Zambia
Stories from change-makers in Zambia
Gladys sits on the side of a loud, busy roadway selling watermelons.
With each new vehicle that whizzes by, she hopes for brake lights. A new customer is literally a lifeline. Her stomach hurts with hunger, and the watermelons she sits next to torment her. They are for selling, not eating. She’d rather be in school.
Read Gladys’s story here
Samira struggles to stay awake in class.
Since the food crisis began, her daily food intake has been cut in half. She’s surviving on just one small meal a day.
Not only is Samira tired in class, but her overall school attendance is lower than it should be. Instead of learning, she’s regularly forced to miss school, either to look after her younger siblings, or to find work to support her family. Both of Samira’s parents passed away, so she lives with her grandmother and three siblings.
While the repercussions of food and water insecurity are felt by everyone, the effect can be particularly distressing for adolescent girls. One of the hidden impacts of a crisis like this concerns menstrual health. “When you are menstruating, it’s really hard to come to school when you haven’t bathed,” Samira explains.
There are also worries around long-term development for young people missing school. For Samira, who dreams of becoming a nurse, the lasting impact is concerning. “If I miss some lessons, it will be very hard for me when it comes to exams. I won’t perform well.”
Plan International Zambia is working with the government to provide interventions for struggling families. This includes food distribution to hardest-hit districts, school feeding programs and gender-responsive child protection measures.
Protect girls like Samira today
Not only is Samira tired in class, but her overall school attendance is lower than it should be. Instead of learning, she’s regularly forced to miss school, either to look after her younger siblings, or to find work to support her family. Both of Samira’s parents passed away, so she lives with her grandmother and three siblings.
While the repercussions of food and water insecurity are felt by everyone, the effect can be particularly distressing for adolescent girls. One of the hidden impacts of a crisis like this concerns menstrual health. “When you are menstruating, it’s really hard to come to school when you haven’t bathed,” Samira explains.
There are also worries around long-term development for young people missing school. For Samira, who dreams of becoming a nurse, the lasting impact is concerning. “If I miss some lessons, it will be very hard for me when it comes to exams. I won’t perform well.”
Plan International Zambia is working with the government to provide interventions for struggling families. This includes food distribution to hardest-hit districts, school feeding programs and gender-responsive child protection measures.
Plan International has been working to improve children’s lives in Zambia since 1996.
Our work in Zambia
Office locations
Plan Zambia’s country office is located in Lusaka, with program unit offices in Luapula and in Central and Eastern provinces.
Technical areas
Protection, education, skills and work, and disaster response and preparedness.
Number of sponsored children in Zambia
As of June 2022, people like you sponsor 21,526 children in Zambia through Plan International.
Gender equality is a fight we must all take on together. Through sponsorship, you can change lives and create long-term impact in communities.
The full circle of Fate
When you sponsor a child through Plan, you form an incredible friendship.
But that’s just the beginning. With Plan, you also have the unique opportunity to:
Send them birthday gifts and cards.
Give them special holiday presents called Little Treasures.
Subscribe them to Plan’s educational kids’ magazine, Sunny Days.
Arrange a visit (pending any travel restrictions), with individual travel assistance from us.
Each gift offering is safely hand-delivered by us, and given to your child with personalized cards from you. It’s likely that the child you sponsor will have never seen anything like these gifts, and with the exception of Little Treasures they’re available year-round to make the bond between you and your sponsored child even stronger.
Meet a child to sponsor