Plan International Canada | 2023 Annual Report DONOR DIGEST
From Hunger to Hope Your support for the Integrated School Feeding Program keeps children in school in Sierra Leone.
Availa (left) is a long-time sponsorship volunteer. Gabby (above) launched her chicken business with support from Plan Canada’s Gifts of Hope program.
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magine waking up hungry. Imagine going to bed hungry. Imagine this happening every hour, every day, with no end in sight. According to the World Food Programme, this is a reality for 783 million people around the globe. And 45 million children under the age of five are dangerously malnourished. Unlike many other crises, hunger isn’t isolated to one country, one region or even one continent. It is widespread, from Sudan to Haiti to Myanmar, and it’s getting worse. “But hunger is a solvable problem,” says Dr. Unni Krishnan, global humanitarian director at Plan International. “The world is just not doing enough about it.” Here’s how you’re helping tackle hunger We launched an ambitious campaign to fund our school-meals programs in Sierra Leone, one of the highest-rated countries in the world for poverty, where food insecurity is growing. School meals not only ensure that girls have food but also encourage families to keep girls in the classroom – because parents know
This year, 299,630 children across 1,340 schools were fed over 31 million meals. they will be fed at school. Canadian supporters like you generously donated $601,600 in response to this call to action. “This program isn’t just about
The Plan Effect Your support for sponsorship creates a ripple effect of progress.
T he heart of our sponsorship program is the one-to-one connection that sponsors have with children. This support also leads to significant community-wide impact, and we call this the “ Plan Effect .” “The trusting relationships we have with sponsorship staff, volunteers and community members attract additional funding from local governments and organizations as well as global partners,” explains Hayley Riolo, director of sponsorship at Plan International Canada. This means there is additional sustainable, life-changing programming for more children and communities. It’s a strategic approach that is unique to Plan International, and its impact has been tried and tested and is exponential.
The Plan Effect in action One of the key learnings at the close of our six-year Achieving Reproductive Rights in Bolivian Adolescents (ARRIBA) project in Bolivia was that teens and young pregnant women were more willing to participate in the Government of Canada–supported project because they already knew about the sponsorship programs in their communities. ARRIBA was tackling sensitive issues related to teen pregnancy, sexual and reproductive health and rights and child, early and forced marriage. Without that built-in trust, we would not have been able to reach as many women and teens and help them improve their futures.
food,” says Andrew Iraguha, team leader for the Integrated
School Feeding program with Plan International in Sierra Leone. “It’s about giving children the opportunity to break the cycle of poverty through education. Their health is improving. There is excitement now from having food every day.”
Click to read more about this $11.2 million project.
Some students who receive lunch through Plan’s Integrated School Feeding Program in Sierra Leone
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