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Marie Staunton

Marie has over 30 years’ experience in the development, commercial and human rights sectors. She became the Chief Executive of Plan UK, in 2000 until she retired in late 2012.

Including the excluded: a tribute to Ian Buist

It was with great sadness that we learned that one of our former board members, Ian Buist, died in October at the age of 82. Ian played an important role in focusing the organisation on girls as an excluded and overlooked group.

06.12.12
A multi-layered appraoch to ending Female Genital Mutilation

A gruesome practice exists around the world that can cause girls severe bleeding, incontinence and complications in childbirth later in life. In the UK alone, 24,000 under 16s could be at risk of suffering this painful and unnecessary operation.

01.10.12
London 2012: Here come the girls

At London 2012 women athletes are celebrating a range of firsts. This is the very first Games in which every country is fielding women athletes. As world class women strive for their best on an international stage, they will be setting a crucial example and benchmark for young girls.

27.07.12
Female Genital Mutilation - what the UK can learn from overseas

Komara’s granddaughter was three years old when her clitoris was cut out. In this area of Mali it was accepted practice that girls must have parts of their external genitalia removed, in order to become a woman. Unfortunately this young girl did not survive the process.

25.07.12
Is Mali in need of some governmental gold dust?

Amidst all the governmental self-congratulation on the Libyan liberation, no heed was paid to history’s lesson that demilitarisation should follow a civil war. And the Western arms so generously spread among Malian mercenaries have travelled south to destabilise a second country. Perhaps some governmental gold-dust should now be sprinkled upon Mali.

06.07.12
Forced marriage: prevention is better than prosecution

Should forcing a child into marriage be a criminal offence? From Zambia to Egypt and from Bangladesh to Pakistan, prevention rather than prosecution is the best strategy for the child – though sometimes the stick of the criminal law is needed to reinforce the carrot of persuasion.

08.06.12
Steps needed to end child marriage

Remember when you were 15 or even 17 – and all the possibilities open to you? Well, 10 million girls around the world do not have the choices that you had then. Or the chance of an education or even having a childhood. Early marriage robs girls of their childhood. Sawaiz was married at 12 and divorced before she was even 13.

02.03.12
Business empowerment for women

Mary is just 15. She lives with her parents, her brothers, her sisters in a poor family. Like the other 500 million girls in the developing world, economic empowerment for Mary means access to finance, the labour market and economic decisions in the home. Like most girls Mary carries the burden of unpaid care work - child care, food preparation, fetching of water and cleaning.

16.12.11
An 'Agenda for Change' for education

Plan UK CEO Marie Staunton shares her impressions on the Policy Dialogue on Health and Education with EU stakeholders in Brussels. In last week's panel discussion with the Commissioner, MEP Goerens of the Development Committee and Stop Aids Alliance, I cited Mary Phiri from Chipata, one of Zambia’s poorest regions. At 14 Mary was pregnant and pulled out of school.

25.10.11
Visiting Kenya's drought-hit areas

Schools started back from the summer break today in the drought hit region of Tharaka, Kenya, and so I went to see the effect of the food shortage on schoolboys and girls. Once in Tharaka we crossed 13 rivers, all but two of them dry and of those one was a mere trickle.

08.09.11
One year on in Haiti

Has progress been made in rebuilding Haiti a year after the quake? Yes. Enough? Certainly not. Our CEO, Marie Staunton, tells us why.

07.01.11
Protecting overseas aid – the right & smart thing to do

Plan UK CEO Marie Staunton, highlights why protecting overseas aid is not only the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing to do.

21.10.10

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Involving children in disaster preparation saves lives

Two young people are flying the flag for Plan at a global summit on disasters this week. They'll meet major global players to talk about the importance of involving children in disaster risk reduction activities

20-May-13
Plan alumni share the secret of their success

More than 6,000 former sponsored children from Zimbabwe have formed a network to share their skills and experience with the next generation.

15-May-13

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Arriving at work with £1.8 million in my pocket

Kate Kewley, Plan UK Senior Corporate Partnerships Executive, is delighted to report that Barclays have recently committed to extend the Banking on Change partnership for a further three years.

16-May-13
A big welcome in Cambodia after a challenging bike ride

I wanted to raise some money for Plan as well as visit Sarith so I signed up for a 280 mile cycle challenge from Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam to Siem Reap in Cambodia.

25-Apr-13

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