This year Plan International’s State of the World’s Girls Report focuses on activism. It provides a unique insight from over a thousand participants into what it’s like to be an adolescent girl or young woman activist in 2023: how are they treated, do they feel safe, what keeps them going? The research, one of the largest studies of girl and young women activists to date, is groundbreaking, not least because the face-to-face interviews were led by 70 young women researchers who are themselves activists and their findings are supported by focus group discussions using participatory techniques.
Plan International USA’s 2022 Annual Review highlights how evidence, accountability and girls’ leadership shaped our work in a complex global landscape.
The current drought and hunger situation in the Horn of Africa is considered the worst in the last 40 years. Pre-existing unequal gender norms are more often compounded during crises, including hunger due to drought. Beyond general health, girls are impacted by drought through more limited access to education, increased gender-based violence, and a reduction in sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Plan International’s 2022 State of the World’s Girls report is focused on girls’ and young women’s political participation, based on a survey of close to 29,000 girls and young women ages 15-24 from 29 countries.
Plan International USA’s 2021 Annual Review highlights how evidence, accountability and girls’ leadership shaped our work in a complex global landscape.
Do you want a gender just world? A world where girls and young women in all their diversity, are seen, heard and valued? A world where they can claim power over their bodies, lives and choices? A world where they are able be powerful leaders and shape the world around them?
If yes, this toolkit is for you — young activists, human rights defenders and change makers all over the world. Use this toolkit to design and implement your own campaigns for girls’ leadership and power in your own context.
This study on women and girls’ participation in community-based disaster risk management in Bangladesh is part of Plan International’s Inclusive Community Disaster Risk Reduction and Management project. The project, funded by Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies, aims to increase the level of inclusion and participation of women, girls and marginalized groups in disaster risk management.
The study, “Effects of Forced Labor and Trafficking in Persons on Female Relatives of Male Fishers,” is part of Plan International USA’s Safeguarding Against and Addressing Fishers’ Exploitation at Sea (SAFE Seas) project.
The objectives of this study can be summarized as follows: (i) to assess women’s awareness and knowledge of forced labor and trafficking in persons (FL/TIP) on fishing vessels; (ii) to explore women’s experiences and coping strategies to deal with the impact of FL/TIP; (iii) to assess gender norms and gender relationships in the fishing community; and (iv) to identify potential future roles for women and how women’s agency can contribute to prevention and protection against FL/TIP.
Citibank partnered with Plan International to explore the economic impact of gender inequality. If every girl completed secondary school, country GDPs would rise by 10%.
These survey highlights indicate we still have a long way to go in the U.S. to achieve gender equality.
In the past few years, gender equality has resurfaced as a major issue in the U.S. public sphere. The 2016 presidential election fueled a massive Women’s March, one of the largest protests in U.S. history, in January
2017. An anniversary Women’s March took place across the country in January 2018. The #MeToo movement erupted in 2017 and continues through today. Discussions ranging from parental leave to the gender pay gap and sexual harassment in the workplace have made front-page headlines and sparked national debates—but the voices of adolescent girls and boys on these issues have not often been heard.
In an effort to understand how children and youths’ views on gender equality are influenced and to provide a starting point to ensuring girls everywhere are valued and provided equal opportunities, Plan International USA commissioned PerryUndem to conduct an extensive public opinion study of U.S. adolescents, ages 10 to 19, on issues and experiences related to gender equality. The goal of the research is to provide a resource for policymakers, media, and others who want to understand how children are internalizing inequality and how their views may take shape.
This report explores how adolescent girls are impacted by the crisis in South Sudan, amplifies their voices and perceptions of the crisis, and presents their views on how the humanitarian sector might respond.
Amplifying the voices of adolescent girls in South Sudan and presenting their opinions on how the humanitarian sector should respond to the crisis.
Now half a decade long, the conflict in South Sudan has displaced four million people and placed seven million in need of humanitarian assistance. While all civilians face multiple forms of insecurity, adolescent girls are affected by this protracted crisis in ways that are different both from adolescent boys and from adult women, and in ways that are often overlooked.
Voices from South Sudan explores how adolescent girls within two age brackets (aged 10-14 and 15-19) understand the unique impact the crisis has upon them. It seeks to amplify their voices and perceptions of the crisis, and presents their views on how the humanitarian sector might respond.