Plan Asia

Plan Asia Intern Diary: Ri Hyon Ok

Plan Asia’s communications intern, Ri Hyon Ok, blogs about her experiences so far.

Week 2 (and a bit):

This is already my third week at Plan. During the time I’ve been here I‘ve learnt a lot of new things that I previously took for granted.

On 19 November 19, World Toilet Day, I was made aware of the problem of poor sanitation, which affects at least 1 billion people worldwide. According to Hilda Winartasaputra, WASH specialist of Plan, 60% of these people live in Asia, practicing open defecation, which results in major health risks, especially for women and children who are vulnerable to diseases such as cholera, etc. This number shocked me. I didn’t realize that so many lived in such conditions.

This together with World Pneumonia Day highlights the importance of Plan’s work and its connections with other NGOs and government bodies in reducing their serious problems.

The seriousness of the problem is clear when we that pneumonia is the world’s leading killer of children under age 5, killing 1,300,000 children a year, responsible for nearly 1 in 5 child deaths globally.

Looking at another topic, I also went to the Thai PBS studio with John B. Trew, the youth development specialist of Plan, and was interested in the interview which took place on the subject of youth employment in Asia, especially in Thailand.

All the above issues seem very difficult to solve but the tools are within our reach and we need to cooperate with all relevant organisations in order to push programmes forward and do whatever we can to improve the lives of many people.

Working together, building the future

This week, we’re at a very interesting learning event being held by our friends at UNDP about how partnerships between NGO, civil society, governments and the private sector can lead to more sustainable development. One of the buzz terms that keeps coming up is “shared value”, or in other words, how everyone involved in the value chain can derive benefit. 

Cross-sector partnerships can create shared value and these come in many shapes and sizes, such as co-delivery of services, using technology for development or new ways of financing projects. It’s a brave new world and major business models are increasingly shifting to incorporate shared value. 

Population growth is putting existing systems under great strain and as they teeter on the brink of collapse we blame each other rather than addressing the issues that cause the failure of product.

The growing population is increasingly young and it’s for this next generation that we have to evolve the way we work and the way we work with other people. Using partnerships is a system that can grow with the population and create new opportunities to have a positive, lasting impact on people’s lives. Partnerships are essential for rethinking the systems and improving the product for them, whether it’s education for girls or a nutritious, affordable yoghurt for children.

At the event, there are people from various NGOs as well as companies like Coca-Cola, Toyota and Unilever. What we’re getting from this is that there is a great deal to be said for different sectors coming together, talking and working out ways they can work together, and basically thinking out of the box.

Among the participants has been Dr Richard Hames, whose words were real a breath of fresh air. He said that some NGOs are rooted in old assumptions about roles and responsibilities. As the population continues to grow, so it becomes apparent that the systems we have in place aren’t built to embrace people’s talents and really empower them. And this is where partnerships can play an important role. 

We’ll bring you more throughout the week. 

Plan Asia Intern Diary: Ri Hyon Ok

Plan Asia’s communications intern, Ri Hyon Ok, blogs about her experiences so far:

Week 1

Time has passed by so quickly and my first week at Plan Asia has gone very fast. This week was very exciting and at the same time it was quite a busy week for me as well.

When I first arrived in the office, I had several induction sessions given by the programme specialists. The induction sessions were on things like early learning and youth development to help me understand Plan’s work much clearer than before. Later I was given some tasks by my senior colleagues about what to do in the next couple days. Briefly, these were to help me become more familiar with the organisation.

After that I started doing some research myself about issues that involve me in my job here.  Websites that I found particularly useful included www.google.com/reader, www.bbc.co.uk and several social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc.

Then I had an induction provided for new communication staff covering the Asian region. We covered internal communications, media regulations and social media websites. This was very helpful for me to understand what to do and what not to do in terms of publishing photographs and articles about children.  I was also given a special induction about the Media Bank [the place where we store photos, videos, stories, documents, etc.] which is very important for communication staff to understand.

This week, my first in Plan, was probably all about understanding my tasks in terms of the technical aspects of my job. I will use my knowledge, which I gained from the induction, to enable me to carry out my job successfully and make a positive contribution to the organisation. 

