Plan Rwanda: what we do

Plan Rwanda activities are centred on4 country programmes that are anchored in the promotion of child rights.

• early childhood care
• quality education
• economic security
• protection

We promote a girl and boy-friendly inclusive school environment through the implementation of School Improvement Plans, strengthening parent and  teacher associations and contributing to the capacity development of teachers.

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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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Silent suffering

The psychosocial impact of war, HIV and other high-risk  situations on girls and boys in West and Central Africa.

The regions of West and Central Africa are home to ever-growing numbers of suffering children. These are children who live on the streets, who are trafficked and exploited as cheap labour, neglected or sexually abused, or who are forced into combat in a civil war.

To learn more about the impact of these difficult circumstances on children, Plan’s West African Regional Office, in partnership with Family Health International, initiated a five-country study entitled ‘Psychosocial support to children in difficult circumstances’.

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Hard work, long hours and little pay

This research on tobacco farms in Malawi reveals that child labourers, some as young as 5, are suffering severe physical symptoms from absorbing up to the equivalent of 50 cigarettes a day through their skin.

As the tobacco industry continues to shift its production to developing countries, more vulnerable children are being exposed to these hazardous working conditions.

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Minimum standards for child protection in humanitarian action

Between 500 million and 1.5 billion children are estimated to experience violence annually. In humanitarian settings, children are also vulnerable to being killed or injured, orphaned, separated from their families, recruited into armed groups, or trafficked.

These minimum standards - drafted with input from 400 individuals from 30 agencies in over 40 countries - are aimed at those working in child protection or related areas of humanitarian action.

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Case study: Escaping life on the streets

There are 680,000 street children in Bangladesh and nearly half of them are aged under 10. Many of these children struggle to find food, suffer from abuse and have no access to education or health facilities.

Since 2002, Plan's drop-in centres have been helping children to escape life on the street by providing a secure and healthy living environment where they can stay. In addition to general support, the centres run classes in subjects such as literacy, music, art and drama, while older children receive vocational skills training.

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Protecting children from harmful practices in plural legal systems

Millions of children continue to suffer from various forms of harmful practices, such as female genital mutilation, early and forced marriage, female infanticide, bonded labour and accusations of witchcraft.

The UN Study on Violence against Children urged states to prohibit by law all forms of violence against children, including harmful practices.

This report reviews positive legislative developments in different regions of the world, with a special emphasis on Africa, to strengthen children’s legal protection from violence as a result of harmful practices, and addresses the interplay between statutory, customary and religious laws.

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Case study: 13 and bride

Meet Mariama, 13, who has just discovered she is about to join the 40% of girls in Niger who marry before they are 15.

Early marriage can be catastrophic for girls. Many are pulled out of education and pregnancy can cause serious long-term problems - such as fistula, which leaves girls incontinent and in constant pain.

Plan is working with girls, their parents and communities to educate them about the consequences of child marriage, particularly the dangers to a girl's health if she gives birth before her body is ready.

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Protection: what we do

Protecting children and young people from abuse, neglect, exploitation and violence is central to everything we do.

In 2012, Plan provided child protection training for 149,686 community members and 35,625 staff of partner organisations across the world.

Many children experience abuse every day from people they know and trust and it threatens their survival, development and participation in society.

Plan was actively involved in the 2006 United Nations Study on Violence Against Children, which estimates that worldwide:

• 40,000,000 children are abused each year
• 150,000,000 girls and 73,000,000 boys experience sexual violence
• 1,800,000 children are involved in commercial sexual exploitation and child abuse images
• 1,200,000 children are victims of trafficking.

Plan does more than introduce short-term fixes for these problems. We raise awareness of children’s right to protection and work closely with families and communities.

We also deliver targeted programmes to address specific protection issues - such as child trafficking, corporal punishment in schools, female genital cutting and child marriage.

At local, national and international level we work to influence policies and make sure there is an adequate legal framework to protect children.

Protection

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 May is Protection.