Plan Guinea-Bissau

Plan has been operating in Guinea-Bissau since 1995, helping poor children to access their rights to education, health, sanitation and protection. 

Our programmes benefit more than 21,000 children in 600 communities.

Currently, we are focusing on decreasing school drop-out and repetition rates for children in our programme areas.  This work ranges from providing notebooks for school children to helping communities build 15 public and community schools.

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Plan Guinea: what we do

Plan’s work in Guinea covers 3 core areas, all of which are rooted in the rights of the child:

• Child development
• Child survival
• Child protection and participation

Access to Quality basic Education Services ensures equal access to quality education services for all (including girls and the most vulnerable children)” in order to increase school enrolment and primary school completion rates. This programme also integrate Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) initiatives, School Health and School Feeding

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Plan Guinea

Plan has been working in Guinea since 1989, helping poor children to access their rights to education, health, sanitation and protection.

We help more than 34,000 children in 50 communities across the country.

Currently, Plan Guinea is focusing on reducing the number of pupils dropping out of school and helping youths too old to enroll in school to find work, by providing them with school kits and professional kits to advance them in their chosen career.

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Plan Ghana: what we do

Plan’s work in Ghana covers 3 core areas, all of which are rooted in the rights of the child:

• quality education
• economic security and health
• child protection

This programme focuses on quality basic education with emphasis on improved retention, completion, and performance. Plan Ghana also supports initiatives to improve transition into secondary school, especially through our scholarship programmes. The programme further emphasises inclusive education by targeting the most marginalised/excluded children.  Areas of intervention include promoting gender and disability-friendly school facilities, good governance and supporting the Ghana Education Service to enhance monitoring and supervision.

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Plan Ghana

Plan has been working in Ghana since 1992, helping poor children to access their rights to health, education, food security and protection.

Our programmes benefit 28,379 children in 300 communities across the country.

Having completed the construction of 8 irrigation dams in the dry Tumu programme area, Plan Ghana is now focusing on strengthening community-based water management structures to ensure effective use of the dams to enhance livelihoods.  This goes hand in hand with supporting Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLA) which are spreading in the communities; helping villagers to become financially independent.

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Plan Ethiopia: what we do

Plan Ethiopia’s work to break the cycle of poverty covers the following areas:

• child survival and development
• quality education
• food security and nutrition
• child participation and protection
• HIV and AIDS.

We work to improve the health of communities by implementing programmes to tackle childhood illnesses and improve safe motherhood services.

Water, sanitation and hygiene is another core part of our work - more than 250,000 children die every year in Ethiopia due to unsafe water. We implement projects to construct water supply schemes, train communities in sanitation and hygiene education, as well as support the construction of latrines.

We also work to strengthen community based organisations, government and local non-government organisations to help them participate effectively in health development issues.

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Plan Ethiopia

Plan first started working in Ethiopia in November 1974, helping poor children gain wider access to health, education, protection and participation in the districts of Lalibela and Arba Minch. Having closed in 1977, Plan resumed operations in Ethiopia in October 1994. Since then Plan has maintained a consistent presence in the country.

As a child-centred community development and humanitarian organisation, Plan works extensively at the grassroots level to promote the healthy development of all children.

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Plan Egypt: what we do

Our core activities include:

• street and  working children
• children with disabilities
• youth employability
• youth organisations, leadership and media
• literacy and saving groups for women

Plan focuses on child rights and enables communities to improve the lives of the most marginalised children by working with women, youth, and civil society organisations.

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Plan Egypt

Plan has been working in Egypt for more than 30 years, serving more than 1,500,000 children and their families in 6 governorates.

We focus on child rights, implementing programmes designed to enable communities to improve the lives of the most marginalised children by working with women, youth and civil society organisations.

Plan Egypt has deep grassroots local knowledge and relationships with communities and works to build the capacities of communities and organisations to promote child rights.

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Plan Cameroon: what we do

Plan works with and through children, their families, communities and partners to implement development programs using the Child Centred Community Development ( CCCD) approach. Child participation and protection are the core values underlining all our activities. Plan’s interventions focus in promoting children’s rights in 4 main domains: Education, health, protection and Economic Security.

