About Plan

Plan works with children, their families and communities to ensure effective, lasting change in all aspects of their well-being – health, education, habitat and livelihood. This approach is used throughout all of our work – whether the funding comes from child sponsorship, special campaigns or projects, or institutional grantors such as the Canadian International Development Agency.

Plan’s Global Youth Programs

Plan operates close to 60 youth media projects in more than 30 developing countries and in a number of developed countries. Through these projects, children, youth and media-makers produce high-quality media programs promoting children’s rights. They use television, radio, video, print, internet and other forms of media. Plan’s approach to media work is rights-based and child-centred.

In Canada, our Youth Action Counil (YAC) advises Plan Canada and gets active on important issues by raising awareness and running advocacy campaigns from coast to coast. Take a look at the "Get Involved" page for more details on how you can get active too.

For educators, Plan Canada also produces high quality programs for use in the classroom, some of which are approved by Curriculum Canada. These education kits are used to help Canadian children understand the concerns and problems of the global south and take action on issues they're passionate about.

How we work

How do we go about realizing our extraordinary vision? We believe the answer lies not in handouts, but in building the foundations for long-term, sustainable improvements in the lives of children, their families and the communities in which they live.

It’s an approach that can only work effectively at the grassroots level – in the field, with the people who know and understand the challenges best.

In fact, 90% of our highly-skilled staff and dedicated volunteers live and work in our partner communities. They are familiar with the area and the local issues, and are committed to working there for long periods – usually at least 10 to 12 years – to achieve sustainable results.

Above all, our efforts are an investment in a community’s members, especially its children. By engaging the entire community in the work we do, we help each member acquire the resources, skills and confidence they need to succeed on their own – today and for generations to come.