Our work
Learn about the challenges facing girls and the change our work drives.
Learn about the challenges facing children and our work to address them.
Across the globe, girls face more risks and fewer choices. Gains that took decades to secure – like staying in school, choosing if or when to marry or have children, and shaping their own futures – are under threat. And in conflict zones, girls are being deliberately attacked – killed in schools and homes, abducted, starved or recruited by armed groups – simply because they are girls.
Not on our watch. Plan International was built for this moment, standing fiercely beside girls, defending the hard-won progress they’ve made and demanding the change they still urgently need.
Working alongside girls and their communities, we are rallying people together to dismantle what holds girls back. Through impactful development programmes, responding to emergencies, influencing policy makers and campaigning for change.
With deep community roots, strong partnerships and decades of trust from people like you, our work saves lives in the moment and evolves with girls through every stage of life.
What makes a difference
Why girls?
Girls experience inequality everywhere. The threat of gender-based violence and harassment follows them through every stage of their life. Millions of girls are robbed of their childhood because of child marriage. And it is much harder for girls to access their right to education and learn skills for the future.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. When girls can learn, make decisions, manage their health and live free from violence, there is no stopping them. We see girls creating change in their own lives and beyond. The decisions they make and the roles they take up help build more equal societies.
This is why promoting equality for girls is central to everything we do. Focusing on girls' rights helps create a world where all can thrive.
Back her to back herself: child sponsorship
"I love my teacher and friends as they help me a lot," says 10-year-old Len Sokha in Cambodia.
Len Sokha is one of many children across the world sponsored by supporters of Plan International. Our child sponsorship programme benefits whole communities and is one of the most important ways we improve children’s lives.
When you sponsor a girl and her community, you help provide both encouragement and practical support. Your letters cheer children on from afar while your donations help communities provide whatever's needed.
In Len Sokha’s case this was the construction of a new primary school and support for her mother to grow fresh vegetables.