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The hopes and dreams of Tigray’s displaced children
Yordanos are Kisanet are adolescents from Ethiopia’s Tigray region. Due to conflict they are currently living in internally displaced person (IDP) camps. They share their favourite things about the child-friendly spaces at the camps and tell us about their aspirations for the future.
“It has been more than a year since I came [here] with my older sister. We arrived here when the conflict started. Our mother and father both moved to Sudan. Our journey [here] was quite difficult. As soon as we got here, we headed straight for the IDP camp.
“At the child-friendly space, I have made a lot of friends who are also IDPs and have been displaced from their homes. I like to draw and play with my friends. The staff at the centre help us develop our life skills.
“Since first arriving at the child-friendly space, each of us has developed a variety of talents. The children are now excellent at performing drama, singing songs, and drawing pictures. As for me, I am good at drawing portraits of people and flowers because I regularly practice drawing.
“My goal is to continue my education in the future. I was a grade 6 student. It’s more than a year since I went to school. After completing high school, I want to enroll in college. I hope to become a doctor and work with children when I grow up.”
“Currently, I live in an IDP camp with my grandmother. At a school, I was a grade 4 student. To protect their lives, my mother, father, and brothers left for Sudan.
“Our journey was really challenging. People were dying from the constant shooting. The sound of the gunfire fully took over my thoughts. It was both terrifying and depressing. When we arrived, the locals told us about the IDP settlements. For shelter and to meet our basic requirements, we immediately moved to one of the camps.
“After some time, Plan International set up a space in the camp for children to play. It has greatly helped me and now I spend the majority of my time here. I initially felt stressed, but as I spent more time in the child-friendly space, I started to feel better and more at ease.
“I enjoy creative games and the physical exercises there. I’ve acquired new skills and can now draw pictures. My favourite things to do are singing and playing games, I do both with my friends.
“I want to continue my studies in the future. I was a really good student when I was still in school. I particularly like studying languages. I want to finish school and become a teacher.”
About the region
Conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, which borders both Sudan and Eritrea, has displaced millions of people across northern Ethiopia. The vast majority of those fleeing are women and children who are undertaking dangerous journeys to reach safety, carrying just a few of their belongings with them.
When conflict first broke out in November 2020, tens of thousands of people took refuge in Shire, one of the biggest urban centres in Tigray. In 2022 the conflict continued to progress with new displacement resulting in around 1.8 million IDPs in Tigray, many of whom are now living in one of the 18 IDP camps spread across the city of Shire.
Plan International is working in Tigray to address the critical child protection needs of displaced people and host communities affected by the ongoing crisis. Funded by USAID, we are working alongside our volunteers and partners in Shire to provide care, psychosocial support, family tracing and reunification services at child friendly spaces in the camps, as well as running positive parenting programmes and raising awareness of child protection issues, such as violence, abuse and exploitation.
*This story is made possible by the support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the sole responsibility of Plan International and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.
Girls on the frontline of flood resilience
In the Philippines, Aires and Catherine (both 19) are part of a group of young people working to ensure their flood-prone communities are prepared for any weather-related emergency, and know how to keep themselves and their families safe should disaster strike.
Both girls have had their lives disrupted by flooding in the past – including being unable to go to school.
Catherine and her family are survivors of Typhoon Ketsana which caused widespread flash floods in 2009, so joining a project to build community resilience is something that really appealed to her.
Catherine and Aires have both participated in a disaster risk management training project, where they learnt how to identify community hazards through risk mapping exercises and come up with solutions to tackle them.
“The training was a big help to us young people, especially since we are just starting to learn about environmental advocacy so we can help develop our community into a safe and peaceful place. The activities are great because we had the chance to learn about things that we usually do not notice,” shares Catherine.
Catherine and Aires have used this knowledge to make big changes in their community. They are encouraging other young people to take part and are implementing and creating processes to follow in case of emergencies. They have formed disaster preparedness plans for their families to follow, and are developing inclusive and risk informed flood plans for the wider community; which they are lobbying their local government to commit to implementing.
