Our plan in Benin

Plan is working at the grassroots level in Benin to empower communities to bring real and lasting change, so that children have the opportunity to reach their full potential.

Plan has worked in Benin, a small country in West Africa, since 1994 and currently has programs in the districts of Mono/Cuffo and Atacora which aim to address the following issues affecting children:

• Inappropriate farming methods resulting in low income security
  
• Inadequate health care
• Poor access to water and sanitation
• Low rates of birth registration
• Child rights abuses including child trafficking, labour, forced marriage and female circumcision

Plan’s programs and strategies to address these issues include:

Food security

Inappropriate farming methods, lack of farmland and limited or no access to credit results in low production and low incomes for families. However, through sustainable farming practices and other income generating projects, Plan aims to help families increase their household income and have enough nutritious food to meet the basic needs of their children.

Basic health care for children

Poverty, inadequate health care, poor sanitary conditions and lack of clean water mean children can often get sick from preventable diseases. Plan is facilitating projects that ensure children have access to quality primary health care and thus grow up healthily in their communities.

Reproductive health

Children and women affected by HIV and AIDS will be protected from negligence and discrimination. Working with communities, Plan aims to ensure that children, adolescents and women in the communities where Plan works make responsible choices concerning sexual behaviours and family planning.

Healthy environment

With many families having poor or no access to clean water and proper sanitation, Plan is working to ensure families live in a healthy environment with year-round access to safe water and sanitation facilities close to their houses.

Building relationships and child rights

Plan encourages families to value and respect the fundamental human rights of children as defined by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Child. Safeguarding the rights of children through birth registration is also an ongoing project.

Education

There are few schools in Benin and in rural communities even more so. Schools in the rural areas are often constructed with straw, palm leaves and mud. Classes are overcrowded and the quality of education is poor. School fees are often unafordable for parents already struggling to make ends meet. Plan aims to provide children with access to quality basic education that will help prepare them for a productive life in the future.

Community partnership in development

Through broad-based community participation that includes women and children, Plan aims to build the organisational capacity of communities and their local partners, so they can progressively lead and manage their own development process.

Country Facts

Country	Benin	Australia
Flag
Population	8.2 Million	21 Million
Language	French	English
Capital	Porto Novo	Canberra
GDP per capita (USD/year)	498	$37,300
Life expectancy	54.3	81.5
Access to safe drinking water	67%	100%
Literacy	34.7%	100%
Source:	United Nations: Millennium Development Goals Report 2006