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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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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Advocacy

Plan's work with children in over 66,000 communities gives us insight into the realities of the lives of boys and girls in developing countries, and the effectiveness of projects aimed at realising their rights.

Our advocacy work aims to share these insights to influence politicians and decision makers to ensure the development of policies and programmes that work for children around the world.

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Development education

Young people are a powerful force for change. Through development education we want to help schools, teachers and young people become more informed and aware of our world.

By understanding the issues and opportunities other young people around the world are facing, and seeing the influences and causes behind situations, young people are able to judge for themselves how best to create positive change.

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Campaigning for change

We’re passionate about achieving positive change, with and for, boys and girls in the poorest countries. We believe everyone has a contribution to make.

Our campaigns mobilise people to put pressure on decision makers to take action to benefit girls and boys living in poverty - from changing laws and spending choices to transforming practice and behaviour.

Our campaigning involves mass public action, research, lobbying, communications and events.

Learn how our campaigning works to have real impact on the lives of children and communities – and find out what you can do.

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Children's voices

In all aspects of Plan’s work, we value children's ability and right to participate in decisions about issues that affect them.

Children represent about a third of the world's population. Providing opportunities for children and young people to articulate their views and access information is integral to Plan's work, including children's involvement with media projects.

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Building skills for life

We help marginalised young people to thrive in a changing world by building their ‘skills for life’: their ability to protect and look after themselves, make a living and make informed life choices.

Plan UK’s focus is on adolescents aged 10 to 18, and on girls in particular. There are 500 million adolescent girls in the developing world.

Adolescence is a time of key transitions, but too often these go wrong for girls: dropping out from school before reaching secondary level; or poor quality education; early or forced marriage; exposure to violence, abuse and HIV infection; early motherhood and high maternal mortality, danger of death in childbirth or health complications.

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Disasters

Every year, over 175 million children are affected by disasters, and this number is expected to multiply threefold over the next decade due to climate change, environmental degradation, poverty and population growth.

Plan’s disaster risk management work promotes an innovative and effective humanitarian approach to tackling the escalation of disasters affecting today’s children, their families and future generations.

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Plan UK

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 six months, until the end of June, the focus will change to specific Plan foundraising countries and what they do.

The focus of May is Plan UK

Meeting my mum's sponsored child left a lasting impression

Whilst backpacking around Africa on a trip of a lifetime with my friend, Natasha Hayman, 25, I have been fortunate to see the impressive ethos and execution of projects carried out by global children’s charity Plan UK thanks to donations from child sponsorship in countries including Uganda, Ghana and Ethiopia. Yet, we were still unprepared for the overwhelming experience of actually meeting the girl my mum sponsors through the charity. Her name is Pascaline, and she lives in Togo. My mum has been sponsoring her for seven years and I couldn’t wait to meet her.A two-hour drive took us from Atakpamé Pascaline’s village in the heart of rural Togo. As we stepped out of the car we found ourselves in the middle of a procession of singers and dancers. We were immediately led to a central meeting area, which was a clearing in the shade of mango trees, where 200 villagers gathered to welcome us. 

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Schoolgirls are flushed with pride on World Water Day

Girls in a rural area of Pakistan are celebrating this World Water Day with new toilet and hand washing facilities which are making their primary school happier and healthier. When community worker, Rai Nasir, heard the local primary school for girls in Vehari, Pakistan, did not have a proper toilet or a clean water supply, he knew he had to do something about it. “Women and children are the most neglected segment of my society. I am always keen to do something positive for the children in my community, so when some of the parents told me about the need for a water pump in the girls’ primary school, I took it upon myself to sort the matter out,” says Rai. Rai contacted the school’s head teacher, Azra Parveen. The two of them decided to join forces to campaign for funding for better hygiene facilities at the school.

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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.

Girl power TV ad makes Glastonbury

Watch this TV commercial on the power of girls, produced free for Plan UK, which is being screened at the Glastonbury festival in England this weekend.

The advertisement demonstrates the impact education has on girls and the world around them.

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Children need shelter and protection after Typhoon Bopha

Plan is helping families piece their lives back together after Typhoon Bopha coursed across the Philippines. About 300,000 people in Davao Oriental on Mindanao have been affected by the typhoon, known locally as Pablo, which ripped through communities with winds of up to 160 mph.

