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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Rwanda genocide: young filmmakers look to the future

Young Rwandan filmmakers are coming together to mark 20 years since the end of the genocide as part of a Plan-supported film competition to promote reconciliation. The competition is among a series of events taking place around the world to commemorate the Rwanda genocide, which saw an estimated 800,000 people massacred in 100 days – leaving two thirds of the population under the age of 25. Three young filmmakers have already been selected out of 40 entrants to go forward to the finals - including Samuel Ishimwe, 22, with his short fiction film Crossing Lines, Yves Montand Niyogambo, 26, with the documentary Invincible, and Philbert Aime Mbabazi, 23, with a short fiction film called Hutsi-Akaliza keza.

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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.

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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.

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Case study in pictures: Building skills for Timor-Leste's future

Around half of Timor-Leste's youths are unemployed. As more than 75% of the country's population is under 30 years old it means many thousands of young people are struggling to find a livelihood.

View the slideshow to learn about life in the capital Dili and see how Plan is providing training and employment schemes for out-of-work youths. 

From supporting young people to run their own businesses to teaching skills on agriculture and food production, Plan's programmes are helping youths to achieve their potential.

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