May 2012: Plan is providing vital aid to thousands of Malian refugees who have fled violence in their country only to find themselves caught up in West Africa's food crisis.
200,000 refugees have so far left Mali, with 30,000 heading to Niger - a country where more than 6 million people are already at risk of hunger.
Every day, refugees who have walked for up to 15 days arrive in Gaoudel, a small village just 5km from the Malian border. All of the children are malnourished, and many have illnesses such as whooping cough.
Azahara and her young family have only a sheet for shelter.
"The government couldn't protect us anymore. The bandits came with guns and stole many of our things, so we ran away. I left with nothing because I had to help my children," she says.
Azahara and her family are now among 15,000 Malian refugees who are receiving emergency food, blankets and mosquito nets from Plan in Niger.
In addition to providing vital support to villagers suffering from the food crisis, Plan has also furnished the village school with extra blackboards, seating mats and teaching guides to accommodate greater numbers.
Teacher Adouramane Oumarou says one entire class is now made up of 117 refugee children, who have never been to school before.
Read about and donate to Plan's West Africa food crisis appeal
Find out more about Plan's work in Niger
]]>12 April 2012: See the difference Plan-funded drop-in centres are making to thousands of children living on the streets of Bangladesh this International Street Children Day.
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.
International Street Children Day is marked on 12 April each year to give a voice to some of the most disadvantaged and invisible children of this world.
The day aims to raise awareness and recognition of this global issue and put pressure on policy makers to create an environment in which street children's rights are realised.
Learn about Plan's global child protection work
Find out more about Plan's work in Bangladesh
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On 20 March Plan is holding the world's biggest children's birthday party to celebrate its 75th anniversary - and YOU are invited!
Please join us on Facebook to show your support and see live coverage of our birthday activities across the world.
As part of our birthday celebrations, we are also raising awareness of every child’s right to a birthday. Millions of children around the world don’t have a birth certificate. This makes them vulnerable to abuse and denies them access to services such as health and education.
]]>Shaheeda and Shojun from Dhaka, Bangladesh, are among the 40 million people who have benefited from Plan's global birth registration campaign since it launched in 2005.
Over 51 million births go unregistered every year, leaving children invisible - without a legal identity or nationality. This makes them vulnerable to abuse and exploitation, and denies them access to services such as education.
For Shaheeda, her birth certificate proved she was too young to be married at the age of 15, while Shojun, aged 12, was released from an adult prison where the inmates faught and intimidated him.
Put birth registration at the top of your agenda:
Sign our petition to the United Nations
Join Plan's 75th birthday celebrations and spread the word about our campaign by sending an e-card
]]>Sold into domestic slavery at the age of 6, Urmila is now free and leading the fight to abolish Nepal's Kamalari slave system with help from Plan.
Urmila spent 12 years as a domestic slave when her parents traded her to pay off a debt. They thought she would get the chance to study - but instead Urmila was forced to spend all day, every day, performing endless chores for her master.
In 2008 Urmila was finally allowed to visit her family - that's where she learned that the Kamalari system is now illegal. Today she is president of the Kamalari Girls' Freedom Forum, which works to rescue and protect Kamalari girls.
2,250 girls have been released from domestic slavery since Plan started supporting the Kamalari girls project in 2006. The project has now been expanded to 2 other districts.
Find out more about Plan's work in Nepal
Join Plan's global Because I am a Girl campaign
Learn about Plan's 75th anniversary celebrations
]]>Meet Efraín Calles - a former sponsored child from El Salvador whose life was turned around with help from Plan and his US sponsor.
Now a teacher, Efraín recalls fondly the inspiring pictures and postcards he recieved from his sponsor, as he grew up in rural Chalatenango.
Through Plan, his family were able to move from a mud hut to a safe building, while he and his siblings received school equipment and skills training.
"I still have this dream of meeting my former sponsor one day," says Efraín. "To tell her what I've achieved thanks to her support - and to show her that I'm now helping children who are in the same situation as I was."
]]>November 2011: Since 2007, Plan has built more than 2,400 water tanks for families in remote areas of Guatemala.
In the past, villagers had to walk for hours to fetch water from springs and rivers. Thanks to Plan, families now have a simple but innovative system that collects and filters rain water in their villages.
In Alta Verapaz, the project was so successful that the local government has decided to invest US$8,000,000 over 5 years to replicate the tanks throughout the region.
Watch the video to see how the system works.
