The situation

Millions of children in Asia die before the age of five, usually from a combination of malnutrition, preventable diseases and injury. Malnutrition is associated with more than 50 per cent of deaths of children under 5. More than 650 million people in the region do not have access to drinking water, and even more people do not have access to adequate sanitation, with a bias against rural areas. The prevalence of underweight children under 5 is almost 50 per cent in countries like Bangladesh, India and Nepal.

About 114 million children worldwide are not enrolled in primary education. Half of them live in Asia and although an increasing number of governments declare primary education free and compulsory for children, and join the ‘Education for All’ initiatives, there are still costs involved for uniforms and textbooks, making it hard for poor children to receive an education.

Children have low status in Asia, and this often translates into low degree of participation in the making of decisions affecting their lives. Their right to protection is widely violated as growing numbers of children, especially girlsand young women, are exposed to discrimination, sexual abuse, hazardous labour, trafficking and conflict.

Although HIV infection levels in Asia are lower than in Africa, the high population figures mean there are large numbers of people living with HIV. An estimated 8.3 million people are living with HIV in the region. India, China and Indonesia contribute to the high figures and it is estimated that by 2010 the epidemic will result in 80 million orphans.

Plan’s activities in the region

In Asia, Plan works in Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, East Timor, India, Indonesia, Laos, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Plan has contributed substantially to the rights of children in Asia. The majority of the programmes last year fell within the themes of child protection, education, livelihood and health, including HIV/AIDS and water and sanitation.

Together we improve protection of children and women against abuse, exploitation and neglect. Our interventions in the area focussed on research, prevention, rescue, recovery, rehabilitation, advocacy and law reform. Specific programmes were supported in the areas of child labour, children in conflict, juvenile justice and street children. Prevention measures against abuse and exploitation were initiated in a number of programmes in the areas of health and education.

Plan targeted the quality of basic education, including non-formal education and Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD), encouraging the active participation of children, parents and communities in the management of schools, as well as the establishment and strengthening of school committees and child clubs.

Programmes aimed at raising HIV/AIDS awareness, condom distribution and adequate treatment of sexually transmitted diseases in India, Nepal and Indonesia resulted in an increased knowledge of the risks of HIV/AIDS and more responsible sexual behaviour amongst young people.

During the year

Assisted more than 2 million children and adults in 6 countries in receiving a birth certificate – giving them an identity, reducing their vulnerability to exploitation and increasing their access to health and education services. Achievements last year included improved collaboration with the governments and local municipalities in adopting child and girl-friendly policies and the strengthened capacity of local registrars and registration offices through training;
Improved access to safe drinking water and sanitation – around 25,000 families – through the development and restoration of wells and sanitation facilities in China, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka and Vietnam;
Contributed to improved food and income security. The focus was on increasing agricultural production through natural resource management, irrigation and improved techniques and systems – India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Vietnam – as well as saving and credit facilities – Bangladesh, India, Indonesia and Nepal;
Improved the protection of street children, children in conflict situations and in prisons, through judicial support, psychosocial counselling and formal schooling/vocational training in Vietnam, Nepal, Indonesia and the Philippines;
Continued to work in collaboration with ECPAT International to combat commercial sexual exploitation of children, child prostitution and trafficking for sexual purposes;
Worked to improve the lives of children with disabilities in Bangladesh, India and Vietnam. The evaluations of these projects have indicated that opportunities and challenges of children with disabilities have improved remarkably. They are better integrated into their communities through inclusive education, community-based rehabilitation and youth clubs;
Provided help to over 4 million children and young people – of whom 83 per cent were under the age of 18 – in the form of counselling, referral or rehabilitation through the establishment and strengthening of 13 national child help-lines in cooperation with Child Helpline International;
Facilitated the voices of more than 50,000 children in India, Vietnam and Bangladesh to be heard through children’s clubs and expressed in various media, including films, television, newspapers and monthly children’s magazines;
Was involved in local and national education networks and lobby groups;
Strengthened collaboration between teachers, parents and students which has improved school management with special efforts made to involve children and youth;
Developed programmes for non-formal education in conflict-ridden and extremely poor countries, including Sierra Leone, Guinea and Niger;
Continued to work in partnership with the communities, local and regional organisations – Hope for African Children Initiative (HACI), the African Child Policy Forum (ACPF), the African Movement for Working Children and Youth (AMWCY), the Coalition of African NGOs working with Children (CANGOC) and the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE).

Last year

Plan spent US $199 million on childcentred community projects across the region.

Below are some of the outputs in the region:

3,377 community health workers were trained;
65 health centres were constructed and 106 renovated and equipped;
25,790 patients received medical treatment;
397,116 children were immunised;
13,776 children under-5 received supplementary micronutrients;
385,942 class sets for primary schools were distributed;
6,813 girls and 5,931 boys received primary school scholarships;
2,118 primary schools were provided with adequate furniture;
338 water points and 8,633 home latrines were constructed;
11,489 farmers received agricultural training;
2,080 women received vocational training and 2,617 people received business skills training.

In the future Plan will

Continue to support organisations promoting, enhancing and protecting the rights of children in the region at various levels;
Support children, families and organisations in applying and claiming children’s rights, and to create an enabling environment in which these rights are heard and exercised;
Increase the quality of and access to basic social services for vulnerable groups – in the areas of education, protection, HIV/AIDS, health, water and sanitation, and livelihood;
Promote the participation of children in society;
Raise the awareness of children’s clubs on issues, such as protection, education, health, livelihood, gender and HIV/AIDS and strengthen their mandate to address these issues in their community and at provincial levels;
Strengthen youth clubs and children’s organisations to organise themselves in larger forms and platforms in order to address protection issues at national levels;
Improve and simplify birth registration systems and procedures and organise mobile registration campaigns;
Contribute to improve the protection of children against various forms of abuse, exploitation and neglect and hazardous forms of child labour;
Develop school and community-based mechanisms to detect, refer and report cases of abuse;
Support poor families with income generating activities to prevent child labour;
Strengthen national child help-lines;
Improve school quality, enrolment and completion;
Work with women’s groups to increase their family income and food security at household level;
Focus on nutrition security through education;
Combat the causes of child mortality and morbidity by improving the quality of the health system through cost-effective interventions, promoting hygiene behaviour and practices, including safe water and sanitation;
Enhance the abilities of local communities, in particular of individual parents and caretakers to provide their children with an environment that protects them from health hazards.

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