centres work to fast-track girls who are out of education to grade 10 level, so they can get a school leaving certificate and follow their dreams.

Globally, 1 in 5 girls is out of school because of poverty, violence and discrimination.

Se videoen her!

A Journey to School: One Teacher's Story

Plan’s non-formal education projects are educating over 11,000 girls aged 10-24 across Pakistan. As part of the project, Plan has created a series of Non Formal Education (NFE) Centers in various communities that aim to fast-track the girls’ education to Grade 10 to enable them to learn important life skills and receive a graduation certificate.

Many Pakistani girls drop out of government schools because of poverty or distance. However Plan’s NFE centers are free to attend and are located within close proximity to the communities. The centers even provide a female caretaker who accompanies the girls to school to ensure their safety.

Aisha works as a teacher at one of the local Non Formal Education (NFE) centers in Pakistan and has seen the impact that an education can have on the girls who live in the community. She believes that every girl should have the right to an education. This is her story...

Læs mere her!

Menstrual hygiene matters

Menstruation is often regarded as taboo and has many negative cultural associations with it. This can result in women and girls being forced into seclusion and prevented from taking part in daily activities.

The lack of privacy, necessary infrastructure for cleaning and washing, and hygiene in school toilets are major reasons for girls being absent from school during menstruation.

‘Menstrual hygiene matters’ is an educational resource for improving menstrual hygiene for women and girls in different settings, including communities, schools and emergencies.

Læs en rapport om det her!

Journeys to school: Nepal

From poverty to slavery, Pramila, 15, from Nepal, has faced extreme challenges in going to school – and she’s seen far too many girls from her community suffer the same fate.

“Because of poverty, I have had many problems in keeping up my education,” says Pramila. “My family couldn’t afford the things you need for school, so my father decided to send me to work as a kamalari.”

A kamalari is a child servant - Pramila agreed to go as her ‘master’ had promised to send her to school. But things did not work out that way. “It was the opposite of what I expected. I was enrolled at school, but couldn’t study,” says Pramila. And things took a turn for the worse when she fell ill. “At one point I had to return home because I caught pneumonia.”

Læs mere her!

Assuring Health Care in Guinea

It used to be that if you fell ill in Pela, a community in southeast Guinea, you would have travel 19 miles to the nearest health center in Yomou.

It hadn’t always been this way. At one time, Pela had its own health center. After it was destroyed by a fire, the villagers had no choice but to make the journey to Yomou to seek medical attention. The situation was especially difficult for pregnant women who needed immediate medical assistance.

Realizing the strain being put on the community, Plan began construction on a new health center for the villagers.

Læs mere her!

Water Projects Turn Semi-Arid Region into a Green-Belt

Once billed a semi-arid region, Machakos County in Kenya–home to nearly 1 million people–is fast becoming a green-belt, thanks to Plan’s supported projects which are helping to improve food and water availability in the region.

Since 2010, communities in Machakos have been implementing dam construction, borehole drilling and solar powered water projects, which have not only lessened the effects of drought but ushered the community into a cash economy.

Læs mere her!

Case study: Drinking water arrives in remote Guatemala villages

Since 2007, Plan has built more than 2,400 water tanks for families in remote areas of Guatemala.

In the past, villagers had to walk for hours to fetch water from springs and rivers. Thanks to Plan, families now have a simple but innovative system that collects and filters rain water in their villages.

In Alta Verapaz, the project was so successful that the local government has decided to invest US$8,000,000 over 5 years to replicate the tanks throughout the region.

Watch the video to see how the system works.

Ambulances deliver new hope for expectant mothers in Tanzania

When a woman goes into labour in Canada, she can pick up her phone, dial 9-1-1 and shortly after, an ambulance is on the scene to transport her to the nearest hospital. It’s that simple. But unfortunately, it’s not always that black and white for expectant mothers in the developing world.

For women in Tanzania, getting to a health facility is a challenge. A lack of transportation and the distance women must travel – often by foot – contributes to a high number of home deliveries. As a result, 1 in 24 women living in Tanzania will not survive childbirth.

Læs mere her!

Empowering Youth with Economic Security

Seven years ago, Theresa, a single mother of 2, left her hometown of Kamakue and moved to the capitol, Freetown, in search of a better life. When she arrived, things weren’t as easy as she had hoped. She found it extremely difficult to make ends meet and plan for her children’s future.

“I came to Freetown from Kamakue in the northern part of Sierra Leone 7 years ago. I was not doing anything apart from sometimes doing household chores for my neighbors. Things were so difficult for me and I didn’t have a plan. Then Plan’s Youth Economic Empowerment project started in our area.”

Læs mere her!

Pakistani Girls Take a Stand Against Violence, Poverty, and Child Marriage

In Pakistan, an education is the difference between a life of poverty and a life of empowerment. But what is seen as a basic constitutional right isn’t that easy to access–especially if you’re a girl.

From poverty to persecution, there are numerous barriers that stand in the way of a girl’s education. Last October, things took a near fatal turn when 15-year-old activist Malala Yousafzai was shot by the Taliban because she stood up for her right to go to school.

Læs mere her!

Handbook on Community-Led Total Sanitation

A handbook on Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) to enable communities to analyse their sanitation conditions and collectively understand the impact of open defecation on public health and their environment.

CLTS is an approach that focuses on igniting a change in sanitation behaviour through community participation rather than constructing toilets. It does this through a process of social participation. It concentrates on the whole community rather than on individual behaviours and the collective benefit from stopping open defecation can encourage a more cooperative approach.