In Cameroon, low school attendance, low completion rate and the rate of high school dropouts remain a challenge. Unsafe school environment, inappropriate curricula and insufficient learning material lead to poor quality education which affects many children and youths, with a greater impact on girls. In collaboration with all stakeholders, Plan promotes an inclusive, safe, healthy and child-friendly learning environment, to achieve quality education.

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Plan Cameroon

Plan has been working in Cameroon since 1996, helping poor children to access their rights to health, education, livelihoods and protection.

We support more than 842 communities in 6 of Cameroon’s 10 regions.

Currently, Plan Cameroon is helping to train AIDS Control Committees as peer educators to transmit useful messages about HIV and sexually transmitted disease prevention within local communities in Okola, Meiganga and Wum health districts based in Central, Eastern and North-Western regions respectively.

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Plan Burkina Faso: what we do

Plan’s work in Burkina Faso covers 4 core areas, all of which are rooted in the rights of the child:

• good quality education
• maternal and child health care
• safe drinking water and sanitation
• protecting children against the effects of HIV.

This priority programme aims to improve access to quality formal and non-formal education. A great number of children have been enrolled in schools thanks to an increase in school infrastructure building projects, repairs, furnishings and supplies by Plan.
We also support the capacity building of community and institutional structures in charge of education.

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Burkina Faso

Plan has been working in Burkina Faso since 1976, helping poor children to access their rights to education, health, sanitation and protection. Our programmes benefit 45,000 children in over 160 communities across the country.

Currently, we are focusing on developing the second phase of the BRIGHT (Burkinabe Response to Improve Girl’s chances to Succeed) project. The first phase saw the successful completion of 132 schools. The second phase of the project aims to develop 6 classroom schools in the Namentenga and Sanmatenga regions.

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Plan Benin: what we do

Plan’s work in Benin covers 3 programmes, all of which are rooted in the rights of the child:

• Governance and child rights
• Youth leadership
• Empowered women for child rights

Plan works to ensure that councils (newly decentralised communes) have signed up to child protection code and increased their investment in the areas of water and sanitation, basic education, and maternal and infant health- including the reduction of mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
Also, Plan thrives to make sure that women’s organisations and their federations have access to relevant information about the functioning of their councils and effectively participate in the council’s public deliberations, putting the interest of girls’ and women on the political agenda of their communes.

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Plan Benin

Plan has been working in Benin since 1994, helping poor children to access their rights to health, nutrition, education and protection.

Our programmes benefit more than 16,000 children in 110 communities.

Currently, we are working to protect children from trafficking to the plantations and quarries in neighbouring Nigeria and Gabon and to the diamond mines in Angola. Plan is assisting communities to put in place appropriate local child protection services, so that thieves and trafficking perpetrators will be dealt with, in accordance with the law, in villages and boroughs.

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Where we work

From now and a year forward each month will focus on four different developing countries that Plan works in and what we do there. By continent in alphabetical order. Starting in Africa with Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Egypt in November. Then the Americas starting next May and last to Asia in August.

Let's begin our tour!

You can see the countries here!

PIger med potentiale

Gravid: "Det er bedre at fortsætte i skolen, selv om det gik galt."

Enlig mor: "Han gav mig en frihed, jeg ikke havde oplevet før. Men pludselig blev han en helt anden."

Gadepige: "Jeg blev ved med at spørge Gud, hvorfor han skabte mig."

Hør mere om deres historier og se billederne på vores fotoudstilling i VerdensKulturCentret!

Piger med potentiale

Far: "Børn skal ikke gifte sig. De skal gå i skole og koncentrere sig om det."

Mor: "Vi lærer pigerne, hvordan de bliver kvinder, men ikke hvordan de bliver koner."

Dreng: "Jeg har lært min lektie. Og jeg prøver at være et godt forbillede for andre drenge."

Hør mere om deres historier og se billederne på vores fotoudstilling i VerdensKulturCentret!

Piger med potentiale

Lærerinde: "Piger skal involveres i uddannelse på samme måde, som man involverer drengene."

Rollemodel: "Jeg vil først gifte mig, når jeg er færdig med min skole. Og jeg vil selv vælge min mand."

Foregangskvinde: "Jeg glemte mine sko. Gik hjemmefra i de klipklappere, jeg brugte, når jeg gjorde rent."

Hør mere om deres historier og se billederne på vores fotoudstilling i VerdensKulturCentret!

Tak!