Find out more about Plan's work in Guatemala
Learn about Plan's global water and sanitation work
]]>October 2011: Check out this delicious chicken recipe which is keeping Doña Juana's family in Chibax, Guatemala, strong and healthy.
Around 43% of children suffer from malnutrition in Guatemala. Before Plan launched its nutritious recipe project in the village, the family ate just chillis and tortillas.
"Our children used to get sick a lot on the diet we used to give them. They used to have stomach problems. But now things are much better. Thanks to this project, they are getting plenty of vegetables," says Doña Juana.
Learn more about Plan's work to tackle malnutrition in Guatemala
Visit the Plan Guatemala website
]]>October 2011: Watch this video developed by children in Vietnam on their experience of Typhoon Ketsana and how they plan to protect their communities from future disasters.
Typhoon Ketsana killed more than 160 people, destroyed 21,000 houses and ruined 100,000 hectares of agricultural land when it hit Vietnam in 2009.
The children, who are from an ethnic minority, were given media training by Plan as part of a programme to give a voice to traditionally excluded people. Marginalised groups are rarely included in discussions and decisions on policies and programmes that affect their lives.
Hear the children speak out on their experiences and present their plans for keeping water sources clean, setting up food storage systems and ensuring children receive medical care when the next disaster strikes.
Find out more about Plan’s work in Vietnam
Learn about Plan’s global emergencies work
]]>October 2011: When Hurricane Tomas threatened the Dominican Republic last November hundreds of children were fully prepared to protect themselves, thanks to Plan’s disaster risk reduction training.
Watch the video to see how 447 children from 9 schools in Barahona and Pedernales provinces spent their 2010 summer vacation learning disaster risk prevention.
Through fun activities the participants located their nearest emergency shelters and found the best evacuation routes. They also learned how to raise awareness among parents and the wider community so that everyone was prepared when the next disaster struck.
The summer school camps were implemented by Plan with funding from the European Commission.
Find out more about Plan’s work in the Dominican Republic
Learn about Plan’s global emergencies work
]]>September 2011: Watch the video to see how girls and boys in El Salvador dance their way to a more just world for both sexes.
The scenes and choreography in this film were designed and performed by the Network and Evolution Plan Youth Groups in El Salvador.
]]>September 2011: Like girls, boys and men are affected by negative gender stereotypes – but they also hold the power to create gender equality that will benefit everyone.
Watch the video to see how gender equality cannot be tackled by girls and women alone; how and why men and boys can, and should, contribute to creating a more equal society.
Plan has just launched the fifth of its 'Because I am a Girl' reports, which reveals how gender equality is good for boys too.
Read the 'Because I am a Girl: So, what about boys?' report
Join Plan's Because I am a Girl campaign to fight gender inequality, promote girls' rights and lift millions out of poverty.
Try our quiz on Facebook for a chance to win a Because I am a Girl T-shirt!
]]>September 2011: This film looks at 4-year-old Heidi from El Salvador, who is part of Plan’s global cohort study which follows 135 girls from birth to their ninth birthday in 2015.
The film is narrated by her young mother Mirna, and sheds light on the life of a young, single mother in El Salvador.
Mirna is part of a Plan project for vulnerable girls, which offers counselling and legal advice. It also supports the girls as they seek further education or work.
Read the Because I am a Girl: So, what about boys? report to learn more about Plan’s cohort study.
Join Plan’s Because I am a Girl campaign to fight gender inequality, promote girls’ rights and lift millions out of poverty.
]]>August 2011: An elder from Borana in Ethiopia speaks about how his family and community are being affected by the worst drought to hit East Africa in 60 years.
"We used to live off our livestock and crops. We have lost both things and now depend on food aid," he says.
Millions of people are facing starvation in the Horn of Africa. Plan is providing nutritious food and safe water to some of the hardest-hit communities across Ethiopia, Kenya and South Sudan.
Find out more about Plan's response to the East Africa drought
]]>August 2011: Meet Meselech - a 30-year-old mother struggling to feed her 5 malnourished children in drought-hit southern Ethiopia.
She is now so weak that she can’t produce enough milk for her 5-month-old baby.
“It will be at least 2 months until we can harvest our crops, so we need assistance now,” she says.
Plan is providing emergency food aid to Meselech’s family and thousands of others affected by the drought crisis in Ethiopia, Kenya and South Sudan.
Please support our vital work and donate to the East Africa appeal today.
Find out more about Plan’s East Africa drought response
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