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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3 ways we’re keeping families nourished in Sierra Leone

Nothing beats a hot meal after a long journey to school and a morning filled with classes. Or a home-cooked meal after a long day of work. It’s the fuel that keeps us going.
But it’s hard to learn on an empty stomach. And hunger pangs are no match for an effective workday. With no promise of food, priorities begin to shift. Children miss out on school and parents lack the strength to provide for their families.

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A Journey to School: Faridah's Story

Faridah is a 17-year-old girl living in Pakistan. At the age of 12, she was forced to drop out of school. By the age of 15, she was married to a much older man.

Despite these circumstances, Faridah has been determined to receive an education. As a student at one of Plan’s Non Formal Education (NFE) Centers, Faridah is attending class, despite the backlash that she has received from her family.

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A Journey to School: Balancing School and Work

Twelve-year-old Maria has to juggle her schoolwork with supporting her family.

“My mother is sick and our father abandoned us while I was still inside my mother's womb, so every morning I wake up at 4 a.m. to take some goods to the nearby market. I sell these things even before I get to school, as the money I earn is used to buy food for my family.”

Maria puts her needs after those of her mother and her siblings. As a result, she often attends school without eating breakfast and does not have a proper school uniform.

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A Journey to School: Maryuri's Story

Maryuri’s father was afraid that she would meet a boy at school, become pregnant, and drop out. Instead of discussing his fears with his daughter, he demanded that she drop out of school.


“My dad did not want me to go to school because several students age 13 and 14 had got married, fallen pregnant, and left school,” Maryuri says. “He believed I would do the same.”

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A Journey to School: One Teacher's Story

Plan’s non-formal education projects are educating over 11,000 girls aged 10-24 across Pakistan. As part of the project, Plan has created a series of Non Formal Education (NFE) Centers in various communities that aim to fast-track the girls’ education to Grade 10 to enable them to learn important life skills and receive a graduation certificate.

Many Pakistani girls drop out of government schools because of poverty or distance. However Plan’s NFE centers are free to attend and are located within close proximity to the communities. The centers even provide a female caretaker who accompanies the girls to school to ensure their safety.

Aisha works as a teacher at one of the local Non Formal Education (NFE) centers in Pakistan and has seen the impact that an education can have on the girls who live in the community. She believes that every girl should have the right to an education. This is her story...

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Journeys to school: Nepal

From poverty to slavery, Pramila, 15, from Nepal, has faced extreme challenges in going to school – and she’s seen far too many girls from her community suffer the same fate.

“Because of poverty, I have had many problems in keeping up my education,” says Pramila. “My family couldn’t afford the things you need for school, so my father decided to send me to work as a kamalari.”

A kamalari is a child servant - Pramila agreed to go as her ‘master’ had promised to send her to school. But things did not work out that way. “It was the opposite of what I expected. I was enrolled at school, but couldn’t study,” says Pramila. And things took a turn for the worse when she fell ill. “At one point I had to return home because I caught pneumonia.”

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Journeys to school: Cameroon

Thirteen-year-old Yié is the only Baka girl in her secondary school. She is determined that other girls like her should also have the opportunity to continue their education.

Yié comes from Mayos, a community of Baka pygmies in eastern Cameroon. Her school is 8km away – too far to travel each day – so she stays nearby and returns home when she can. But Yié and her mother are willing to do whatever it takes give her the best opportunities for the future.

“I love school and I am proud to go,” says Yié. “I like French and all the subjects really. School is good, but I am the only Baka girl in my school. I am a little bit unusual! I have friends there and I am accepted.

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A Journey to School in Photographs

When Sylvia's* father died, her mother remarried and Sylvia fell out of favor. Her situation was further complicated by the fact that her new father sees her as a burden–simply because she wants to go to school.

Sylvia's attends school in Idete Magezara, a four and a half mile walk from her home. She often makes this hour and a half walk twice a day–alone. Along her journey, she faces challenging weather and difficult terrain.

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A Journey to School: A Mother and Daughter Perspective

Yié and her mother Natoume live in Mayos, a community of Baka pygmies in eastern Cameroon, West Africa. Both strongly believe in the importance of an education and serve as roles for their community. Yié is the only Baka girl out of 800 of her peers to attend school, while her mother currently campaigns for the education of the Baka children who live within their community. These are their stories...

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Making it to school in Mali

My name is Soumata. I am 18 years old and live in a village in Koulikoro region, southern Mali. I started school in 2002 and dropped out in 2010, when I was just 16, after a series of personal issues. My father died, and later I became pregnant.

I was struggling to concentrate on my lessons at school and my life at home was very difficult. We barely had any food and could rarely afford to light up the house with candles.

Trying to study was almost impossible. My mother had no means to buy basic learning materials. I had very limited school supplies. Instead of the 17 school books required for lessons in year 8, I only had 7, and the lack of lighting at home meant I couldn’t revise in the evenings.

