The winners of this year’s Shoot Nations photography competition for young people have been announced! The winning images were chosen from a record 1800 entries from 90 countries around the world. Now you can view them in exhibitions around London.
Picturehouse cinemas have been raising money since 2008 to help Plan provide boreholes in the Dosso region of West Niger , one of the driest regions in the world.
This year Picturehouse cinemas will donate £1 to Plan for every Plan supporter who purchases a Picturehouse membership over the August bank holiday weekend. Just quote ‘Plan’ when you purchase your membership by phone 0871 704 2068 or in person at your local cinema.
Pakistanis struggling with the worst flooding in 80 years are in desperate need of food and shelter. But while people come to terms with their material needs, women and young girls are being forced to face cultural challenges to which they are not accustomed.
Shmyalla Jawad, gender advisor for Plan Pakistan tells us about the situation affecting women and young girls.
I have spent the last few days visiting camps in the Layyah district of Southern Punjab. Visiting these camps was a heart wrenching experience. I was appalled to see the conditions in which these people are living in. But what emerged for me to be the most worrying thing was how women and young girls are being affected by this. They are always the worst hit in these situations.
Following Pakistan’s worst flooding in 80 years, Plan has been providing direct aid, food and shelter assistance to 13,000 families – some 100,000 people. We are also helping provide emergency medical support and hygiene kits.
As the rains continue to fall, Plan continues to set up tents, installing water hand pumps in the camps and working to set up community kitchens.
Working with local government and partners, Plan teams are on the ground in the Southern Punjab and Sindh regions distributing emergency supplies – to the thousands forced from their homes by the floods.
Millions of children have been affected by the disaster and need urgent help now. Please give your support today to help make a difference.
Two ways to ACT NOW:
- Make an online donation to our Pakistan floods appeal
- Call our team to give a donation: 0300 777 9777
Plan Benin recently launched a school feeding project in the village of Kouwetakouagou, to provide school meals to ensures children receive at least one meal per school day.
According to government statistics, over 90% of the population of the Kouwetakouagou village lives below the poverty line compared to 42% at the national level. Poor harvests had heightened the population’s poverty in the already remote and inaccessible village. [click to continue…]
Plan have been working in Brazil for many years. Despite being labelled one of the world’s economic giants, Brazil’s economy has been very volatile in the past. Living conditions remain harsh in the large cities, such as Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro, where a third of the population lives in favelas, or slums. [click to continue…]
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GMTV’s Ben Shephard and Dr Hilary Jones recently travelled to Haiti with Plan UK to visit and assist in community projects, such as the rebuild of a Plan supported school.
It’s been six months since a 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti on 12 January 2010, causing devastating loss of life and widespread destruction. Already the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti’s plight was further exacerbated by the widespread destruction caused by the earthquake.
Plan sponsor and Coronation Street star Shobna Gulati netted a different role recently – with a pre-World Cup kick-about at Old Trafford.
The actress and footie fanatic, best known for her role as Sunita Alahan, was at the ‘Theatre of Dreams’ to support the 1GOAL campaign – a children’s education campaign and back Plan UK’s educational work.
Check out our interview with Shobna at Old Trafford, where she discusses the importance of education, Manchester United and the World Cup of course!
Let us know what you think by leaving your comments!
Plan sponsor and sports correspondent for the Daily Express, Mick Dennis, is currently in Port Elizabeth where England have just won their place to the last 16!
In South Africa the need for approval runs deep. To understand it you need first to realise how South Africans have been hurt by all the talk, in the years building up to the tournament, that the country would not be ready. Franz Beckenbauer, the German, who played in and managed World Cup winning teams before organising the 2006 tournament, said: “They have big problems, African problems.” Then there were repeated stories that none of us visiting the country for the World Cup would be safe. Too much crime, we were told.