Tak til alle jer, der i weekenden mødte op til ferniseringen på vores udstilling "Piger med Potentiale". Udstillingen har fokus på børneægteskaber i Zambia og kan opleves i VerdensKulturCentret på Nørrebro frem til den 29. oktober!

Det gik alt sammen rigtig godt! På billedet kan I se hele Plan Future som den ser ud nu.

Fotoudstilling i dag!

Så er det i dag vi inviterer til fotoudstilling i VerdensKulturCentret om piger med potientiale i Zambia for at fejre den internationale pige dag.

Kom klokken 14 så I kan høre Karen Mukupa spille med sit band!

Karen Mukupa

Karen Mukupa blev født i Zambia i 1973 og hun voksede op i Tanzania. Hun flyttede til Danmark da hun var 15 år gammel. Hendes musikalske karriere startede i 1990'erne med No Name Requested.

Du kan høre noget af det hun har lavet her!

Fotoudstilling og gratis koncert med Karen Mukupa!

På FNs Internationale Pigedag den 11. oktober inviterer vi i Plan Future til fernisering på fotoudstillingen ”Piger med potentiale”

Fra kl. 14 spiller den dansk-zambiske musiker Karen Mukupa med sit band.

Fotoudstillingen er støttet af CISUs Oplysningspulje og har fokus på børneægteskaber og rollemodeller i Zambia.

Udstillingen kan ses frem til 29. oktober 2014.

Vi glæder os til at se dig.

Du kan sige om du kommer med på facebook!

My take on microfinance

All in all I really think that microfinance is one of the best ways for women to get out of poverty, because they can build up their own business on their own, they only loan the money, but at the end they end up with, for most of them, a good profit. Doing it in groups also helps a lot, because if one of the women has to pay a sudden medical bill or something like that the others in the group has agreed to pay for her if she cannot. It is also really helpful to teach them about savings and book keeping so that they can use their money better and so that they know what they are spending it on. But I think my one and a half months was too short a time to be there.

Friday afternoon

We would visit every women’s group once a week to see how they were doing, to collect their loan repayments and sometimes give them business training. The Friday afternoon group is called solidarity. We gave them book keeping training and then the week after we checked their books, most of them were surprisingly good. One person earns maybe 40,000 a day and another a couple of thousands, so there is a really big difference, like in most of the other groups. We did a business women with the chairwoman who sells tea spices. This group is the poorest one that we have given a loan and we therefore also moved more slowly forward in the amounts. One of the women sold stones and charcoal and her profit was less than what she had spent buying the supplies, but she didn’t realize it before we brought it up. We did post-loan interviews and then a little while later they got the next loan.

Friday morning

We would visit every women’s group once a week to see how they were doing, to collect their loan repayments and sometimes give them business training. The Friday morning group is called peace. We started out by giving this group a new loan and we talked about our concerns and things like that. We did a business visit with one of the women, she has cows for milk, beans and chickpeas. She is doing quite well, but she is supporting an entire family of children and grandchildren so most of the money goes to them. Sometimes they came late to the meetings and didn’t have any of what we had told them to prepare ready. Maybe it was lost in translation or maybe they simply forgot. Then we went to another business visit, a kerosene business, she goes to Kenya and buys it and then sells it here. It seemed she made quite a profit on it.

Wednesday

We would visit every women’s group once a week to see how they were doing, to collect their loan repayments and sometimes give them business training. The Wednesday group lived on the other side of town than the Tuesday groups. Only three out of around ten women showed up the first time we visited this group. They were all claiming sickness, but this happened quite often. It didn’t seem like they were all that serious about the loans since they didn’t even show up to the weekly meetings. Five women had their last payment for their second loan, only one of them showed up. We did a post-loan interview with her, it was nice to hear how it went for this woman with her loan and what she used it for. It seemed like it had been really helpful to her, all the training also seemed to have helped her. The next time we did the last four interviews; one of them bought a cow, a male one, that hasn’t brought her any income yet, so she used her other businesses to pay for the loan, but when she sells it she will get 900,000 tsh. Another sells beans in Nairobi, yet another has been sick so she didn’t really do all that much.

The last five women finished their loans some time later, only one showed up, her business was that she makes a nutritious porridge and she was making a lot of money on it, but she needs to expand her business as she was able to make 100 kg a month as it is, but there is a demand for 200 kg. later we did the last post-loan interviews and it is incredible how big the gap is between some of the women, one had 300 chickens that produce a lot of eggs for her to sell, so she turns over a big income, another who sells solar power and something else and also gets a big income, but then there was one who owns a shop, that has very little income. They have all gotten the same amount of loans, but they use it so differently.