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A Journey to School: A Husband's Perspective

Mohammed, 25, faces ridicule from his community in Pakistan simply because his wife attends school. Mohammed believes that an education should be accessible to everyone–even women.

“Some people think there is no use having girls educated. Usually these are people who are not educated themselves and don’t understand the importance of it, so that’s why they don’t send their wives to school,” he says.

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How 13-year-old Malika helped 60 girls get on the road to education

30 kilometres: that’s how far the walk to and from secondary school takes girls living in a rural community in Burkina Faso every day. That’s 150 kilometres each week and up to 5 hours spent walking every day.

Even worse, these girls may encounter danger or violence on the long journey to school, putting their safety at risk daily. But since parents in the community cannot afford transportation fees, girls are left with two options: walk or drop out of school.

As a result, the rate of girls receiving a secondary education in this particular region of Burkina Faso is exceedingly low – 12.8% to be exact.

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Timor-Leste’s Teen Mothers Desperate to Return to School

When my family found out that I was pregnant, my uncle, a teacher at my school, asked my parents to take me out of school. If I continued my studies then I would have embarrassed my school,” says 18-year-old Juliana, who became pregnant at the age of 15.

Unmarried, Juliana lives with her parents in a remote part of Aileu district, just south of Dili, the capital of Timor-Leste. Her daugher is now 2 years old, and Juliana is expecting a second child. Her biggest regret? Not finishing school.

“I don’t have the opportunity anymore to develop myself like other young people. I just stay at home and give my time to my children," she says.

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Playgroups Help Kick-Start Children's Learning

“When I started primary school, I was already familiar with letters and numbers, so it was easy for me to follow and participate in the class,” says 9-year-old Lucia, a primary school student in Aileu district, Timor-Leste, who is reaping the benefits of her early years at playgroup.

Attending pre-school is vital for children, to prepare them mentally and socially before they make the transition to primary school. In Timor-Leste, only 5-10 percent of children attend pre-school, which can have serious implications for a child’s development.

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Welcome to the community of Hatibandha, Bangladesh

Imagine living in a community where only 7% of the students attending secondary school are girls. Now try to imagine living in a community where 90% of girls are married before the age of 18.

It’s a reality that 8,900 girls, men, women and their children living in the rural community of Hatibandha face every day.

“We are ready to do anything to improve the lives of our children,” says Hasena, mother of five children. “We need support to build our house and get educational materials for our children.”

That’s why we’re excited to introduce you to our newest community you can sponsor, Hatibandha, Bangladesh. The lives of thousands of children and their families in Hatibandha will change forever, thanks to the generous support of donors like you!

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Waiting Eagerly to Return Home

I made it to school today. I am so pleased. Up to the last minute, my mother didn't know if she would be able to pay the $1 dollar donkey cart fare for a ride to school. I was pacing everywhere. I was frantic. I told her that I had an important exam and that I have been working hard for it and that there was no reason why I should end up with a 0/20 because I missed school again. She was anxious. I could see it on her face. I know when she is anxious because she is usually quiet, but she looked upset. I could see it in her eyes. After I 'bullied' her, she went and borrowed money from one of our neighbors. And so I was able to go to school in time for my exam. I don't know how long this will last.

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Looking to the future in Nepal

Before Plan started working in Makwanpur, Nepal, girls used to marry at 13, suffer poor hygiene and stay at home while the boys went to school - but not any more.

Watch the clip and join Kanchhi Gole, a community leader, as she reflects on how life has changed for girls and everyone in her area over the years.

"In the past, these children never used to take a bath or comb their hair. Now, I enjoy seeing them dancing, singing and having fun," says Kanchhi.

An Empty Stomach Makes the School Day a Challenge

"I always sleep in class and teachers punish me because I often come to school hungry,” says Abit, a 6th grade student at Old Boli Primary School in Chiredzi, a village in southeast Zimbabwe.

Abit wants to be a doctor – but says she is ‘training’ herself not be hungry during the day, so that she can study.

“Although there’s no food to eat before I go to school, I want to pursue my education so that I can become a doctor. I’m training myself not to feel hungry until after the school day has ended,” she says. Abit, an orphan, lives with her 18-year-old sister, Naomi.

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Case study: Salamatu's school dream comes true

Two years ago, Salamatu, 19, was forced to drop out of business school because she could not afford to pay the tuition fees after the death of her father and brother.

Plan Sierra Leone and local partner, CIFORD, set up youth savings and loans groups in her community and it was not long before Salamatu had joined, become chairwoman of her group, and taken out her first loans: one to buy a bag of rice to start up her small business and one to pay her school fees.

She is one of over 3,000 young people in Freetown, Sierra Leone, participating in Plan's youth savings and loans programme, which introduces 15-25 year olds to financial literacy.

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