Our work

We work with and for girls around the world.

Plan International USA is a girls’ rights organization. We aim to be girl-centered, girl-driven and girl-led in all our work to boldly create a more just and equitable world.

Around the world, girls’ voices are being silenced. Girls are being forced to marry men twice their age. They’re dying during childbirth after unwanted pregnancies. They’re being denied an education while watching their brothers go to school.

With you, Plan is here to put an end to gender inequality. Because enough is enough.

We’re working in more than 55,000 communities in more than 80 countries around the world to clear the barriers for girls that are keeping them from the futures they want for themselves. We’re providing essentials, like protection from violence and access to education. We’re showing girls the power they have within themselves, so that they can fulfill their potential.

But we have a lot of work to do for girls’ rights. And we can’t do it without you.

Will you join us?

Portrait of a curly haired girl looking at the camera

The GirlEngage approach

GirlEngage is Plan USA’s new approach to development, the first and only approach that’s letting girls become the drivers of the change they want and need in their lives. It is a strategy focused on adolescent girls ages 10-18 that makes it possible for the girls themselves to drive our programs — from designing projects, to leading activities, to measuring success.

Girls know the changes they need in their lives, and it’s up to us to listen and work with them, and for them, to make that change happen.

Discover our unique development approach

What we

focus on

Bangladesh mother and baby

Maternal & Child Health

Too many girls, children and young women lack access to quality healthcare, particularly sexual and reproductive healthcare. Plan is committed to health equity, promoting healthy behaviors and environments, and enabling strong healthcare systems so that girls and communities can thrive.
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Gender Youth Participant

Gender & Youth Equality

Plan works to remove harmful barriers like child marriage and human trafficking. We stand up for youth rights and ensure girls stay protected and can take charge of their futures.
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Young female engineer with work skills

Skills & Work

Girls and young women have big goals for their futures, but often, they don’t have the resources, networks, agency and access to pursue them. Plan provides girls and young women with programming that prepares them for professional careers of their choosing.
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Young person in an N-95 mask and plastic face shield

Humanitarian Response

Girls in conflict are some of the most vulnerable. We work with girls and other community members — before, during and after emergencies — supporting them to secure protection, pursue their rights and achieve resilience.
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Young woman with backpack

Education

Around 129 million girls around the world are out of school. Plan provides equal access to quality, uninterrupted education, so that girls and children can grow into their full potential.
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A young woman in a tee shirt raises her fists in a celebratory stance

How we’re letting girls lead the way

Girls are the experts in knowing how their lives are affected by inequality. We are the experts in facilitating the change they need. Together, fueled by our supporters like you, we make a powerful team, delivering life-changing, transformational programs for girls, children and young women.

See our programs
A girl holding menstrual health and general hygiene products donated by supporters

Our partnerships form a global network that’s fighting for girls

We work with corporations and foundations to develop customized partnerships that support Plan’s initiatives for girls worldwide.

Learn about partnerships
Woman on a microphone speaks about root causes of girls' insecurity and need for protection in Central America

We advocate for girls’ rights

Working with you, we raise awareness around gender inequalities that prevent girls from achieving their true potential. We advocate for increased representation of girls and youth. And, we celebrate impactful moments for girls’ rights.

Because gender equality is a fight we must take on together — girls, boys, women, men — all of us, in all our diversity and gender identities.

Become an activist

Every girl’s potential is hers to discover, and her life is hers to live.

It’s up to us to clear the path and let her take her next step.

Layza, a sponsored child, jumping with joy on a tropical road in Brazil
Read Layza’s story

Through sponsorship I can see the strength I have

I consider myself a very strong girl and now I can see the strength I have inside me. I just have to keep moving forward to get what I want. — Layza, Brazil

Child sponsors make it possible for us to do our work

Over 80 years of experience have taught us that helping families and communities become self-sufficient is the best way to secure children’s futures. Child sponsors help to improve the entire support network surrounding sponsored children, and sustain Plan’s work in fighting for girls’ rights.

Sponsor a child

Plan International USA

Your contribution is tax deductible.

Your gift to Plan International USA will be used where needed most, to help create sustainable change and address the root causes of poverty and inequality. Donations can support programs, innovation, and infrastructure required to deliver our programs to girls and children worldwide, in areas such as protection, education, health, sanitation, disaster relief and economic empowerment.