Tuesday afternoon

We would visit every women’s group once a week to see how they were doing, to collect their loan repayments and sometimes give them business training. The Tuesday morning group lived far away from the center of town. The leader of the group had a really big garden with tons of different vegetables and things of that sort. She seemed to be really successful. Sometimes we would meet this group in a church made of concrete and we talked and discussed what kind of problems they had. We visited one of the women’s business, she has many things; animals, vegetables, fruits, chickens and a shop. In her shop she paid 40,000 for an employee a month, whom she also supplied with food worth 45,000 a month, her rent was 30,000 and for electricity she paid 5,000 a month. She told is that the income in her shop was 120,000 a month. So it didn’t really seem all that profitable.

Tuesday morning

We would visit every women’s group once a week to see how they were doing, to collect their loan repayments and sometimes give them business training. The Tuesday morning group was called love one another. We did savings training with this group and visited one of the women’s business. She was doing really well, much better than most of the other women and she doesn’t really need the third loan, but is our goal for the individual women to be financially independent or the entire group? This women can help the others if they need it. She was selling food for animals and wanted to start selling concrete. Another woman owned a fruit and vegetable stand, she is doing fine.  We also did forecasting and planning training and the chairwoman of the group, came up with the idea that they should all come with a business plan that we can look over and see what would be most profitable.

Monday

We would visit every women’s group once a week to see how they were doing, to collect their loan repayments and sometimes give them business training. The Monday group lived close to a river. They had been having a problem with one of the women in the group. She didn’t show up to the meetings we had with them, so she hadn’t been given any training. But just when we discussed her, she showed up, so the group decided to support her, but with the same loan amount as last time, they later changed their minds and said she could get a bigger loan. They wanted to finish their loan early, so that they could begin with a new one. Before they received a new loan we went over their loan application with them and listened to what they wanted to do with the money. There are only four women left in the group as the previous members were not good at paying on time and coming to the meetings.

                      One of the women had asked us to find a price for a scale, but then she changed her mind and said she wanted to buy sardines instead, this means that it sometimes were a bit difficult to be sure they invested in what they put in their applications. We visited the same woman’s shop and she had a lot of space left for stock, at one point a woman came in asking for soap, there wasn’t anything left, but a phone call and ten minutes later a guy comes by with a box full of soap. Most of the women seem to benefit a great deal from the loans.

Microfinance

Last year I volunteered on a microfinance project in Tanzania. I wanted to try and see for myself how it worked. There was six women’s groups. We would visit every women’s group once a week to see how they were doing, to collect their loan repayments and sometimes give them business training. Business training could be savings training, book keeping training, forecasting and planning training and so forth. Each women had a loan of 100,000, 200,000 or 300,000 Tanzanian shillings, they had a certain amount of weeks to pay the loan off without interest. For example with the 200,000 tsh loan they paid 12,500 tsh per week for 16 weeks. As this was a project build up by one supervisor and many interchanging volunteers it could sometimes be difficult to keep the momentum moving forward. But all of the women in the groups really seemed to have changed their lives for the better. Over the next month you will hear about the six different groups.

The right to play

Five-year-old Hennock wants to be a pilot. “A pilot in a helicopter,” he says. “I want to go anywhere I like. I want to take my friends to the countryside!”
 
It’s an ambitious goal for a little boy who lives in one of the poorest countries on earth.

A place where 36 million people are struggling to survive – a place where most children are denied their right to play because they need to fetch water, tend to crops or care for their siblings.

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The way of play

It’s always a great satisfaction when the hard work of communities pays off and yields inspiring results. With support from Plan Vietnam, about 110 parents and their 130 children in Dak Rong, a remote mountainous district of Quang Tri, have successfully set up playgroups for children under 3 years old in 7 communes. 

As preschools in the district could only provide services for less than 5% of children under 3, Plan rolled out a pilot project to test the waters.

A total of 21 preschool teachers and community volunteers have now become promoters of Plan’s early childhood care and development (ECCD) work, which supports the physical and emotional development of children. They were trained on group facilitation skills and how to organise activities suitable for different age groups. The project has also provided groups with toys, posters and hygiene accessories. 

