Become an
Equality Leader
Are you ready to change the world as an Equality Leader by leveraging your giving for double the impact?
By becoming an Equality Leader, you invest in a world where all children can thrive, and girls can take their rightful place as equals. Where girls can have a route back to an education and a better future. And you lead others to do the same, by inspiring and motivating more of our supporters through a match incentive.
To ensure the greatest impact through a match incentive, the minimum commitment to become an Equality Leader is $1,000.
Photo: Proud girl in classroom at school in Geita region. © Plan International
What is an Equality Leader?
An Equality Leader wants long-term change for girls and their communities. They worry about the high price girls pay during times of crisis. They’re passionate about tackling the barriers that stand in the way of girls getting an education and achieving their dreams. And they want to partner with us to make this world a reality.
If this sounds like you, you might just be an Equality Leader.
Becoming an Equality Leader is a simple, but powerful act.
When you join as an Equality Leader, you make a critical one-off investment in girls’ equality. Your investment is put into a special fund that will lead more of our supporters to donate through matched giving during our Tax and Christmas campaign.
By leveraging your gift with those of others, your gift will effectively be doubled. It will inspire and motivate a whole new group of donors and amplify the power of girls. Because a better now for her means a better future for everyone.
This will be the fourth year that we have launched this innovative campaign and we have seen outstanding success because of the generosity of our pioneer Equality Leaders.
Equality Leaders made an empowering investment for girls’ rights. In turn, the Plan International community went above and beyond to deepen their impact for girls living through crisis during our Christmas Appeals.
This is truly one of the most effective and powerful ways to support girls’ equality.
In 2023, with the support of our donors that stand for girls’ education, we achieved the following:
- 99,057 children and youths benefit from accelerated education, catch-up and remedial classes, and flexible solutions to increase access and prevent drop-out.
- In MEESA more than 5,000 (50% girls) children and youth joined school-based climate change clubs and benefitted from in-class climate adaptation lessons.
- Plan has responded to 23 red and orange alert emergencies. About 5 million children and adolescents, over half of them girls, were reached by education programming in 25 countries.
- In Cambodia, 641 teachers were trained on Safe School framework, and Disaster Risk Management (DRM). In turn, 96 primary schools developed a Safe school roadmap and a DRM contingency plan.
- In Somalia, 25 teachers and Community Education Committees received training on disaster risk reduction and on the Children’s Climate Cards leading to the development of preparedness plans for all target schools.
- 32 schools affected by the Typhoon Rai (Odette) received learning kits and teaching materials.
- 3,293 children affected by the typhoon Nalgae (Paeng) received age and grade-appropriate back-to-school kits, and 600 teachers received teaching kits.
- In Ethiopia, a Training of Trainers was provided for 309 (220F) refugee and national teachers on MHPSS, protection, classroom management, and education in emergencies minimum standards. As a result, about 6,000 children and youth were supported with their emotional well-being.
- 5,252 children reached with basic education services in Bangladesh (primary school or emergency learning).
Are you ready to take the next step and partner with us as an Equality Leader?
How does match funding work?
The way the match funding works is simple, but powerful.
Your Equality Leader investment is put into a special fund, and by pooling your gift with those of other passionate Equality Leaders, the impact of your gift becomes even more powerful.
This special fund you’ve helped create will be leveraged as a matched fund offer in our upcoming Tax and Christmas campaigns. It will inspire and motivate more of our supporters to donate, and most importantly double your impact for girls in need.
Are you ready to join this special group of change makers today?
Photo: Girl reads from history and geography textbook at school in Kon Tum Province. © Plan International / Duc Nguyen Minh
How Equality Leaders can empower girls to change the world
Investing in girls’ education is life-changing for girls – empowering them to follow their dreams. But the ripple effects it can have for entire communities and countries has the potential to truly transform our world.
An educated girl is less likely to marry and have children early, which results in fewer maternal and infant deaths. An education also improves her future employment opportunities, which helps lift families out of poverty and future generations to thrive.
An educated girl can change the world.
This is the world our Equality Leaders are working towards, but we can’t do it without you.
Photo: Children learn in class provided with desks and benches by Plan International. © Plan International
Adarini’s story
It can be difficult to imagine how powerful this program is using just facts and figures. So read on to learn about Adarini from Bangladesh.
Brought up in a family with little financial means, they struggled to survive. So, when Adarini was enrolled in Plan International’s sponsorship programme, everyone was happy with the extra support. When she finished year 10 at school, her parents decided to marry her off. Fortunately, Adarini was an active member of the children’s forum in her community set up by Plan International and had learnt enough about her rights to stand up to her parents and refuse their demands.
The training and workshop sessions in child rights, protection and gender-based violence I received through the sponsorship programme and the children’s forum boosted my confidence and helped me believe in my self-worth.- Adarini
The knowledge acquired at school allowed Adarini to stand up for her rights. As a result, her parents eventually dropped their plans for her wedding, and she completed her high school education. In 2014 she started a three-year nursing diploma, eventually graduating to a job at a hospital as a senior staff nurse. Now she has secured a merit position on one of the country’s most competitive nursing courses to obtain a post-graduate degree in public health nursing. “I want to pursue a career as an instructor of nursing institutions in Bangladesh, and I wish to support the girls around me to come forward,” Adarini says.
Since avoiding her early marriage, Adarini has been an active campaigner against child marriage and gender-based violence in her community. She has participated in several campaigns for better sanitation, increased birth registration and the end of child marriage and violence against women and children.
Adarini is now the only member of her family earning a wage, which is very unusual in her traditional patriarchal community. She has also taken on the responsibility of paying for her younger brother’s education. Looking to the future, Adarini hopes to continue supporting her community and making her family proud.
Photo: Adarini, 28, works at a hospital as a senior staff nurse. © Plan International
By becoming an Equality Leader and investing $1000 or more today, you’re partnering with us to build the world we both want to see.
An equal world where the barriers holding girls back are dismantled and girls are given opportunities and choices for their futures.