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Plan International’s Goals for Gender Equality

Plan International

Plan International recently announced a multi-organizational partnership to help track the U.N.’s global goals for gender equality.

The goals for gender equality stem from the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These goals, adopted in 2015, aim to vastly improve the living conditions around the world.

The central focus of this project is gender inequality. Plan International decided to collect relevant data and use it as a benchmark to determine the amount of progress.

Partner Organizations for Gender Equality

To do so, they partnered with several organizations. These include the International Women’s Health Coalition and KPGM. In addition, Plan International chose the ONE Campaign and Women Deliver.

Plan International chose these organizations because their previous work and values align with those of Plan. However, some organizations bring additional value to the table.

For instance, KPMG has a history of partnership building in the private sector. They also have a strong data tracking history with their Change Readiness Index. That index will be especially important in the project’s next few months.

The project’s first step is to sift through the data that already exists. They can then determine what is relevant to their goals for gender equality and what is not.

In an exclusive interview with Mary Bridger, the Engagement Manager for Plan’s SDG tracking initiative, she said, “We don’t feel that you can truly comprehend the realities for girls and women until you look beyond the quantitative data and find out what the lived realities for these individuals are (i.e. you can measure the geographic proximity of a school to girls, but until you ask them whether they feel safe on public transportation, you don’t know the true barriers).”

Prioritizing Gender Equality

For now, the project’s next goal is to work with their partners to push the scope of their research and develop the tools necessary to allow them to best capture those lived realities.

Bridger underscored the importance of this campaign when she said, “Plan International’s purpose is to work towards all children fulfilling their rights, focusing on excluded and vulnerable groups so that no-one is left behind. However, we have recognized the urgent need to prioritize girls as the most marginalized group whose rights are violated most.”

Plan International and their partner organizations all believe that meeting goals for gender equality will have a ripple effect within local communities and even worldwide.

– Sabrina Santos

Photo: Talent Culture

Three Year Plan to Rebuild Schools After Nepal Earthquake

Nepal Earthquake
The 2015 Nepal earthquake left over 1 million children without a school. A little over a year has passed since the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that killed thousands.

However, unrepaired damage continues to plague the country. The scope of the damage and political difficulties have meant much of the country still lies in rubble.

But the nation is making progress. Newly announced plans for reconstruction have set a three-year timeline for various progress goals, with education infrastructure named a top priority.

The Nepal earthquake destroyed 17,000 classrooms of nearly 8,000 schools, and the aftershocks damaged an additional 20,000 classrooms. While the donations obtained as of April 2016 tallied approximately $200 million, this was sufficient to repair only 1,700 schools.

Due to limited funding, the initial rebuilding efforts will focus primarily on education infrastructure in the hardest hit regions of the country. Over the course of three years, the national government hopes to accomplish significant rebuilding.

The overall economic impact of the earthquake on Nepal is estimated at nearly $7 billion. The country’s long history of political tension, combined with the magnitude of reparations needed, has led to an atmosphere of political urgency.

These tensions have aggravated preexisting political divides and slowed down measures to hasten reconstruction. Frustration with the situation has led to protests following the earthquake, making the need for efficient rebuilding of education infrastructure all the more urgent.

In the months following the earthquake, many students had to use temporary classrooms. These classrooms are not strong enough to withstand heavy Nepal weather (including monsoons). However, students have already used them for an entire winter season.

For those involved in the rebuilding efforts of prior learning spaces, avoiding the continued use of these classrooms is a top priority in order to provide students with a safe and stable learning environment.

The Nepal government continues to seek methods for resolving political differences and hastening reconstruction as much as possible. However, the three year-plan emphasizing education infrastructure represents major progress.

Additionally, humanitarian development organizations such as Plan International have contributed in the wake of the disaster. The organization recognized the importance of this project and hence began a classroom-rebuilding initiative.

Plan International seeks to rebuild 20 of the schools that the Nepal earthquake destroyed. They also plan to repair 1,600 damaged classrooms.

In order to further extend the positive impact of these schools, the buildings will have reinforcements that can withstand tough weather conditions. Additionally, Plan International will provide extreme weather training for students and teachers.

The students who lost their learning spaces in the Nepal earthquake will gain more than a building from this project.

They also represent increased safety for students. Schools not only provide education, but they also operate as a safe space. This rebuilding project could enact a decline in exploitation, child marriage and trafficking threats.

– Charlotte Bellomy

Photo: CNN

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Providing Education to Displaced Children in Ecuador

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The 7.8 magnitude earthquake that shook Ecuador back in April left behind serious damages across the country. 120,000 displaced children were forced to leave school as they were uprooted and their schools were damaged.

“Education is a lifeline for children going through the trauma of chaos and destruction,” said Grant Leaity, UNICEF Representative in Ecuador. “It helps give them a daily routine and a sense of purpose and puts them on track for psychological recovery.”