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Learning while playing

11-year-old Queen Gae loves listening to the stories that her mothers reads aloud at a child-friendly space (CFS) in Julita, Leyte, a province in the eastern part of the Philippines.

Queen’s mother, Elsie, is a CFS facilitator and uses interactive activities like singing, dancing and storytelling to keep children interested and to engage with one another.

 

Plan implements child-friendly spaces after a disaster to provide affected children with a safe space to play and receive emotional support and care.

 

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Playing for a brighter future

Young children who attend preschools and are encouraged to play and sing are more confident and often perform better academically, socially and emotionally than their classmates.

However, in rural China, many parents and caregivers emphasize book learning and do not know of the benefits of early stimulation and development.
Plan China has worked in places like Yuyang district in central China to raise awareness about and develop programmes in early childhood learning.

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Discovering the power of play

It took Typhoon Haiyan just a few hours to wash away schools and books. Yet, teachers and daycare workers in Eastern Samar, Philippines, are helping children reclaim their right to education in a crafty kind of way...

“Friendly House” in Llorente, Eastern Samar, is a hive of activity. Banana leaf snakes, brightly coloured skittles made from plastic bottles and pretty paper flowers are strewn across the table as an excited group of locals put the finishing touches on their cool creations.

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The best start in life: child development at heart of the community

There’s been radical change for A-Muoi and his wife, Nhung, in their home in Cu Tài village in A-Bung commune, central Vietnam. A parent-led playgroup for children's development is having a major impact on parenting habits, influencing everything from family roles and nutrition, to hygiene and communications.

“I’m busy all day in the rice field, but now, when I have time, I make toys for my children. I feel so relaxed and happy,” says A-Muoi, a 41-year-old father of 2.

When A-Muoi is at home making toys, his wife teaches Vietnamese songs to their children to improve their language skills.

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Playing

The focus of August is going to be about playing, having fun. Because playing is an important part of being a child and since it is the summer more children are out playing. So this month is about being positive!

So go out and play!

Sponsorship - The Sponsor's Story

"Receiving Letters from my Sponsored Child Means So Much"

Lynne has been sponsoring Elijah in Kenya for the past 11 years. She explains why she started sponsoring, her experience of it and how she managed to met her sponsored child.

"I have two boys myself - at the time that I started sponsoring they were 11 and 13. I was giving them money to go to the shop and buy themselves some sweets and started to think that for less than 76 cent a day you could be making a difference to another child’s life. Such a small sum makes no impact on your life. So, I decided to sponsor a child.

For several years my husband and I had been corresponding with Elijah. We have regularly exchanged letters in which he tells us how he is progressing at school, how his family is getting on and the latest news from his village. It meant so much for me and my family to receive these letters. It felt like we were having a real impact on Elijah’s life, that with help from our sponsorship, he was able to develop into the person he is today.

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Global Issues Workshops

Workshops in Irish Schools

Children are at the heart of Plan Ireland’s development approach. Our development education programme reflects this with a specific focus on Irish school children. We aim to increase Irish children’s awareness of global development issues by encouraging active learning and dialogue in schools through our Global Issues workshops.

The workshop lasts approximately 40 minutes per class. It incorporates a discussion of global development issues such as poverty and gender equality, along with information about children’s lives in an emergency situation such as the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

Neither the children nor the school are asked to participate in any type of fundraising event.
The primary objective is to raise awareness of global issues with Irish school children.

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Plan Ireland's Sponsorship Campaign

Sponsor a child with Plan Ireland and make a real difference to the live of a child, their family and community in one of the 50 developing countries where we work.
Please, do something wonderful today.

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Playing hard and dreaming big in Ethiopia

5-year-old Hennock wants to be a pilot when he grows up. “I want to go anywhere I like,” he said. “I want to take my friends to the countryside!”

It’s an ambitious goal for a little boy who lives in one of the poorest countries in the world. Ethiopia is a country where 36 million people are struggling to survive, and a place where most children are denied their right to participate in school. Instead, they spend their time fetching water, tending to crops or caring for their siblings at home.

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Five Reasons Early Childhood Care and Development is Important

Plan International USA is working to ensure all children receive the proper care from a young age.

