Our approach

'I was often hungry, had no shoes to wear and was frequently asked to leave class when I could not pay the annual fee. My father is a farmer and he does not see any benefit in sending me to school. Emile and Michel, two of my old classmates, came to see me one day. They convinced me to return to school and gave me the confidence to talk to my father about it. They gave me their old uniforms; they helped me with textbooks and pens and sold wood to buy me a pair of shoes and pay for my fees.

I was so happy when I came 13th out of 70 pupils at the exams.'
Sayon - 13 - Guinea 

 

 

We build relationships

The success of Plan's development projects depends on our holistic approach that addresses the needs of the children and communities we work with, through comprehensive projects which include health, education, habitat and livelihood. Because our projects take place over long periods of time, we really get to know the people and communities we work with, and understand the day-to-day challenges they face.

When we begin to work in partnership with a community, a close relationship is established with all the children, their families, and the community members. We listen to their views and opinions, and support them in addressing their needs.

For example, when Plan started working in Santa Cruz in Bolivia, some of the community members and children visited El Torno, a neighbouring community which had been collaborating with Plan for five years. Children in Santa Cruz participated in assessing their needs, deciding how to address them through suitable projects and how to monitor their progress. Together with community members the objectives of the partnership were then put in place.

Local people help themselves in the long-term

When we are satisfied that substantial progress towards improving children's lives has been made and that the community is now able to continue developing independently of Plan, we prepare to withdraw from the area. We then move on to work with new communities in greater need of support. Our working with a community lasts on average for ten to twelve years, by which time significant achievements should have been made.

Plan’s eventual withdrawal is important so that community members can use the skills they have learned to the full and feel in control of their own future. The objectives to improve education, health care, livelihood opportunities and habitat set in consultation with community members in the early stages of our relationship with each community are monitored during a continual progress. These objectives include not only achievements, like how many schools have been built since Plan’s programme started, or how many latrines have been constructed, but also objectives such as whether people have an increased awareness of children’s rights, accept the importance of education or understand issues like HIV/AIDS.

As time goes on, we examine with the communities whether these objectives have been addressed, whether local people have acquired the knowledge and skills for them to carry on with projects without Plan's support, or where relevant, with a local partner organisation. Once that has been achieved Plan can focus its work to reach even more people. Only in this way can we make sure that an increasing number of children have the best chance in life.

We are accountable

At Plan we audit our programmes as well as our finances. This is to assess whether we are using best practice when we design projects with communities, to help us to learn from experience and from others, and to see whether we are meeting the expectations of the communities with whom we work. Our projects are evaluated and monitored regularly to assess just how effective they are in meeting children’s needs.

We fund our work through a multitude of sources: primarily by individual sponsors, grants from statutory funding bodies, corporate partnerships and individual donors.