Healthy children despite climate change

In Guatemala, climate change is having a serious impact on the livelihoods of the population. In the project regions of Baja Verapaz and Quiché, long periods of drought have exacerbated the food situation. Many children in particular are affected by malnutrition. This project helps to enable children to grow up healthily and to support communities in adapting to the challenges of climate change. 700 young women and mothers learn how to start “green businesses” in the project.

Project regions: Baja Verapaz and Quiché

Project duration: July 2020 – December 2023

Objectives:

• Improve food security.
•  Strengthen resilience to climate change impacts.

Measures:

• 700 young women participate in entrepreneurial training and join 28 entrepreneurial clubs
• 1,000 mothers attend workshops on healthy eating, mother-child health and hygiene
• Workshops for 120 teachers from 40 schools on environmental education, natural disaster risk management and climate change adaptation

Further information: https://www.plan.de/patenschaft-lateinamerika/patenschaft-guatemala/projekt-gesunde-kinder-trotz-klimawandel.html

Standing by children in Ecuador

Violence is the norm in Ecuador. Girls and boys do not only experience domestic violence. Schools are no safe places, even though children should feel protected and safe here. Well over half of the children between the ages of five and eleven are beaten and physically punished. One out of ten young girls is sexually abused.

In addition to everyday violence, the conflict in neighboring Colombia and the drug trade also put many children at risk. In gang wars, they are not only abused as workers and drug runners.

In order to better protect girls and boys, UNICEF Ecuador and UNICEF Colombia are working together on cross-border child protection projects that sustainably protect children in both countries.

Further information: https://www.unicef.de/informieren/projekte/suedamerika-mittelamerika-7082/ecuador-119526/kinder-vor-gewalt-schuetzen/8662

Promoting children early and protecting them from poverty

In Ecuador, 25 percent of children under five suffer from chronic malnutrition. In addition, few children attend early childhood development programs and every third child has been affected by violence. Therefore, in this project, parents are trained to learn how to feed and support their children in a healthy way. Young mothers are supported in becoming economically independent and earning their own money. Early childhood development centers are established in 27 project communities.

Project regions: Loja and Santa Elena

Project duration: September 2017 – December 2020

Objectives:

• Enable children under the age of eight to develop healthily
• Empower parents to provide holistic support to their children

Measures:

• Provide training for parents on early childhood development, health care and balanced nutrition
• Establish centers for early childhood development
• Economic empowerment of women
• Establishment of vegetable gardens and promotion of livestock breeding

Further information: https://www.plan.de/patenschaft-lateinamerika/patenschaft-ecuador/projekt-kinder-frueh-foerdern-und-vor-armut-schuetzen.html

Chickens for families

In Ecuador, many families lack the money to buy enough food. This has serious consequences for children, especially in their first years of life. This is because the lack of nutrients can lead to serious and permanent damage to their health.

This project helps to enable the children to grow up healthily. Families can improve their knowledge of healthy nutrition in training sessions. 1,000 families will also each receive ten chickens and materials to build chicken coops. Training sessions teach families how to raise, care for and provide medical care for the animals. Poultry farming gives parents the opportunity to secure livelihoods for themselves and their children.

Further information: https://www.plan.de/spenden/sinnvoll-schenken/geschenk/huehner-fuer-familien-in-ecuador.html

SOS Children’s Village

SOS Children’s Villages has been active in Uzbekistan since 1996. At that time, the country was going through many economic and social changes due to political upheavals. The first SOS Children’s Village was established in the capital Tashkent. There are now three SOS Children’s Villages in Uzbekistan. Since 2007, the organization has also been working with local authorities to offer family strengthening programs that give children at risk of losing parental care the opportunity to grow up in a loving family environment. SOS Children’s Villages also ensures that children have access to basic services and can develop in a healthy manner, and supports community services to protect children at risk.

Further information: https://www.sos-kinderdoerfer.de/spende?source=cta&product=donation&target=3714/02035

Clean water for Ghana – well construction

In rural Ghana, only 66 percent of people have access to drinking water. Only nine percent have sanitary facilities. The “Clean Water for Ghana” project is helping 36 communities in rural regions to establish a sustainable water and sanitation supply. To this end, wells and water supply points are being built so that 32,000 people receive clean drinking water and sanitation. In addition, community members can attend training courses to learn, for example, how to maintain and repair the water systems themselves.

Further information: https://www.plan.de/spenden/sinnvoll-schenken/geschenk/ein-brunnen-in-ghana.html

Microschools in Ghana

In Ghana, almost half a million children do not go to school. This is because, due to high population growth and low state income, it is not possible to build a public school in every community. But even in larger cities, there are not enough public schools for all children of school age.

To counter the problems in the education system, education entrepreneurs are founding their own small schools. With their microschools, they offer children from rural areas and poorer families in particular access to education with state-recognized school-leaving qualifications.

Project goals: The project enables 25 education entrepreneurs to expand and improve their schools and enroll more children. Training for teachers and kitchen staff increases the quality of teaching and school meals. 75 scholarships for students from extremely poor families prevent these children from dropping out of school and having to suffer from their family’s poverty for the rest of their lives.

The selected educational entrepreneurs receive a loan, which they use for investments in the school building, such as room furnishings, a school bus or the construction of additional classrooms. To ensure the sustainable management of the microschools, the educational entrepreneurs receive training in business and staff management. In addition, further training is organized for the teachers in order to improve the quality of teaching. The cooks of the microschools receive health and hygiene training. One focus of this training is the preparation of balanced meals to counteract malnutrition. Children from extremely poor families who would otherwise not be able to afford school fees and transportation to school will be supported with a scholarship.

Further information: https://www.oid.org/spenden-und-helfen/aktuelle-hilfsprojekte/microschools/