STREET CHILDREN: Children end up living on city streets mostly due to poverty at home, family rejection, the death of one or both parents, abuse and/or escape from child labour. Street children lead hazardous lives and are open to exploitation. Plan helps these children by offering skills training, education and health care.

Here is an example of a Plan-funded street children's project in Vietnam.

"I am very excited about my first pay and plan to buy a bicycle and trousers. I hope to continue learning and improving my skills so I will always find work," says Vinh - a former street child from Vietnam.

Vinh is just one of a steadily increasing number of street children that have received vocational training from one of Plan's street children projects in Vietnam.

To reduce the need for children to leave rural communities to beg, steal or work as prostitutes on the streets or to work long hours in factories working in unsafe conditions, Plan supports families with microfinance loans, food security and promotes the benefits of education.

In cities like Hanoi where it may not be possible for children to return to their families, Plan and its partners have funded projects like the Kids In Stone workshop where children make handcrafted stone ornamental boxes which are sold internationally. The Hoa Sua School for disadvantaged youth offers vocational hospitality training providing street children with the skills to earn a living.

UNICEF estimates that there are as many as 150 million street children worldwide. The reasons children end up on the streets vary - some flee from abusive homes; others are sent there to help their families earn a living. Many have been abandoned or orphaned and their extended families are unable to care for them.

Mostly though, street children support themselves by begging, scavenging, theft or prostitution. And with no opportunity to get even a basic education, the street child has little hope.

Plan and its partner agencies work with street children to understand the reasons and the risks of why they are there; and when developing a project, the end result is a collaborative effort.

A main focus of Plan.s projects is to develop practical long-term solutions such as an action plan to approach children "fresh on the street" to help them return to their families and reintegrate into their communities as quickly as possible.

Plan's street children support projects such as those described above are funded by donations and partly from child sponsorships.