Asian children want greater involvement in disaster risk reduction

YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia, Oct 24, 2012 — Governments across Asia must involve children when they plan and implement projects to help disaster-prone communities mitigate risks and the impact, youth participants at a regional ministerial meeting said.

The young representatives said children must be engaged as active agents of change in their communities, instead of being seen as helpless victims.

“Including children and youth in disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation is very important because children and youth will become parents in the future and continue to educate their children,” said Chanvannarith, a 15-year-old Cambodian boy. Chanvannarith was participating in consultations undertaken with over 200 children from 6 Asian countries in the lead up to the 5^th Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. 

Seventeen children from Indonesia, Philippines, Cambodia and Japan are attending this week’s four-day AMCDRR, hosted by the Government of Indonesia, to share their concerns and present a statement to the Ministers.

A compilation of stories of actions by children and youth to reduce disaster risks is also being released at the Ministerial Conference. Titled “Children’s Action for Disaster Risk Reduction – Views from Children in Asia” the stories come from Indonesia, the Philippines, Viet Nam, Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal and Bangladesh.

For instance, children and youth have been doing hazard mapping, raising awareness through radio and games, influencing other children, their teachers, parents and communities on how to reduce the effects of disasters. “My village is one of the disaster prone areas in Dompu district (Indonesia). Many community members don’t even realize nor are aware of the potential disasters in their surroundings,” said Tity, a 17-year-old girl from West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia.

Children make a plan to spread information to raise awareness of their peers and community who listen to SATIFA FM radio. They broadcast messages on how to prevent floods by discouraging littering and encouraging drainage cleaning,

Meanwhile, governments are also recognising the importance of engaging communities in disaster risk reduction at national and local level. In Kyrgyzstan, for instance, the Government through the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (2012-2016) commits to establish clear roles for communities within disaster risk management plans.

The Children in Changing Climate (CCC), a coalition of child-rights organisations including Plan International, Save the Children, World Vision, andUNICEF, said in a statement children should not be seen only as victims in disasters, though they are vulnerable and face particular risks to their health, protection, access to education and nutrition in such situation.

“A child-centred disaster risk reduction plan must value children’s perspectives on risk, encourages their participation and helps ensure that they and their families are better prepared.  “Children are able to advocate and lead change within their schools and communities” said CCC representative Antony Spalton.

It has been estimated that losses from weather-related disasters alone are doubling globally every 12 years; and climate change impacts are predicted to increase the numbers of children affected by disasters from an estimated 66.5 million per year in the late 1990s, to as many as 175 million per year in the coming decade.

Schools in Asia, the most hazard-prone continent in the world, should be built to resist extreme weather and earthquakes, while disaster risk reduction and climate change should be integrated into children’s learning, CCC said.

“To promote sustainable development, not only should multi-hazard risk assessment also analyze the particular risks of the most vulnerable women, girls and boys but disaster risk reduction must be integrated into basic social services such as water sanitation & hygiene, education, health & nutrition, social and child Protection,” Spalton said.

For live updates from AMCDRR, follow Plan Asia on Twitter and Facebook.

Indonesian president eager to learn from children about disaster risk reduction

Indonesia is getting serious about including children in disaster risk reduction efforts. Today at the 5th Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono talked to 14-year-old Mark, a child delegate from Plan Philippines, and asked about his experiences of disasters and current activities in his community to increase resilience.

The talk took place at a booth set up by Plan International and other global child-centred organisations after the president officially opened the conference at th Yogya Expo Center in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

17 child delegates at the conference shared their experiences with about 50 state representatives at a side event. The children, who were asked about how they cope with climate change challenges in their respective communities, were enthusiastic when having their say at such an important conference.

After the side event, the children toured the exhibition booths in the venue and saw some films on disaster risk reduction. Tomorrow in a Safe School side event, they will have another chance to talk about their roles and activities. 

Music star learns what it’s like to be stateless

Thai drummer Nay Voravittayathorn and friends from Thai indie band Playground recently travelled to northern Thailand with Plan to help out on some construction projects, meet some of the people Plan supports and hold mini-concerts. Here, he recounts a meeting with Meepher, a 14-year-old girl whose birth has not been registered, making her stateless.

