New status agreed for Plan India and Plan Colombia
The move will strengthen Plan's operations in India and Colombia
At its Members’ Assembly meeting in Helsinki on 13 and 14 November, delegates voted to admit Plan India and Plan Colombia as full members of Plan International Inc.
This is a historic development for Plan as a whole. For the first time, Plan will have 2 full members from among its 48 programme countries, strengthening links with children and communities and ensuring their views and perspectives have a more direct participatory voice in shaping Plan’s future global strategy.
This decision by Plan’s existing members from 18 countries will enable the organisation to develop even stronger programmes to fight child poverty in India and Colombia. It will also pave the way for Plan to attract more funds from within both countries to spend nationally, supplementing existing resources raised across the world.
Historic step forward
Paul Arlman, Chair of the Members’ Assembly, warmly welcomed this development. He said: “I am delighted with the historic changes we have made today. It has been our ambition to enable Plan India and Plan Colombia from their earliest days to be full members of our global organisation. Today is a very important step forward in Plan’s evolution as a truly global NGO, and in our mission to give children a better future.”
Representatives of both Plan India and Fundacion Plan (Plan’s fundraising arm in Colombia), who were present as the decision was made, were delighted with this historic move.
Strengthening operations
Nirja Mattoo from Plan India said: “It will be a pleasure to be part of the future with Plan.
Plan has worked in India for many decades and has established a strong reputation assisting poor children in both rural and urban centres. This move can only strengthen our operations in India.”
Juan Emilio Pasada, from Fundacion Plan, said: “This step marks the confidence the highest governing body of Plan International has in our Fundacion, and in our work with communities in Colombia. We are determined to do even better work for Colombia’s children in the future and repay that confidence many times over.”
In India, Plan currently runs 2 separate programme operations, one funded by Plan International and the other by Plan India. The Assembly agreed a transition path to unite these into a single operation run by Plan India, assuming financial and organisational targets are met. Plan Colombia already has an integrated country programme operation.
Close integration
Plan will now begin integrating its country management in India to enable the long term creation of a single country programme and the closer alignment of systems and standards across all its operations.
In a spirit of support for Plan India and Plan Colombia, the Assembly has asked the Board and Plan International’s senior management team to monitor progress in relation to both fundraising levels and programme quality, especially during this transitional period and provide them with regular reports.
Nigel Chapman, Plan International Chief Executive Officer, said: “We are committed to assisting senior management and staff in Plan India and Plan Colombia as they build up their programming and fundraising capacity. This is a very exciting development which can only be of benefit to children and their families in both countries.”
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