What is Community Partnership with Girls?
Community Partnership with Girls works in one community, supporting local efforts to remove the barriers girls face every day.
When girls have the chance to learn, lead, and be protected, everyone around them benefits.
The communities participating in this partnership often face serious challenges, including ongoing armed violence and climate-related disasters such as flooding and drought.
Local residents and leaders decide how funds are used based on what girls and families say they need most.
Why supporting girls helps all children and families
When a girl stays in school, her siblings do too.
When schools are safer and more supportive for girls, boys also benefit.
When girls learn about their health and rights, boys learn alongside them – leading to healthier and more respectful relationships.
When girls stay in school and delay early marriage, they tend to have healthier children.
Girls bring home what they learn, including how to stay healthy and where to go for help.
Girls who stay in school tend to earn more as adults, supporting their families and the local economy.
Why Community Partnership with Girls matters
Community Partnership with Girls supports locally led programs that help girls stay safe, healthy, and in school while improving daily life for all children and families.
Health that starts in the community
When hospitals are far away or crises disrupt daily life – through conflict or flooding – preventing illness is just as critical as treating it. Community Partnership with Girls programs deliver essentials that help girls and their families access food, clean water, and the basic supplies they need to stay well.
Education that continues, even in uncertainty
In communities affected by displacement, poverty, or repeated emergencies, girls can continue learning, because schools have supplies and trained teachers.
A community that champions girls
Girls and young women acquire the knowledge, confidence, and everyday skills that help them stay in school, make informed decisions about their health, and imagine more possibilities for their future.
A notebook may seem like a small thing, but for many children it means so much. Many parents simply don’t have the resources to support their children’s schooling; food and transportation come first, often before school supplies. Being able to help provide these essentials made a real difference for them.” — Joel Dizon, Program Operations Manager
Choose a community to support
You’ve seen how Community Partnership with Girls works. Now take a closer look at the communities you can support — and help girls and all children around them meet the urgent challenges they face.
Cauca-Valle, Colombia
Support the Cauca-Valle communityLanao del Sur, Philippines
Support the Lanao del Sur communityFAQS
Is Community Partnership with Girls the same as Because I Am a Girl?
No. Community Partnership with Girls and Because I Am a Girl are two different ways of supporting girls, each with its own approach and impact.
Community Partnership with Girls is a community‑based approach. Donations are pooled and invested in one specific community. People living in that community determine the priorities – such as education, health care, safety, or livelihoods – so that support reflects what the girls, boys, and families there decide matters most. This long‑term partnership helps strengthen the whole community, with girls at the centre.
Because I Am a Girl is Plan International Canada’s global initiative dedicated to advancing girls’ rights and equality worldwide. Donations support girl‑focused projects across multiple countries where we work, tackling the root causes of inequality – such as child marriage and violence against women and girls – where the need is greatest.
While both are led by Plan International and focus on advancing equality for girls, they work in different ways and on different scales.
Is Community Partnership with Girls the same as Child Sponsorship?
No. Community Partnership with Girls is separate, and it doesn’t change or affect any Child Sponsorship you already have.
With Child Sponsorship, you build a relationship with one child – and your support helps strengthen the entire community around them.
Community Partnership with Girls works differently: Instead of connecting you with one child, it connects you to a whole community, often one where girls especially face the impact of ongoing challenges such as violence, displacement, or climate-related disruptions.
In both models, your support helps address essential issues – such as access to education, health care, and safety – that affect all children and families living there. Some supporters choose one; others choose both.
Can I support Child Sponsorship, Because I Am A Girl, and Community Partnership with Girls?
Yes, you can support all three!
Through Child Sponsorship, you’re connected to one child – and your support helps strengthen the entire community around them. The updates you receive focus on your sponsored child and how they’re growing and learning.
Through Because I Am a Girl, you support girl‑focused projects across multiple countries that address the root causes of inequality – such as child marriage and violence against women and girls – where the need is greatest.
With Community Partnership with Girls, your connection is to a whole community, with a particular focus on girls. The updates you receive show how the entire community is progressing together over time – because when girls thrive, everyone else does too.
In all cases, your support helps address challenges that disrupt girls’ progress, like interrupted schooling, threats to their health, or safety concerns.
How is my Community Partnership with Girls support used?
Your donation is pooled with other supporters’ to address the priorities that community members have identified.
This means funds go where they’re needed most at any given time – such as helping girls stay in school, improving access to health care, or helping families stay safe when conflict or climate disasters disrupt their lives.
Circumstances can change quickly: Families may be forced to move; conflict or violence may escalate; floods or drought may damage homes and take away livelihoods. When this happens, girls and boys risk losing access to essential services like school or health care.
Because Community Partnership with Girls support is connected to the community, resources can be redirected as needs shift – so girls and their families continue to receive support even when conditions are unstable or uncertain.
Will I receive updates on the community’s progress?
Yes. You’ll receive annual updates that show how the community is progressing over time.
You’ll hear about what’s improving, what challenges remain, and how community efforts are helping girls and their families move forward.
You’ll also meet some of the people in the community through the stories they share, so you can follow their journey.
This lets you stay connected to one place and see the impact of steady, long-term support.
Is my donation to Community Partnership with Girls tax-deductible?
Yes. Community Partnership with Girls donations made through Plan International Canada are tax-deductible in Canada.
You’ll receive an official tax receipt, just as you would for other Plan Canada donations such as Child Sponsorship contributions, Gifts of Hope, and other charitable gifts. Receipts for recurring donations are sent in February of each year; receipts for one-time donations of $25 or more are emailed at the time of the donation.
Is this the same as refugee sponsorship in Canada?
No. Community Partnership with Girls is not the same as refugee sponsorship.
Community Partnership with Girls supports all children and families in the communities where they live, in countries where Plan International works. Programs focus on essentials like education, health care, and protection from violence. This includes support for internally displaced people and refugees who are living in that community.
Refugee sponsorship in Canada is a different type of initiative (not offered by Plan International Canada) that supports refugees as they resettle in Canada. Plan International Canada doesn’t offer a resettlement program.
While both aim to support people facing difficult circumstances, they work in different places and in entirely different ways.
Trust & transparency
Community Partnership with Girls is delivered by Plan International Canada, a registered charity with decades of experience supporting community-led programs around the world. Plan works with local partners and communities to ensure that funds are used responsibly and aligned with locally identified priorities, and is committed to transparency, accountability, and safeguarding in all its work.
Sign up for the Plan Insider newsletter
The go-to read for determined optimists shaping what’s next.