Nokia: a pioneering Plan partner in community involvement

In 2008, Plan and Nokia pursued their long-term, global partnership aimed at empowering children and youth in developing countries and supporting them as active and leading participants in their own development.

The partnership supports children, youth and communities in 14 countries across Africa as well as in China, India and Sweden to bring about positive change in their lives through projects that promote children’s rights (including the right to protection and the right to an education), build life skills and empower youth:

Kids Waves in West Africa: Kids Waves is a child implemented radio program about children’s lives and children’s rights. The program reaches the general public, as well as youth, with clear and important messages and invites involvement in positive change that benefits children. In 2008, the project was implemented in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.

Visit Plan's Youth Media & Development website to see and hear some of what the children and youth have to say.

Going Further in Senegal: The Going Further project involves developing the existing Plan Senegal programs Tundu Joor (music production) and Radio Guneyi (radio production) and exploring new ways to use the media and Information and Communication Technology to raise awareness about and promote children’s rights.

Childline in Kenya and Uganda: The Childline project offers free telephone helplines and services to children and youth who are the victims of violence or abuse. Counseling and referral services are also available for the families of these children. Since 2008, the toll free helpline number ‘116’ has been accessible countrywide in Kenya via mobile phones.

Mapya? in Kenya: The Mapya? project aims at better understanding and overcoming the barriers to accessing technology, financing and education faced by low-income communities. The project also looks at ways of developing social communications in these communities. The Mapya? project has been implemented with the collaboration of the Nokia Research Centre, Plan and the University of Tampere in Finland. Implementation of the project ended during 2008.

Hear Us Out (Esma3oona) in Egypt: In the Esma3oona project, children and youth produce a weekly public television program that deals with the lives and rights of children. The Esma3oona program reaches millions of viewers in Egypt. Youth clubs in various communities have also generated multiple activities to advance children’s rights and empower youth in the process.

YETAM in Africa: Youth Empowerment through Arts and Media (YETAM) is a project through which youth make short films about their own lives and their communities. They also produce various forms of artwork that are shared with the communities to discuss the challenges faced by youth and to find solutions to alleviate them.

Heart to Heart, Hand to Hand Project in China: Through a unique partnership between rural communities, local government, private enterprise, academic organizations and non-governmental organizations, this project seeks to improve early childhood care and development services for children under primary school age in rural China.

Disaster Rehabilitation project in India: The main aim of the project is to provide support measures to get children back to pre- and primary schools and address the psychosocial needs of the children affected by the tsunami with a focus on vulnerable children. So far, 800 children and adults have been provided with psychosocial counseling to overcome grief and trauma, and 800 children are benefiting from the construction of 34 childcare centers with drinking water facilities and child friendly toilets. The running of these centers has now been handed over to the local government. In addition, 3,000 students benefited from evening coaching classes to cope with schooling after the tsunami; 500 children benefited from the repair of two damaged schools and construction of additional classrooms; and 1,177 vulnerable children were provided with support to continue education. Also, a children’s resource center that has become the hub of all children's activities was established at Nagapattinam and is now part of the District Children’s Secretariat. The tsunami response program was completed by the end of December 2008.

Mobilkomposten project in Sweden: Nokia Sweden and Plan Sweden launched the project in April 2008. The aim is to collect, by June 2009, 250,000 mobile phones; Plan receives a minimum of 3 Euros for every recycled phone and redistributes the received funds to the “Children in a Changing Climate” project implemented in Indonesia, El Salvador and Sierra Leone. The overall aim of the environmental project is to ensure children and young people have a meaningful voice that changes decisions at an international, national and local level to prevent and adapt to climate change thereby securing a world fit for their future well being. Nokia is contributing to Mobilkomposten with expertise in the area of mobile phones and is distributing information about the project through mobile phone retailers in Sweden. Nokia has also provided Plan with consulting services through its advertising and web agencies.

What can you do?

With over a decade of experience supporting child and youth-led media projects, Plan is a strong advocate of the use of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) to empower youth and communities.

Curious about how your organization can work with Plan? Whether through long-term support, like provided by Nokia, or through the desire to help children get a better education by helping build a school, opportunities to work with Plan are plentiful. It's probably easier than you think: Learn more about corporate opportunities with Plan.

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