To ensure children continue their education during this time, UNICEF is building temporary education centers. They are working to install fifty temporary spaces to hold classes in, and are giving out 700 “school in a box” kits. These kits come a variety of school supplies, including chalk, slates and notebooks. UNICEF’s goal is to reach about 80,000 children with these measures, ensuring that they do not fall any farther behind.

Other organizations are taking similar measures. Plan International is building safe spaces for children which include temporary education centers as well. “We know that children are going to be among the most affected by this disaster, so it is of the utmost importance to work quickly and efficiently to help girls and boys cope with the stress of what they’ve been through and give them the space to express themselves in a safe and secure environment,” said Rossana Viteri, director of Plan International Ecuador.

Additionally, these centers will provide training to parents on how to help their children during this time. Training programs include hygiene, sanitation and safety. The goal is to protect the livelihoods of displaced children across the country. The health training is important, because UNICEF reports that thousands of displaced children are at a heightened risk of disease. The risk is highest in coastal areas, which have been deemed “hotspots” for diseases such as Zika and malaria.

For groups like UNICEF and Plan International, ensuring children maintain the best possible living standards is one of the top priorities while Ecuador rebuilds. If children can maintain their education through this crisis, they will be better equipped to someday return to school.

– Emily Milakovic

Photo: Flickr

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Ugandan Street Children and Police Force

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The Human Rights Watch has exposed the terrors that occur on the streets of Uganda every day. Homeless children are beaten and abused by police forces, local government officials and city authorities.

In a country where poverty rates are already very high, child abuse is a daily occurrence on the streets. Children are harassed, threatened, beaten, arrested, robbed and detained. They are accused of being criminals and scavengers. Some children, boys and girls, have even been raped by older boys and men, but these rarely get reported to the police.

There have been reports of police tying boys’ arms and legs and forcing them to lie under metal car seats, as well as being tied to motorbikes to be taken to police stations. Pepper spray has also been used on several street children.

It is estimated that there are 2.7 million orphans in Uganda. Additionally, a study by the African Network for the Prevention and Protection against Child Abuse and Neglect estimated that 10,000 children live on the streets of Uganda. This number has increased by 70 percent since 1993.

These large numbers of street children make it difficult for cities to determine the real criminals. Instead of differentiating, authorities simply treat them all like they deserve to be punished.

The HRW report explains that many of the street children “fear the authorities and that police are a source of violence, not protection.”

In an attempt to minimize the problem, a free national child helpline was created about a month ago by Plan International. It receives around 1,500 calls each day from children and adults reporting various abuses seen around the country.

With the help of agencies like the African Network for the Prevention and Protection against Child Abuse and Neglect, this problem can be fixed. The Ugandan street children need to be cared for, rather than beaten. The HRW report set forth a call for the Ugandan government to focus on improving the lives of street children and to prosecute those who abuse them.

– Hannah Cleveland

Sources: The Guardian, BBC News
Photo: The Guardian

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Adolescent Girls, Bearing the Brunt of the Burden

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“I am 17 years old. In the relief camp, when I was sleeping in the night, I was raped. I did not know what had happened to me. I do not know the face of the man. I had heavy bleeding…now I see some disturbances in my body and when my mother took me to the hospital, I was told I am pregnant”.

This is what a young girl from Tamul Nadu in India experienced after a tsunami devastated her hometown. Like her, millions of other girls in developing countries are the hardest hit by disasters in comparison with other segments of the population. Not only do women receive non-preferential treatment during emergency rescues, but they are also at a greater risk of sexual exploitation, child marriage, and being deprived of an education.

According to a report released by Plan International, a child rights NGO, girls fare far worse during disasters than the rest of the population. Given their gender, age, and humanitarian status, girls and women experience a triple disadvantage during crises since pre-existing inequalities and vulnerabilities are exacerbated.

In this way, a 14-year-old girl in a slum will experience a flood or an earthquake differently from a 14-year-old boy in the same situation. Such is the case of a son and a daughter who were swept away by a tidal surge in a cyclone that hit Bangladesh in 1991. The father of these children is cited as saying that he could not hold on to both and had to release his daughter because “his son had to carry on the family line.”

In other cases, adolescent girls and women are driven to sell sex because they have no alternative to feed themselves and their children. “I don’t work. I don’t have parents to help. So, for around a dollar, you have sex just for that…it’s not good to do prostitution, but what can you do?” said Gheslaine, who lives in a camp in Croix-de-Bouquets in Haiti.

Disasters also lead to an increase in child marriages. Research in Somaliland, Bangladesh and Niger found that child marriage is often used as a community response to crises in which girls are sold for income and food. In Niger, girls are taken out of school, wed and impregnated at the age of 13. Many of them suffer from fistula (a rupture between the birth canal and bladder caused by prolonged obstructed labor) and die.

One of the least prioritized issues during disasters is facilitating education for girls. Although most families would rather continue education for boys rather than girls, girls who receive an education are more likely to be healthy, marry later in life, and survive into adulthood. In fact, it is one of the most important determinants of practically all desired outcomes related to the Millennium Development Goals, from poverty reduction, to reduced infant mortality rates, and to enhanced democratization.