Aires and Catherine have become youth leaders in their community and are rallying other young people to get involved. “I make sure that other members of the project attend the meetings regularly and that young people who are usually overlooked – such as those that are out-of-school – are also given the chance to join. I have even convinced younger family members to join the project,” says Aires.
“Young people usually have to listen passively to adults and community leaders who decide all the actions to follow,” explains Aires, “Community projects usually focus on parents or guardians, not on young people.”
Catherine agrees, and says it’s important to create platforms where young people can take an active role in planning processes for community resilience. “Young people’s familiarity and better understanding of the internet and technology is one way that we can contribute to the community,” she explains.
“Youth leaders need to be stronger; it’s not only a requirement, but a responsibility to the community. Even without a position, there is a need for young people to take part in addressing environmental issues in the community and the country as a whole,” says Aires.
Flood resilience project
Catherine says she recently took part in a local pageant at a community festival where she raised awareness about the hazards that affect their region. “I shared what I had learnt from the disaster risk training and advocacy workshops. I was able to encourage 6 other contestants to join the project and take part in the training too!”
Aires and Catherine took part in Plan International’s Flood Resilience Project in Manila.
As part of the project, Plan International conducted a baseline study in Manila which revealed that young people are at high risk from the impacts of natural hazards but, despite being exposed to regular flooding, they are less likely to be included in community planning activities, including evacuation plans for emergency situations.
To ensure young people have a greater voice in the disaster planning process, and that they and their families are better protected from future floods and other hazards, the project team designed a youth-centred community-based disaster risk reduction training programme, focused on building young people’s skills in risk assessments, communication, advocacy and leadership.
In Paraguay, Ana is challenging stereotypes and prejudices as she runs a successful business in a field usually only associated with men.
From a young age, Ana showed great curiosity and skill in various trades, from masonry to carpentry. However, it was her passion for gardening that led her to discover her true talent. With the support of her mother, she gained her first clients and started her career as a gardener.
As she gained experience, Ana expanded her skills, venturing into fields such as electricity, plumbing, and carpentry, inspired by her husband’s work. Five years ago, facing a challenging economic situation with 2 children to support, she decided to transform her passion into a business: she set out to start a venture in the field of general services. “It was then that I saw the opportunity to start this venture,” she says.
“One of the challenges I had to face was the barrier of men. They would meet me and think I didn’t have the capacity,” she comments. Despite the obstacles and doubts she faced along the way, Ana decided to turn each challenge into an opportunity to grow and prove her worth as a female entrepreneur.
Ana participated in a Plan International workshop on business planning; learning about financial management and marketing. Ana obtained seed capital from Plan Paraguay’s Sape’a 2.0 project.
Building up her business
Her perseverance and self-confidence enabled her to weather the COVID-19 pandemic and move forward. The support of her husband was also crucial to her, “The person I have by my side didn’t set up a barrier; on the contrary, he motivated me and taught me about the trade,” she mentions.
Today, Ana takes pride in saying that she surpassed all expectations she had for herself. “I began to attract more clients; they started recommending me.” She has built a successful business in the field of general services, offering a wide range of services from gardening to electricity, plumbing, carpentry, and masonry. Her experience in these fields has allowed her to provide quality service to her clients. “I urge women to take the lead, to not be swayed by social prejudice or what people might say,” she concludes.
Ana hails from Bañado Sur in Asunción. Bañados of Asunción is home to the majority of Paraguay’s precarious settlements. It is estimated that over 100,000 people live there, constituting a fifth of the capital’s population. Life there poses challenges, but it is also a land of opportunities with great potential.
Plan’s Sape’a 2.0 project helps young people grow their business ventures and access employment opportunities.
Cinema as resistance in rural Haiti
Based in southern Haiti, Collectif Kreye are using cinema as a tool for education, gender justice, and cultural preservation.
After being displaced by gang violence in Port-au-Prince and losing critical equipment and infrastructure, they rebuilt their organisation with Equality Accelerator’s support.
Collectif Kreye used Equality Accelerator funding to:
• Install reliable internet and printing systems (Starlink).
• Begin legal registration to expand sustainability.
• Strengthen their team through project management training.
