Development Education

Development education is the process of increasing knowledge and providing opportunities for people in the UK and developing countries to take an active role in addressing the issues of poverty and vulnerability which prevent disadvantaged children from realising their potential.

At Plan we believe development education should be a priority and have recently created an entire website devoted to it - www.plan-ed.org - where you can find out more about our projects and access in-depth educational resources.

The aim of our development education projects is to get young people across the world communicating with each other, to gain the necessary knowledge to change things for the better.

Our projects can be used by everyone. We produce UK National Curriculum lesson plans from each project, ensuring as wide an audience as possible benefits from our work.

Current Projects

Shoot Nations 

Shoot Nations is an annual global youth photography competition which began in 2006. The project gives young people the chance to express their opinions through visual communication.

This year’s competition received over 1300 images from young people aged 11-24 in 104 countries. The subject was climate change – a pressing global issue that affects us all.

The London exhibition opened with a private view attended by 160 people at the OXO gallery on London’s South Bank. The exhibition was open to the public for one week and was viewed by over 3000 people. Youth workshops and climate change meetings took place throughout the week.

More information

All images from the project are available at www.shootnations.org

Make the Link, be the Change

Plan UK and National Museums Liverpool launched ‘Make the Link, Be the Change’ in July this year.

The project connects students from 50 schools in North West England with over 25 international schools and youth organisations from Asia, Africa and South America. It contributes to Plan’s work in getting children and young people to tackle climate change and environmental issues.

The linked schools use simultaneous lesson plans and a dedicated, interactive website. Work created will be displayed at World Museum Liverpool and the United Nations Climate Change Conference as part of the Children in a Changing Climate display.

It builds on the first collaboration between the two organisations, the anti-slavery project Make the Link, Break the Chain, which recently won the International Award at the UK Museums and Heritage awards for Excellence.

More information

Educational resources on climate change

Past projects

Make the Link, Break the Chain connected schools along the former triangular slave trade route. Pupils from Brazil, England, Haiti, Senegal and Sierra Leone worked together using the web to explore questions about freedom and slavery.
http://www.plan-ed.org/learningcentre/antislavery/

Togo: making choices has been designed to help UK children explore the ideas of needs, choices and fairness whilst learning about the lives of children in Togo.
http://www.plan-ed.org/learningcentre/togo/

Real life in Ghana explored similarities and differences between life in the UK and in Ghana through internet diaries from two groups of students in North London and Ghana.
http://www.plan-ed.org/learningcentre/ghana/

Real people, real lives looks at comparing the way children live in the UK to life in Ethiopia. Based around the use of the interactive ‘Big Book’ this resource for 5–8 year olds provides a stimulating insight to life in another country, through the eyes of young people.
http://www.plan-ed.org/learningcentre/ethiopia/

Speak out on Africa introduces the continent of Africa and encourages pupils to think about how their voice could facilitate change there. The work is an introduction to youth advocacy.
http://www.plan-ed.org/learningcentre/speakoutonafrica/

A Global Identity was an innovative online education project allowing students in the UK, Africa and the Philippines to develop a global understanding of the importance of their identity and the rights and responsibilities that go with it.
http://www.planidproject.net/

Each project comes with carefully planned lesson notes with clear curriculum links and photocopiable activity sheets. There are also supplementary photo, video and audio materials to bring the topics to life. All our resources are designed to help develop key skills in discussion, presentation, critical thinking and problem solving.

Other Development Education projects include: