About the Cauca-Valle community
In the Cauca-Valle region of Colombia, families are raising children in the midst of constant uncertainty. Some days, heavy rains swell rivers – flooding nearby homes and farmland, washing away crops, and cutting off the roads families rely on to get food, get to work, and reach school. Other days, fighting among armed groups and government forces makes it dangerous to move freely through areas of armed confrontations.
When floods hit or conflict escalates, daily life stalls. Schools close. Going out to buy groceries is not safe. Health care slips out of reach.
When families are forced to make impossible choices, children are the most exposed. Missed school and empty plates push girls toward early marriage and leave boys vulnerable to recruitment by armed groups.
Our long-term partnership builds trust
Plan has worked in Cauca-Valle since 1993, building trust in communities where access can disappear overnight. The projects supported by Community Sponsorship are locally led and delivered by people who live in Cauca-Valle. When environmental or armed conflict escalates and travel to the programs within the region becomes difficult or unsafe, these programs continue operating – helping families keep children learning, supported, and protected through long periods of instability.
Challenges facing the Cauca-Valle community
When conflict flares or floods hit, Cauca-Valle families lose more than homes and crops. Daily routines fall apart – and children feel it first.
Staying in school isn’t guaranteed
For many children, getting to school is already a long journey. When fighting escalates or heavy rains wash out roads, that journey become unsafe or impossible. Children miss lessons. Many are up to two years behind in basic reading, math, and science skills – gaps that widen the longer they are out of school, especially for younger children who need strong early foundations.
Safety concerns shape daily life
During periods of violence, even going out to buy food can be risky. When food is scarce, families face painful choices: Hunger and poverty push children into work, increase pressure on girls to marry young, and make boys more vulnerable to being recruited by armed groups, especially when these groups target families who are struggling to survive.
Health starts with basic services
For many girls in Cauca-Valle, whether they stay in school or not comes down to basics: clean water and a private toilet they can use during their period. When those aren’t available, school stops feeling manageable. Girls miss days. Missing days turns into falling behind – and falling behind can lead to them dropping out.
What your support helps make possible
Community Sponsorship supports locally led solutions that keep children in school learning and feeling supported in their communities even when conditions are unstable.
Education that opens doors
When conflict or flooding disrupts school, reading clubs bring learning closer to where children live. Run locally, these safe spaces help children keep reading, writing, and practising basic skills – especially in the early grades. Community volunteers often walk with children, making participation safer and more consistent.
Emergency food support
For many families, having enough food enables them to keep everything else going. During periods of violence or flooding, food kits help families get through the worst disruptions, making it easier to keep children in school and safe. In just two months last year, more than 1,900 food kits reached children in Cauca-Valle.
Healthier communities, better futures
Schools need to w. ork for girls in order to get girls to stay. Sponsorship support focuses on improving water, sanitation, and menstrual health conditions so that schools are usable and safe for all. This has included distributing 12,000 hygiene kits to girls so they can manage their periods safely without financially impacting families, and improving school toilet facilities for more than 4,000 students
Behind The Scenes of Community Sponsorship
Behind The Scenes of Community Sponsorship
Girls in Cauca‑Valle are using mobile journalism to document their lives and call for change. Through Plan’s community‑led mobile journalism program, girls are trained as mobile journalists (MoJos), learning how to use cameras, audio tools, and storytelling to speak openly about the pressures they face simply for being girls.
In an upcoming video from Cauca‑Valle and the neighbouring community of TK, girls share their experiences with early marriage, teenage pregnancy, missed school days, and expectations that limit their futures before they’ve had a chance to choose for themselves.
Last year, Canadian journalist and Plan International Celebrated Ambassador Lisa LaFlamme met with girls in Colombia who are using these skills to push for change, including stronger laws protecting girls from child marriage.
Child marriage doesn’t just end a girl’s childhood. It replaces possibility with obligation. It’s a global injustice that we just cannot ignore" —Lisa LaFlamme
When a community thrives, every child thrives
Help children in Cauca-Valle stay in school, stay safe, and move toward a more equal future. Be part of what makes that possible today.
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