Recently, I had a chance to do something I had never done before. It totally opened up my eyes to an issue that has been around for a long time in Thailand: statelessness.

When I was up in Chiang Rai volunteering with Plan International, I had the chance to meet and interview 1 of the girls from a village in Mae-Chan district. Her name is Meepher, a 14-year-old girl who lives with her aunt and older sister. She’s in grade 6 at the school in her village.

“I like to study because when I have problems, I can’t turn to anyone, asking them for help. I study to learn things so then I can fix the problems myself,” she told me.

Meepher has an elder brother and two elder sisters. Her parents died in an accident when she was a kid, so she has been living with her aunt ever since. Meepher is the only one out of her siblings who has had a chance to go to school.

She gets up at 5 AM and after finishing cleaning up and dressing, she helps her sister at the family grocery store. After her day at school, Meepher is usually back at the store.

Sometimes on weekends, the teachers from her school organise trips for some of the students to go to work on a farm in the village. Meepher can make about 140 baht a day planting pineapple seeds.

Meepher dreams of being a flight attendant. She said she saw them in movies. They are all so pretty and they get to go places, other countries, and meet a whole lot of people and see the world, she added.

But Meepher doesn’t hold Thai citizenship, nor any citizenship. She is stateless and never had her birth registered. What she has is a pink ID card with the number 0 on it, indicating she is not a Thai citizen – just a person living up in the mountains.

This means she doesn’t have basic legal rights like other Thais do, which make it difficult for her to do thing like getting out of her village, banking, transportation, asking for financial aid and getting medical treatment.

School in Meepher’s village is only has up to grade 6. That means that next year she will have to go to a school in another district, but that costs money. If she could just get a Thai ID card, it would be much easier.

All she wants to do is to go out and see the world and meet people, things she won’t be able to do if she can’t continue her education. She wants to study all the way up to a bachelor’s degree so she can make a better life for herself and her family, but without Thai citizenship, this will be a struggle.

Plan works with stateless communities in Thailand to help children and their families access their rights and make better lives for themselves.         

Three easy ways to support our global girls’ campaign

We’re very excited at Plan International. The first ever International Day of the Girl (#dayofthegirl) is almost upon on us. On 11 October, people around the world will come together to show their support for girls’ rights.

The Day of the Girl is an important day because far too often we have seen that the specific rights and needs of girls are ignored, perpetuating harmful stereotypes and leaving many girls around the world unable to fulfill their potential. Through our Because I am a Girl (#bcimagirl) campaign, which we will launch on 11 October, we are going to shine a light on girls’ rights, and in particular girls’ education, and put them firmly on the agenda.

There are many ways you can show your support for girls’ rights as we near ever closer to the Day of the Girl. Here are a few ways that won’t take more than a few minutes of your time.

Thunderclap

We’ve set up a Thunderclap, which means that just before Day of the Girl, anyone who has clicked to support the Thunderclap will send out the same message about #bcimagirl as a Tweet or a Facebook status update. We need to get the number of supporters up to 250 in the next couple of weeks. Once we reach the goal, 250+ messages about #bcimagirl will go out at the same time, causing the Internet equivalent of thunder. Please show your support with Twitter and/or Facebook.

Support the Thunderclap: https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/352-girls-deserve-an-education

Twibbon

We have also created a Twibbon, which is a small logo in the form of the #bcimagirl raised hand that people have been adding to their Twitter and Facebook avatars. It’s super easy to set up and only takes a minute.

Support the Twibbon: http://twibbon.com/Support/Raise-Your-Hand-For-Girls

The #bcimagirl App

Our #bcimagirl app is picking up steam, but it needs everyone to log on and Raise Your Hand virtually. Please share the app with your contacts as we make the final push to reach our goal of 1,000,000 hands raised for girls.

Support the app: http://www.raiseyourhandnow.com   

Raise your hands for girls

We need your support!

Globally, 1 in 3 girls around the world are denied their right to an education by the daily realities of poverty, violence and discrimination.

Not only is this unjust. It’s also a serious waste of potential with serious global consequences. We want YOU to join us in helping educate girls worldwide. Please Raise Your Hand to support quality education for girls by clicking here: on.fb.me/RQVvqm