Long De Programme Unit
Long De County
Area: 985 sq. km
Population: 60,297
Communities: 4 townships and 35 administrative villages
Sponsored children: Around 4,803
Long De County, located at the rim of Loess Plateau, is one of the most deprived areas in China. A scarcity of natural resources, poor conditions and little rainfall pose great difficulties for its people and livestock.
Plan began working in Long De in 2008. We work with our partners at county level in health, child rights, education, water and environmental sanitation, and livelihood programmes.
Programme highlights
Empowering people
Plan works to empower women and develop the capacities of community organisations. Our activities include providing costume support for community amateur drama clubs that help children to speak out on issues affecting them, training amateur actors and building the computer skills of community representatives.
Providing safe drinking water and reducing disease
Plan works with the water conservancy bureau to run a safe potable water projects and construct biogas sanitation latrines in cooperation with power stations.
We provide villagers with knowledge of proper water and environmental sanitation practices which improve hygiene and help reduce the incidence of disease.
Improving health and education services
Plan promotes health and education with the county health bureau and has eqipped 31 community clinics with basic medical equipment.
We have also trained village doctors and held school sanitation health knowledge contests.
Ensuring an early start to education
Plan has worked with the county education department to conduct training for school teachers, which has enhanced the quality of their teaching and made the learning environment more child-friendly. In response to the absence of pre-school education in the area, we have provided equipment to kindergartens and trained management staff and teachers.
Children's participation
Plan has established a number of children's groups based on music, dance, calligraphy and radio to help children speak out on issues that affect them. Children organise the activities themselves and the project pays particular attention to gender and ethnicity, specifically the participation of girls and children of the Hui minority.
Zonglian, a teacher from Zhang Cheng Primary School in Long De, said: "Previously the children had very limited activities with which to fill their spare time. With the establishment of the children’s activity groups, the life of each student has been enriched."