“This typhoon has come right at the end of the Pacific Storm Season, but there are days when it is still raining. Of the houses that are still standing in affected communities, the majority don't have roofs, so homes are open to the elements and it’s harder for families to recover,” says Carin van de Hor, Country Director of Plan Philippines.

Some people are beginning to rebuild their homes, but not everyone has the money or resources to do this. Plan is distributing tarpaulins to families in need so that they can at least cover the gaping holes where their roofs used to be.

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Gordon Brown backs Plan's campaign for girls' education

Former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who is now United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education, has backed Plan's campaign for girls' education. Following campaigning by thousands of Plan supporters there have been a series of political commitments and actions announced.

A global campaign was launched after 15-year-old Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai was shot by the Taliban. Plan joined the campaign in support of Malala's stand for girls' education. And our 'Raise your hand' campaign calls for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to lead action by world leaders to make girls' education a priority. The Malala campaign achieved over two million signatures, doubling the original target. Over 560,000 people have supported our Raise your hand campaign so far.

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UK Parliamentarians call for action on child marriage

A group of UK parliamentarians is calling for action to help end child marriage. It recommends the minimum legal age for marriage should be raised to 18 across the globe, including in the UK, and that all religious marriages should be registered. The group is urging governments around the world to help prevent millions of girls becoming child brides. 

Our Because I am a Girl campaign aims to support four million girls to stay in education and fulfil their potential. Early marriage can end girls’ chances of completing their education – and can put them at greater risk of isolation, violence and death in childbirth. You can help us keep up the pressure on the UK government to lead action to end child marriage by signing our Take the Vow petition.

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Under the radar and under-protected

The face of a typical stateless person is likely to be the face of a child. About half of stateless people around the world are children, yet significant efforts to combat childhood statelessness remain elusive. The UN Refugee Agency UNHCR and Plan International aim to change this and have launched a new advocacy brochure “Under the Radar and Under Protected”.

"Under the Radar and Under Protected" raises awareness of the dangers and the risks that stateless children face and highlights the urgent need to address the rights of stateless children. These rights, including the right of every child to acquire an identity, including a nationality, and to be registered immediately after birth, can be found in a number of international instruments – most importantly, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which has been ratified by almost all countries in the world.

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Plan is celebrating Global Hand-Washing Day

Today, Plan will be holding a number of events around the world, in celebration of Global Hand-Washing Day. 

Hand-washing – at the right times and in the right way – is a basic yet important way to help safeguard children’s wellbeing.

We’re working with children, schools, communities and governments to raise awareness of the benefits of clean hands and good hygiene.

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Slumdog star Freida Pinto launches girls’ day

Hollywood star Freida Pinto took to the skies above London to help launch the first-ever UN Day of the Girl.The Slumdog Millionaire and Planet of the Apes actress was on the EDF Energy London Eye – which will host an all-female takeover today 11 October on the first ever UN International Day of the Girl.

Led by Southbank Centre and Plan UK, the takeover marks the launch of WOW Girls, a day of activities to help highlight girls’ inequality around the world. “I grew up in Mumbai and have seen the inequality faced by girls,” says Freida. “I was blessed but millions aren’t. They face being pulled out of school, married early and having children before they’re ready - and, in some cases, not being born at all since girls are unfortunately considered to be worthless.”

“Girls across the world should have the right to decide their own futures. That’s why on the first-ever UN Day of the Girl, I’m supporting Plan’s call to make girls’ education a priority.  Raise your hand if you believe the same.”

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Plan UK’s giant book highlights the importance of girls’ education

UK schoolgirls join TV presenter Cherry Healey to kickstart our week of celebrations for International Day of the Girl.

Girls from two south London schools joined TV presenter Cherry Healey to sign a giant book outside the Tower of London. The book highlights the importance of education for girls in the run up to the first International Day of the Girl.

The schoolgirls completed the opening sentence in the book ‘Because I have an education I can…’. Tilly Holmes, 14 and Hannah Davis, 15 from Graveney School in Tooting, were keen to emphasise the choices that having an education would bring them. Evie Edgar, 14 from St. Cecilia’s School in Southfields said that having an education meant she knew her rights. Her classmates Ellie Guven and Emily Craig think having an education will mean good careers and independence.

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