Plan: ?Customized, Long-Term Solutions to End the Cycle of Poverty for Children?
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Plan International was selected as a Devex Top 40 Development Innovator based on a poll of thousands of global development professionals who are part of Devex, the largest network of aid and relief workers in the world.
Announced on April 18, Devex Top 40 Development Innovators is an impressive listing of the world’s leading donor agencies & foundations, development consulting companies, implementing NGOs, and advocacy groups.
We asked each of the Innovators four questions to learn how they stay ahead to the curve and tackle old development challenges in new ways. Here’s how Plan responded:
’Plan works side-by-side with communities in 48 developing countries to deliver customized, long-term solutions to end the cycle of poverty for children’
If you had to condense it to just one or two sentences, overall, what is it that makes your organization innovative?
Plan is a 73-year-old global organization working in thousands of communities throughout the developing world to support children and families in overcoming the cycle of poverty and injustice. Our established roots in 48 developing countries enable us to build long-lasting relationships and engage members of the community to determine their greatest challenges. We develop sustainable solutions community by community with a level of engagement and a long-term outlook that is unique among international development organizations, in order to ensure a better future for the world’s most vulnerable children. Our solutions are designed to be owned by the community for generations to come, and programs range from clean water and health-care projects to education and child-protection initiatives.
Can you provide a specific example of something your organization has done that is particularly innovative?
- ICT4D: In keeping with our community approach, our commitment to integrating ICTs is also implemented from the bottom up, ensuring thatICT use is linked to real development needs and priorities and appropriate for those who are participating in an initiative or a project. A recently published report drawing on Plan’s experiences with ICT4D includes a checklist focusing on 10 key areas to think about when planning ICT-enabled development efforts – such as context analysis, defining needs, choosing a strategy, undertaking a participatory communications assessment, and building and using capacity – as well as places the checklist into a four-stage process for ICT integration.