Plus, obviously, the Apartheid years still cast a dark shadow over people’s perceptions of this nation – and you cannot completely escape that shadow. The Durban beach, where I watched on giant screens as Portugal thrashed North Korea, used to be “reserved for the sole use of the white race group.”
But this World Cup is being staged by a very different nation and is challenging the old perceptions and prejudices, just as the Rugby World Cup did in 1995. That was when Nelson Mandella wore a Springbok jersey to the final of what, until then, had been largely a white man’s sport. It was a hugely significantly symbol of unity between the races.
Now, at this football World Cup, people of every ethnic group have united behind the football team, known as Bafana Bafana (the boys, the boys). And, more than that, very nearly everyone united behind the project of staging the tournament; to demonstrate to Beckenbauer and everyone else that “African problems” do not include a lack of enterprise, endeavour or competence.
I have not yet encountered a single “jobsworth” or anyone who takes a bureaucratic attitude. I have only met people who want to ensure that problems are solved. And I am far from the only journalist to have been moved by this engaging spirit, to judge from the mood inside the media centre at the Nelson Mandella Bay Stadium while South Africa were playing France.
The media centre is the temporary building just a short walk from the stadium, where journalists — writers, photographers and broadcasters — work before and after matches. There are rows of desks, with a wide-screen TV at the end of each row, and there was not much work being done while Bafana Bafana were playing their last group match.
When Bongani Khumalo, the defender, thumped in that header that put South Africa ahead, there was a roar of approval. We couldn’t help ourselves.
And then everyone stood up and applauded. Given that we are talking about a room full of professional cynics, it was a remarkable moment: a spontaneous, joyous gesture of solidarity with our hosts here at this tournament.
Green-shirted volunteers – young South African folk – beamed at the scene of all us old hacks supporting their country.
South Africa was ready for this tournament, because its people were ready. And we thank them.
Mick Dennis is a football correspondent of the Daily Express.
Find out more on Plan’s work in Africa, from tackling violence to enabling access to education.
Brazil is South America’s largest country; covering almost half the continent the country, has an estimated population of 186 million.
Unfortunately living conditions are harsh in the large cities, such as Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro, where a third of the population lives in favelas, or slums.
Dutch artist duo Haas & Hahn have been working since 2006 to help improve the lives of people living in these slums, through their art. They started developing the idea of creating community-driven art interventions in Brazil, as part of the Firmeza Foundation.
Their efforts have led to a number of murals and colourful pieces being painted in some of the Rio’s most notorious slums, in collaboration with local youth. The artwork has received worldwide coverage and has become a point of pride in the community and throughout Rio.
On the 29th of March this year, the duo finished work on the latest Favela Painting, in Praça Cantão, the central square at the foot of the community of Santa Marta, a favela in the heart of Rio de Janeiro.
34 houses on the giant hillside favela, located in the center of Rio de Janeiro, were painted in a design of colorful rays, radiating into the city, aiming to transform communities into landmarks and inspirational monuments as a part of Rio’s image.
A group of local inhabitants were trained as painters, providing for their own income and being responsible for turning their own neighborhood into a colorful monument. This grassroots method of working has proven to be successful in earlier projects, and gives the local community empowerment, pride and color.
Haas & Hahn now wish to fulfil their dream and continue the project which they started in Praça Cantão – by painting a whole hillside favela!
To find out more about Favela Painting, visit Haas & Hahn’s website.
Image courtesy of alobos iphotos on Flickr
Plan have been working in Brazil for many years. Despite being labelled one of the world’s economic giants, Brazil’s economy has been very volatile in the past.
The country has experienced a steady economic growth under President Lula, yet millions are still living in poverty. Disparities in wealth remain among the highest in the world. A few wealthy landowners control much of the country’s arable land, while the rural poor remain landless and trapped in devastating cycles of poverty.
Although enrolment in primary schools is around 95%, the quality of education remains low as over a million children aged between the ages of 12-17 are still unable to read and write.
To find out more about Plan’s work in Brazil please visit Plan UK.