 

Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) is an integral program area for Plan International. From Africa to Asia Ethiopia to Asia, Plan is working to establish early childhood development centers, educate parents, and provide the proper attention for children under 5 years old.
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Fifth Birthday and Beyond

Did you know that 6.6 million children under 5 years old will not reach their birthdays this year, dying mostly of preventable diseases? And, 18,000 children die a day – 44 percent of whom die during the newborn period?

The numbers are staggering, and it’s hard to believe that they used to be worse. Since 1990, U.S. foreign assistance programs have helped cut in half the annual number of deaths of children under 5. According to UNICEF, in the last 12 years, 700,000 fewer children died of pneumonia; 600,000 fewer children died of diarrhea; 400,000 fewer children died of measles; 300,000 fewer children died of malaria; and 100,000 fewer children died of AIDS.
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Plan Supports Dochas Act Now on 2015 campaign

Plan Ireland seeks your support for the Dochas “Act Now on 2015” campaign to highlight the need for Ireland to deliver on its aid promises to the world’s poor.
At the UN Millennium meeting in 2000, Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, made a commitment to meet the UN target of spending 0.7% of GNP on Official Development Assistance by the end of 2007. This deadline was subsequently extended to 2012 and then to 2015.

In 2008 current Taoiseach Brian Cowen told the UN: “We do not need to make further pledges if we just deliver on what we have already promised.” Since then he has presided over cuts in the overseas aid budget to the tune of 21% and the likelihood is that there is more to come in the next budget.

These cuts are having catastrophic effects on some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people - for example, Plan Ireland has had to cancel plans to build two schools in Mali which means that hundreds of children will not now receive an education.

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When Literacy Brings Light to Life

How a literacy-rich home environment promotes literacy development.

 

In the arid landscape that makes up the region of Zinder, Niger, there is a small village called Arnadi. Here, education has not been a primary focus for the community. Only 75 percent of the adult population of this region is literate, according to the most recent study. Deri Gana Nana, president of the Mothers Association (AME) in Arnadi, Zinder, was one of them.

Deri, like many of her peers, did not get the opportunity to attend school as a girl. Not being able to read or write made life difficult, but she, like others, managed to survive. Deri sold vegetables in the market and raised goats to support her family. She made sure her child was educated, but accepted her lot in life.

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Mothers Take Initiative in Nigerien School

How support for community organizations can inspire sustainable action.

 

The school director in Makéra Guidan Djibo, in south-central Niger, was especially moved by the latest gesture to support his school. It was not a large grant or a new classroom. It was a small but meaningful gift, because it came from the mothers of his students.

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Women Tutoring and Mentoring of Girls Creates a Strong Link Between Literacy and Formal Education

In the village of Noogtenga, Sanmatenga province, 62 women who never attended formal school themselves have become tutors and mentors for school children, most of whom are girls. They are currently doing their best to ensure that students consistently attend classes, earn good grades, and successfully complete at least their primary education in the village’s only school—a school built for them by the BRIGHT (Burkinabé Response to Improve Girls’ Chances To Succeed) project, funded by the United States Millennium Challenge Corporation, managed by USAID, and implemented by NGOs Plan International, Catholic Relief Services, Forum for African Women Educationalists, and Tin Tua.

 

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Her Story Photo Exhibition

In order to raise awareness of Plan Ireland’s work, increase understanding of the importance of gender equality and highlight International Day of the Girl, Plan Ireland has created a photo exhibition called HER STORY.

 

The exhibition was launched by Laura Whitmore and Cherie Blair in Dublin to coincide with International Day of the Girl in October. It then embarked on a nationwide tour, so far, it has been displayed in Kilkenny and Cork with Limerick its next destination.

 

If you are interested in exhibiting Her Story contact Christina Meehan at christina.meehan@plan-international.org or Tel: 01 659 9601.

 

Her Story features images of 36 girls ranging in ages from a few months to 18, from diverse communities across both Ireland and Sierra Leone.  This ground-breaking exhibition shines a light on the girls of the world, by looking into their lives. From the bustling side-streets of Freetown, to the lush farms of Meath, these beautiful images create a fascinating narrative. While opportunities may differ and aspirations vary, one thing remains: each girl has a story to tell – her story.

 

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Plan International Helps Young Refugees Pursue Dreams

A Plan education program is helping one refugee from Mali strive for a better future.

 

When Hawa’s older sister arrived from Mali to a refugee camp in Burkina Faso in 2012, there were no secondary schools for her to attend.