People decide together how they will create a clean and hygienic environment that benefits everyone.

Journeys to school: Cameroon

Thirteen-year-old Yié is the only Baka girl in her secondary school. She is determined that other girls like her should also have the opportunity to continue their education.

Yié comes from Mayos, a community of Baka pygmies in eastern Cameroon. Her school is 8km away – too far to travel each day – so she stays nearby and returns home when she can. But Yié and her mother are willing to do whatever it takes give her the best opportunities for the future.

“I love school and I am proud to go,” says Yié. “I like French and all the subjects really. School is good, but I am the only Baka girl in my school. I am a little bit unusual! I have friends there and I am accepted.

Læs mere her!

A Journey to School in Photographs

When Sylvia's* father died, her mother remarried and Sylvia fell out of favor. Her situation was further complicated by the fact that her new father sees her as a burden–simply because she wants to go to school.

Sylvia's attends school in Idete Magezara, a four and a half mile walk from her home. She often makes this hour and a half walk twice a day–alone. Along her journey, she faces challenging weather and difficult terrain.

Læs mere og se billederne her!

A Journey to School: A Mother and Daughter Perspective

Yié and her mother Natoume live in Mayos, a community of Baka pygmies in eastern Cameroon, West Africa. Both strongly believe in the importance of an education and serve as roles for their community. Yié is the only Baka girl out of 800 of her peers to attend school, while her mother currently campaigns for the education of the Baka children who live within their community. These are their stories...

Læs det her!

Case study: Bangladeshi children demand total sanitation

Children in Dinajpur, Bangladesh, have been taking direct action to protect their health ever since Plan introduced Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) to over 200 villages in the district in 2004.

CLTS is a radical approach that helps communities identify sanitation and hygiene problems and puts them in control of doing something about it.

Watch the video of children in action and learn more about Plan’s CLTS work in Bangladesh.

Making it to school in Mali

My name is Soumata. I am 18 years old and live in a village in Koulikoro region, southern Mali. I started school in 2002 and dropped out in 2010, when I was just 16, after a series of personal issues. My father died, and later I became pregnant.

I was struggling to concentrate on my lessons at school and my life at home was very difficult. We barely had any food and could rarely afford to light up the house with candles.

Trying to study was almost impossible. My mother had no means to buy basic learning materials. I had very limited school supplies. Instead of the 17 school books required for lessons in year 8, I only had 7, and the lack of lighting at home meant I couldn’t revise in the evenings.

Læs mere her!

A Journey to School: A Husband's Perspective

Mohammed, 25, faces ridicule from his community in Pakistan simply because his wife attends school. Mohammed believes that an education should be accessible to everyone–even women.

“Some people think there is no use having girls educated. Usually these are people who are not educated themselves and don’t understand the importance of it, so that’s why they don’t send their wives to school,” he says.

Læs mere her!

Busting at the seams: A growing population born without an identity

Over 7 billion people populate the globe and according to the United Nations, that number is expected to grow to between 8.3 and 10.9 billion by 2050.

A growing population results in population issues – problems that directly affect billions of new children born into the world. One such problem is a lack of birth registration.

Like the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child states: “The child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name [and] the right to acquire a nationality.”

Læs mere her!

Water and sanitation: what we do

There is a global crisis in water and sanitation, with diarrhoea killing at least 1,200,000 under-5s each year.

Plan works with communities to improve access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation and to raise awareness of the importance of hand washing and waste management.

In 2012, Plan supported 417,911 households to improve their sanitation facilities, and helped communities to build or refurbish 3,796 water points.

Billions of people lack access to basic sanitation and are forced to defecate out in the open, contaminating food and water supplies.

We educate communities about the importance of sanitation and encourage them to strive for a total ban on open defecation.

How 13-year-old Malika helped 60 girls get on the road to education

30 kilometres: that’s how far the walk to and from secondary school takes girls living in a rural community in Burkina Faso every day. That’s 150 kilometres each week and up to 5 hours spent walking every day.

Even worse, these girls may encounter danger or violence on the long journey to school, putting their safety at risk daily. But since parents in the community cannot afford transportation fees, girls are left with two options: walk or drop out of school.

As a result, the rate of girls receiving a secondary education in this particular region of Burkina Faso is exceedingly low – 12.8% to be exact.

Læs mere her!

The young and the jobless: Tackling youth unemployment through microfinance

Today’s youth are tomorrow’s leaders, doctors, lawyers and teachers. One day, not too far from now, today’s youth will run the world. But currently, youth unemployment is among the world’s biggest problems – and it’s rampant.

Unemployment overwhelms Senegal’s youth, especially young women and girls, who struggle to find work, take out loans or start their own businesses, just because of their gender.

Læs mere her!

Plan child marriage campaigner wins United Nations award

A young man who is taking practical steps to end child marriage in Bangladesh, supported by Plan, has won a special United Nations award. 18 year old Keshab works with other young people, persuading the adults in their communities that girls’ education is important and that forcing their daughters to marry has many negative consequences.

He has received the ‘Youth Courage Award for Education’ given away for the first time by the UN Special Envoy for Global Education, former UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.  Keshab is one of seven young people – and the only boy – to win the award, introduced by the UN to recognise young people who have shown courage in promoting the cause of education.

The winners were announced on 12 July 2013, Malala Day, at the United Nations office in New York.

Læs mere her!

Water and sanitation

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 August is Water and sanitation.