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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Grandmothers fighting malnutrition, one child at a time

Mother knows best, right? Well if that’s the case, it’s safe to call grandmothers the wisest members of the family. In Benin, Africa, that’s definitely the case.
“It’s often the grandmother that passes on the traditions, knowledge and values to children,” explained Paul Sabi Boum, a Plan staff member from Benin. “She is a respected member of the household and the community, and she is uniquely placed to influence others because of her experience.”

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After a decade of sponsorship, Eileen meets her sponsored child

When Eileen Fernandes-Smith planned her trip to West Africa, she was excited about including a visit with her sponsored child, Sidonie, from Benin. Eileen has been sponsoring Sidonie since she was four years old. After a decade of writing letters back and forth, it was time the two met face-to-face.

When Eileen left Toronto, she embarked on a journey of a lifetime.

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Real choices, real lives, real girls: del 2

When it comes to rights like gender equality and universal education, the study is revealing some very encouraging developments.

Some quotes from the girls and their families, about the importance of education for girls:

“I want to be a teacher when I grow up and I like to wash plates and bowls and help my mum collect firewood.”Chhea, aged 6, Cambodia

“My parents cannot read and write. They didn’t receive any formal education. My mother forced me to give up school in order to assist my elder sister who delivered a baby in Cotonou. It affected me and I never forgot it.”Marcelle’s mother, Benin

“Whenever she comes back from school she repeats wonderfully all that she has learned. This is a source of pride for the family.”Maridiyatou’s mother, Togo

"A girl should be given priority to study because there’s a better chance girls will graduate.”Edwina’s father, the Philippines

All 142 girls in the study should be starting school this year. We wish them the best, and will continue to follow them until 2015, the year the Millennium Development Goals are set to be achieved.

Want to learn more about the study, and meet 8 of the girls participating? Click here to read the report, and to explore our interactive map, focusing on 8 girls in different countries.