Plan UK

Plan – working with

children, for children

Founded over 70 years ago, Plan is an international children’s development agency. We work with children, families and communities in 49 developing countries across Africa, Asia and the Americas. Plan has no religious or political affiliations.

Millions of children across the world are locked in a cycle of extreme poverty. Many routinely eat only one meal a day, and when they are sick, they don’t get the treatment they need because the nearest health centre is too far away. Others have to work instead of going to school because their parents are too poor to send them. And without good healthy or the skills an education can bring, these children grow up to face the same poverty as their mothers and fathers.

The focus of Plan’s work is on child-centred community development (CCCD), working not only for children but with children and their communities to implement education, health, income generation and water and sanitation projects in the areas they live. This approach is born of the belief that children who have skills and confidence can be instrumental in improving their own futures.

Children’s participation can ensure sustainable change in their community, which they will benefit from as they grow up. This is crucial to ensuring their success and longevity. Together we face challenges and together we build on success. In this way, we create positive change for communities – change that will last for generations to come.

We also campaign to change the way a whole range of adults - from parents to politicians - think and act, because we know their decisions can perpetuate poverty.

Children themselves can be powerful advocates for change, so we encourage them to take part in decision making, from village councils to national assemblies. And because children will be the leaders of tomorrow, we believe that strengthening their voices now will create a fairer, better world - now and in the future.

Our vision is of a world in which all children realise their full potential in societies that respect people's rights and dignity.

Some examples of what can be achieved with your sponsorship money:
• £550 will provide around 225 children with sets of texts books and supplies which can be used to help with non-formal education, such as vocational training and home-based learning in Guinea Bissau
• £650 will train around 20 nursery teachers in Bangladesh to give young children the attention motivation and stimulation that they need to start learning in a safe environment.
• £800 will provide vocational training in India for women, as by securing a regular income it can provide their children with better quality food, clothes, school fees and medicine which may not have been previously affordable
• £960 will pay for desks and chairs for two classrooms in Haiti, so that children no longer have to sit on hard floors, struggling to learn to read and write.

For more information visit www.plan-uk.org or contact Kevin Machin at kevin.machin@plan-international.org

“We used to collect water after school but now that it is very near to our homes, we are able to find the time for homework” – Horia, aged 13, Sudan.

“All the time there used to be talk in the village about the problem of water. Now people do not talk anymore about this problem and we go to school with ease.” Sajida, aged 12, Pakistan.