Plan International and Global Girls Foundation
Our Flagship Programmes

One promise: education, uninterrupted.

Education Uninterrupted is one of three flagship programmes, and the one the Foundation has funded longest: a girl’s education carrying on through crisis, displacement and disruption. Two programme models hold that promise, both delivered through Plan International, and this page sets out what each does, who it reaches, and what a gift funds. The other two flagships each have a page of their own: Ending Child, Early, and Forced Marriage; and Humanitarian Integrated Life-Saving.

A schoolgirl in a yellow shirt and brown pinafore stands in front of a door, smiling.

© Plan International

Results so far

Two models with results of their own.

These are the two models’ results, from programmes delivered by Plan International.

20,525

adolescents supported by SAGE, piloted in Zimbabwe.
Source: Plan International, Value for Money Brief: Supporting Adolescent Girls’ Education (SAGE) in Zimbabwe (internal, not published), via the Global Girls Foundation, 5 October 2026.

75%+

of participants in SAGE improved their literacy and numeracy.
Source: Plan International, SAGE – Supporting Adolescent Girls’ Education (November 2025), p2.

29,000

children reached by I am Ready, half of them girls.
Source: Global Girls Foundation, supplied 30 September 2026.

2

countries where governments have taken I am Ready forward: Laos, in its education sector plan, and Tanzania, through its Shule Bora programme.
Source: Plan International, I am Ready Program Brief, p4; Education Uninterrupted flagship presentation (May 2026), slides 13 and 15.

Adolescent girls

SAGE

Supporting Adolescent Girls’ Education: an award-winning model for girls who are out of school, married, or already mothers.

Five schoolgirls in uniform stand with their arms around each other’s shoulders, smiling.

Four routes, not one

Accelerated literacy and numeracy, life-skills and health education, and vocational training, for girls aged 10 to 19 who have been out of school.

© Plan International

  1. Where it has run

    Zimbabwe, across 88 community hubs. Source: Plan International, Value for Money Brief: Supporting Adolescent Girls’ Education (SAGE) in Zimbabwe (internal, not published), via the Global Girls Foundation, 5 October 2026.

  2. What it changed

    Married girls and young mothers are nearly 45% of SAGE’s learners, and many described it as a second chance. Source: Plan International, SAGE – Supporting Adolescent Girls’ Education (November 2025), p3. Caregivers holding positive views on gender rose from 25% to 72%. Source: Global Girls Foundation, supplied 30 September 2026.

  3. How it was recognised

    In 2025, SAGE won International Collaboration of the Year at the Times Higher Education Awards. The Open University, a partner alongside Plan International Zimbabwe, collected the award. Source: Times Higher Education, “Times Higher Education Awards 2025: winners announced”, 13 November 2025; Plan International, Education Uninterrupted flagship presentation (May 2026), slide 8.

  4. Where it goes next

    Ready to scale in countries including Laos, Nigeria and Ghana, with continued support in Zimbabwe. Source: Global Girls Foundation, 5 October 2026, from Plan International’s Education Lead at its Global Hub.

The SAGE programme in full

Married girls and young mothers are nearly 45% of SAGE’s learners, and many described it as a second chance.

Early childhood

I am Ready

Plan International’s accelerated pre-primary model, for children aged four to six with no access to early learning.

A young girl at her desk with a pencil and paper, smiling at the camera.

© Plan International

What it does

Builds the school readiness of disadvantaged children without access to early childhood education, so they start primary school on time rather than late or not at all.

Where it has run

Implemented in Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Tanzania, and with Syrian refugees in Turkey. Source: Plan International, Education Uninterrupted flagship presentation (May 2026), slide 12; I am Ready Program Brief, p2.

In national systems

In Laos it was included in the 2021-2025 education sector plan and is delivered directly by the Ministry of Education. In Tanzania the government has taken it forward through its Shule Bora programme. Source: Plan International, I am Ready Program Brief, p4; Education Uninterrupted flagship presentation (May 2026), slides 13 and 15.

The I am Ready programme in full

What it costs

Investing in an education, uninterrupted.

Catch-up and accelerated learning, fees and materials, safe routes and trained teachers. Annual Giving Fund gifts designated to this flagship go to it first.

Investment
SAGE: €500,000 per year, per country. €2.5 million for a five-year implementation plan in one country.
I am Ready: €500,000 per country.

Source: Global Girls Foundation, supplied 30 September 2026.

Reach
SAGE: 3,500+ girls per year, depending on context.
I am Ready: 1,000+ girls and 1,000+ parents.

Source: Global Girls Foundation, supplied 30 September 2026.

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