Putting children front-and-centre

Plan International works hard to improve the lives of children around the world

Kevin Penny

writer

Canadian children have become fatter, less flexible and weaker than they were 30 years ago thanks to the modern lifestyle we currently live, according to Statistics Canada.

Meanwhile, one out of every four children in developing countries are underweight and over six million children under the age of five die every year of malnutrition and other hunger-related diseases, according to UNICEF.

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Plan International is dedicated to helping and educating children in developing nations.

This is a sad fact of life, but thankfully there are people who are willing to help.

Plan International has been working since 1937 to try and improve the lives of children around the world.

“We put children at the heart of our work. We make sure children of all ages can participate in a meaningful way — whether by drawing a picture of their ideal community, producing a video that expresses their views or planning and managing projects,” said Kristy Payne, public relations and media manager for Plan Canada.

“Children have unique insights into what it will take to create a better life and a better future and they have the right to be heard,” she added.

Plan Canada’s goal is focused on raising funds to support programs in developing countries as well as educating people about global poverty, said Payne.

She also mentioned Plan Canada’s involvement in raising the awareness of the plight of girls around the world and the role they play in the fight against global poverty.

“While we work to improve the lives of all children, we understand that girls face unique barriers,” said Payne. “So we address gender discrimination in all of our program work.”

Plan International has over 8,000 staff members and 60,000 volunteers working worldwide.

They are currently helping communities in more than 65 different countries by helping build schools, dig wells and provide healthcare to families. Canadians are doing their part by sponsoring more than 176,000 children.

Jeff Corrigan, a canvasser for Plan Canada, is one of them.

“It’s as easy as a buck a day,” said Corrigan.

“It gets them clean drinking water, better food, a chance to go to school — it gives them healthcare and it helps the community as well,” he added.

Corrigan and others from Plan Canada go door-to-door trying to find people who enjoy making a difference and they were pretty successful last year, with over $69.7 million raised in 2010 in child sponsorship income.

Corrigan said the sponsorship is a lot more personal than other programs on the Internet or television.

“You can actually interact with the person you’re helping,” said Corrigan.

“You can write them letters and get updates and pictures and things like that.”

“The kids like it better because they like that they can see and hear from who’s helping them,” he added.

Plan International currently helps over 31,000 communities around the globe with food, water, health and education programs.