Plan's child participation groups involve children in their community and give them a voice

Plan has been working in Bafata, located in the north-eastern part of the country, since 1996.

The average monthly income per household is 155,000 CFA to 250,000 CFA (US$330-540), and needs to provide for an average 8 family members.

The unemployed are in the majority, and those who can work do so mostly in the agriculture sector - farming rice, corn and sweet potato.

Programme highlights

Mother and child healthcare

Plan’s ongoing mother and child health care programme has already seen more than 32,000 children and pregnant women benefit from an integrated campaign to distribute:

• vitamin A to help reduce the incidence of blindness
• iodine to help combat the incidence of thyroid enlargement
• and anti-parasitic drugs
  

We have trained health agents and midwives so that they can now better identify and treat widespread cases of malnutrition and promote children’s healthy development.

We have also run community health and HIV prevention projects in which we have trained health technicians and midwives in order to increase care and support services for HIV and AIDS and other diseases.

Children’s role in civil society

Plan has created child participation groups to involve more children and adults in their community development activities and give children, especially girls, the opportunity to express their opinions on issues that affect them. We organise an annual children’s carnival to help do this.

As well as training community volunteers in children’s rights, we continue to run birth registration projects to ensure children can access services such as health and education.

Safe drinking water and sanitation

Plan has  put a cover on more than 650 family latrines and school latrines to help reduce the spread of diseases and improve hygiene and cleanliness.

By helping communities build manual boreholes and installing a motor at the water reservoir in Bafatá we are alleviating water shortages in the region.

We have also trained community management committees on how to make projects that benefit them sustainable, and they are now responsible for maintaining their water infrastructure.

Support our work now: sponsor a child