She had no choice but to stay at home, and as a result, her family decided to marry her off. At just 16, she is already a mother.

“In my culture, children do not have the right to object to what their parents decide for them,” Hawa said. “All they have to do is accept it and put up [with it]. This situation is common in our community and a lot of girls like me are already married and pregnant.”

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Parents in Deytagui Village Mobilize to Transform School

How support for community organizations can inspire sustainable action.

 

Last year, the Deytagui-Banikoubeye primary school, in south-western Niger, had about $30 to buy necessary supplies for the year. The schoolyard was not enclosed, meaning that people and animals could wander through at any time and distract students from learning. And, while the community did build additional classrooms with local materials, the process took three months to finish, resulting in a serious disruption to the learning that was supposed to be happening inside.

A year later, things have vastly improved for the students of Deytagui.
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Conflict in the CAR Turns Lives of Mothers and Children Upside-Down

Plan International is working to bring relief to refugees in Cameroon.

 

A young refugee mother from the Central African Republic (CAR) is now depending on the support of Plan International USA to get through a time of uncertainty, turmoil, and heartache.

Kadidja, 15, is one of tens of thousands of refugees who fled to Cameroon to escape the bloody violence in CAR. Along with her 2-year-old daughter, Mariama, she trekked for four months to escape the fighting, completing the arduous journey of more than 600 kilometers amid violence, starvation, and a real threat of death.
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Plan Challenges 2014

The GREAT ETHIOPIAN RUN (November 20th-25th)

The Great Ethiopian Run is an experience to behold. Run at 10,000ft, this 10km route is Africa's highest and most scenic run. This trip is combined with visits to Plan's urban projects in Addis Ababa.

TREK NEPAL (Oct 27th - Nov 4th)

Trek Nepal is a spectacular 9 day trek across the Himalayas in Nepal where you will visit Plan projects along the way in Baglung and Myagdi.

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Why we must do more to end forced marriage

New legislation was announced to criminalise forced marriage in the UK. From Monday 16 June, forcing someone to marry will now be a criminal offence, carrying a prison sentence of up to seven years. Effective domestic legislation is important, and this is a positive step forward. But to end the practice – both in the UK and abroad – a wider effort is required, to change attitudes and prevent forced marriages in the first place.

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Syrian Refugee Crisis: How Can You Help?

Plan International is taking an active role in responding to the needs of thousands of Syrian refugees who have fled to Egypt in the midst of ongoing violence in their home country.

Plan has been granted special permission from the Egyptian government to work with refugees in the coastal city of Alexandria where it is currently developing a number of projects, including providing education, health, and sanitation services.

“We will be working with both vulnerable Syrian and Egyptian populations as a key measure to support the peaceful coexistence of the two communities,” said Ruairi McDermott, Plan’s country director in Egypt.

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Plan UK embarks on new three year education partnership with Credit Suisse

A new three year global partnership with financial services organisation Credit Suisse will provide 100,000 girls with financial education and life skills.

The programme will deliver projects in Brazil, China, India and Rwanda, empowering the next generation of women to achieve better futures for themselves and their communities. The formal launch of the new  partnership was marked with events in London, New York, Zurich and Hong Kong last month.

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About Plan Ireland – Childrens Charities

Established in 2003, Plan Ireland is a child-centred community development organisation, part of Plan International which itself was founded over 76 years ago. It is an independent organisation with no religious, political or governmental affiliations.

Plan is one of the oldest and largest international development agencies in the world. It currently works in 51 developing countries across Africa, Asia and the Americas directly supporting more than 56,000,000 children and their families, in over 90,220 communities across the developing world.

Plan Ireland receives tremendous support from the Irish public, over 7,500 of whom sponsor children.

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Plan Works in Rwandan Refugee Camps to Stop Gender-Based Violence

Plan International will have a presence in all Rwandan refugee camps.

 

In an ongoing effort to protect human rights and secure the safety of the world’s most vulnerable people, Plan International announced in May that it would be supporting all of Rwanda’s refugee camps.

Plan will be coordinating its efforts with the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
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World turning away as deadly Ebola epidemic rages in West Africa

West African nations like Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia are continuing to battle a raging epidemic of the deadly Ebola virus, even as the attention of the rest of the world has moved on.