Despite the evidence that confirms that the empowerment of women has a transformative power in all types of societies, this study reveals that the rights to protection, education, and participation are still not granted to most women and girls, especially during crises.

– Nayomi Chibani
Feature Writer

Sources: IRIN, Plan International
Photo: UNHCR

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South Sudan Focuses on Reducing Youth Poverty

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The issue of poverty in South Sudan is very complex, however, the organization Plan International is adamant that a key component to poverty reduction is concentrating on decreasing poverty among young people in the country. A 2009 Southern Sudan Household Survey disclosed that 50.6% of the population survives on less than $2 a day. In addition to income limitations, poverty also brings a lack of healthcare, food, sanitation, and clean water.

In order to improve these conditions, Nigal Champman, the Chief Executive Director of Plan International, suggests focusing on children as a financially small investment. He explained, “We all know that young people can play an important role in national development if provided with the right tools, the learning and capacity to employ those tools, and a supportive environment in which to use them.” However, these children can just as easily continue to live in the poverty cycle if they are not provided with education, healthcare or proper nutrition.

The organization has invested $30 million in South Sudan since 2006 and is planning on providing another $30 million in the next three years. Plan International will utilize this money by working with government officials to implement policies meant to keep children in school. Other ways Plan International contributes to the reduction of poverty in South Sudan is through food and clean water distribution, supporting agricultural developments, peacekeeping programs, and providing access to health services.

In a country where 50% of the population is young children or adolescents, about 60% of the poor belong to this demographic. In addition to the previously mentioned disadvantages, these young people also struggle because many are orphans of parents who have AIDS or victims of conflict or child labor. While South Sudan may be a convoluted situation, organizations like Plan International are working to ensure that poverty is a thing of the past by investing in children, who are our future.

– Mary Penn

Sources: All Africa, Youth Policy
Photo: Doctors without Borders

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Cannes and Gates Foundation Fund Creative Development Solutions

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The second Grand Challenges Explorations initiative brings together organizations and non-profits in a competition to find creative development solutions. The initiative was founded as a joint effort between the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.  This year’s challenge topic was “Aid is Working. Tell the World.” Participants were to come up with creative development solutions using communication to inform the world of the impact of investment in foreign aid. The goal is to change the conversation around foreign aid and foreign investment.

Nine projects were chosen from those submitted and the creators of those projects will be awarded up to $100,000 USD to work on their communications idea. The project creators will also receive guidance from a Cannes Chimera panel made up of  of representatives of each of the 2012 Cannes Lions Grand Prix winners. The nine projects came from various organizations around the world. They are detailed below.

1. BeHere-BeThere Project by Serviceplan, Hamburg, Germany. This project works with local retail establishments to connect consumers with charitable causes and hopefully solicit a donation. The app will help to raise awareness surrounding development issues in the developing world.

2. Cause Generation: a Platform to Define a Generation’s Cause by OgilvyEarth, San Francisco, USA. University students will have the opportuity to use OgilvEarth’s online platform to create a campaign around a single global cause. The goal will be to convince peers to support the cause and raise awareness around the specific cause.

3. Hactivating Development Aid by Coxswain Social Investment Plus, Tunis, Tunisia. Crowdsourcing has become a popular online tool and this idea uses just that to engage young people in development causes. The site will use first person narrative to get students interested in development issues and allow them to offer real-life solutions to problems.

4. HMKD by Leo Burnett, Chicago, USA. One of the most innovative ideas, Leo Burnett will work to create a working ticker symbol for the New York Stock Exchange. This symbol will report the daily return on investment from development aid to raise awareness that investment in foreign aid really does work.

5. House Parties: Experiential Marketing for Global Aid by Plan International, Washington, USA. 
Various organizations have proven the value of house parties. Mary Kay is perhaps one of the most well known examples and Plan International plans to build off of the success of the house party. The goal is to use it as an engagement tool to raise awareness and support for public development programs.

6. Global 360 by Media Trust, London, UK. Global 360 will be a television, online, and mobile channel produced by young people and containing stories about global development.

7. Mobile-izing the United Voices of Aid Recipients by Environics Trust, Ghaziabad, India.  Interactive Voice Response will be used to collect 10,000 stories about the impact of aid in rural India. The stories will be spread online through social media and responses to them will be tracked to see if a change in behavior results.

8. RADIO8 by Digital Kitchen, Seattle, USA. Radio8 will be a radio station containing the views of 8 year-olds. They will record their ideas, insights, and perspectives on the impact of global aid.

9. Smart Cities: An Interactive Multi-Media and Mapping Platform by Spatial Collective, Nairobi, Kenya. Smart Cities will be an interactive community platform allowing individuals to  report local development challenges and present possible solutions. The goal will be to improve communcation between governments, citizens, and aid organzations.

– Amanda Kloeppel
Source: B&T