• Prepare a 6-region mobile cinema campaign to engage over 12,000 rural women and youth.
Collectif Kreye’s cinema project brings film screenings and audiovisual workshops to Haiti’s most remote areas. These workshops spark critical discussions around human rights, gender equity, and environmental issues, all while inspiring youth to imagine futures in creative industries.
Collectif Kreye received funding through the Education Shifts Power Fund (ESP) which is hosted on and powered by the Equality Accelerator. Founded in 2021, ESP is committed to resourcing feminist youth-led organisations working on gender equality in and through education. Consortium members include Transform Education, UNGEI, and Plan International.
The Equality Accelerator
The Equality Accelerator is a youth movement strengthening digital platform designed to fund, support, and elevate youth-led activism – particularly for girls and marginalised young people.
Co-created with youth and built for young people, the Equality Accelerator redefines what youth-led grant making looks like. Through the Equality Accelerator platform, youth-led organisations can access simplified funding processes, peer-reviewed grant decisions, and customised support, breaking down the barriers that have long excluded them from traditional donor systems.
Traditional funding structures often overlook the most marginalised youth activists, especially informal and unregistered groups. The Equality Accelerator was created to fill this gap and shift power directly into the hands of young changemakers.
• Directly distributed over €955,000 to girl- and youth-led groups
• Funded 240+ youth-led organisations across 41 countries
• Has registered over 3,500 youth-led organisations and 5,500+ individual activists
• Grant options ranging from €1,000 to €10,000, with 6-month projects
• Successfully delivered 9 funds, with 3 currently live
• Funding support for both core costs and project delivery
At the heart of the Equality Accelerator’s work is one core belief: young people are not just beneficiaries, they are leaders, creators, and decision-makers.
In October 2025, the Equality Accelerator will mark a major milestone: its 5th anniversary and €1 million in direct funding to youth-led groups.
The next phase of the Equality Accelerator is about expanding reach without compromising values, scaling what works and building a world where youth-led change is not the exception – it’s the norm.
From school leavers to star teachers
“When you become a [school] dropout, you feel very much sad,” Eunice explains. “You feel isolated.”
In rural Sierra Leone, 75% of girls don’t continue their education after primary school. None of Eunice’s 5 siblings went to school. Eunice’s experience was the norm.
She left school when her mother died in 2019, leaving her as the primary earner for her family. She became a mother herself when she was 18 years old.
In 2021, Eunice enrolled in a 4-year Plan International programme that supports out-of-school young women to become teachers. There, she met Kumba, another young single mother at a similar crossroads. Kumba had dropped out of school when her mother fell ill and hadn’t found a way back to the classroom.
Eunice, Kumba, and 200 other young women in their cohort were catching up on the learning they’d missed and getting certified as schoolteachers with real-life classroom experience. They were supported with tutors, mentorship, stipends and childcare to help them complete the programme. They worked hard to pursue their certification via distance learning while juggling their other responsibilities.
But not everybody thought it was a good idea.
Challenging expectations and social norms
“A lot of my friends in the programme had challenges with their husbands at first,” says Eunice. “The men believed that if their wives were educated, it would create competition and marital problems at home.”
By joining the programme, Kumba, Eunice, and the other participants were challenging strongly held beliefs about a woman’s place. “People say that a woman’s education ends in the kitchen,” shares Kumba, adding, “I totally disagree with them all.
“We have to keep talking to the men who are jealous of us,” Kumba says. “We can show them that when a woman is empowered, she brings the benefits home with her.”
Female teachers bring important lessons beyond the classroom
Kumba reports that these conversations are making a difference – over time, she’s seeing negative attitudes change as men become more supportive of the women in the programme. She’s also seen a change in her role in her community. “Before, women were not considered when it comes to decision-making,” she says. Now, when people are trying to make decisions, they often seek her out to join the discussion.
Eunice, too, has noticed that her friends come to her for advice and are keen to learn from her experiences. She feels like a changed person from when she dropped out of school. “When you can do something on your own for the future, you feel proud,” she says. “And when a woman is educated, a whole nation can be educated.”