Despite hopes the epidemic had been contained, a second deadly outbreak has killed at least 135 people since 23 May across the three nations. Since the original outbreak in March, at least 364 cases of Ebola have claimed at least 192 lives in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
“The current Ebola outbreak in West Africa is showing no signs of abating. The government and humanitarian agencies are far from winning this battle against the deadly disease. It is a gravely worrying situation,” says Dr Unni Krishnan, Head of Disaster Preparedness and Response for Plan International.

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Plan International Reacts to Water Scarcity for South Sudan Refugees

Mary, a young refugee from South Sudan, needs to wait for hours every day for water.

 

At a refugee camp in northern Uganda, Mary sleeps with her four brothers under a tree. Tired and thirsty, she wakes up in the middle of the night to wait in line for water.

“This place has no water, and on a few occasions, a truck will bring some water and fill up the tank, but it’s a struggle to get it,” she said

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Plan Ireland

Throughout the last year the focus of each month has been different covering all of Plan International's core areas and campaigns: education, health, water and sanitation, protection, economic security, emergencies, child participation and sexual health, including HIV, Because I am a Girl, Count Every Child and Learn Without Fear.

Over the next seven months, until the end of July, the focus will change to specific Plan foundraising countries and what they do.

The focus of July is Ireland.

Angelina Jolie meets Mayra a Guatemalan Youth Ambassador

Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict Situations in London

It’s not every day you get to meet Angelina Jolie.

But for Mayra, a girl from Guatemala, she didn’t just ask for an autograph. Representing Guatemala in London at the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict Situations in London,  Mayra shared her life experience as an indigenous girl in Guatemala, a country that suffered a 36-year civil war.

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Cykler for Kenyas udsatte piger

Når bandet Arthur Detour holder pre-release på deres nye album i Roskilde og København, støtter de samtidig udsatte piger i Kenya igennem udviklingsorganisationen Plan Danmark.

Alt for mange piger i Kenya dropper ud af skolen, når de kommer i puberteten. Det er blandt andet mangel på latriner og rent drikkevand, der er skyld i, at pigerne forlader skolebænken.

Derfor sætter det danske band Arthur Detour fokus på pigers skolegang, når de den 21. juni kl. 20 spiller numre fra deres nyeste album ”Omveje” på Bjergtrolden i Roskilde og den 26. juni kl. 20 på PH Caféen i København.

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Saying “No!” to child exploitation

Every 4 years, the FIFA World Cup captivates audiences across the globe. This year, all eyes are on Brazil, which is hosting this year’s World Cup.
While the World Cup is an exciting month-long event, the influx of tourists from around the world can also expose vulnerable children to violence and exploitation. The facts speak for themselves:

• It’s estimated that there are 500,000 children in the sex industry in Brazil
• Sexual violence is the second most reported crime against children in Brazil, with most victims aged 10 to 14.
• Child sexual exploitation during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa increased by 63% and by 87% at the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

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Fundraise

Ready to Get Creative for Change?

Have fun, raise money, help children realise their potential: these are the basics of fundraising for Plan. We're here to support you – all we need is your imagination and passion to make the world a better place for children. Thousands of Australians have already rallied to the cause, making an enormous contribution to our work – join us!

Read more here!

An adventure to Nepal and memories to last forever

As a podiatrist based in Canmore, Alberta, Dr. Wotton has been caring for people throughout his entire career. As a professional, he’s helped thousands of Canadians back on their feet, but over the last few years, Dr. Wotton began lending his support outside of Canada, too.

He began sponsoring a young girl through Plan Canada named Sujita from Nepal. They exchanged letters and he received updates from Plan, learning how his child sponsorship was impacting Sujita and her community. Not long after, Dr. Wotton planned a trip to visit Sujita in Nepal.

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The day she met her sponsored child, everything changed

As Anna began her trip down a long dirt road in rural El Salvador, she began getting nervous. She was about to meet her sponsored child, Lisandro, for the first time. Although Anna and Lisandro had been exchanging letters for two years, meeting him face-to-face felt different.

“I knew that he was going to school and loved baseball and soccer, and that his big wish is to have a bike one day,” explained Anna. “His letters are short and sweet, but very special to me.”

What Anna was feeling was normal. What will Lisandro say? Will he be too nervous? Was he happy Anna was coming to visit him? Her adrenaline was racing.

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