Our Top Stories of 2024

A Plan for life

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We’ll start our 2024 most popular story list with one that’s sure to warm your heart. It’s the kind of feel-good story that’s at the core of our mission. We don’t want to spoil it, but it’s got everything: drama, love and a main character who changed the course of his story because he had a plan – and a sponsor. Go ahead and be inspired.

Documenting a documentary

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This second-most popular story takes you behind the scenes with Nigerian filmmakers Aimalohi Ojeamiren and Ike Nnaebue for some movie-making magic. They made the short documentary Salma as part of Plan Canada’s Embedded Storytellers project. They had only two days to film and shadow Salma, an 11-year-old girl who lost her hearing.

The mini-documentary was so powerful that it went on to be featured at the Imagine This Women’s International Film Festival in New York City.

Find out what lengths Ojeamiren went to to capture Salma’s resilient spirit, her love for learning and her family’s dedication. “I never imagined I could make a film about someone I can’t verbally communicate with,” says Ojeamiren.

Salma is one of 12,033 girls living with disabilities whom Plan International and Global Affairs Canada has supported in northern Nigeria.

The timeline of a crisis, through a child’s eyes

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Crises are happening all over the world, and they’re all over the news. But do you know what’s going through the minds of children caught in the middle as the hours, days and months pass?

“You are always afraid, day and night,” says Fatima,* who was trapped in Gaza. Watch her diary entries come to life in this animated video. Nearly a quarter of the world’s children now live in conflict zones. They are innocent victims of conflicts they have no control over.

In this top story, hear from other girls like Fatima about their experiences in earthquakes, as refugees and as survivors of violence. Plus, walk through the steps of Plan’s emergency response. A donation to our Children in Crisis Response Fund helps send our teams to assist with:

• Assessing urgent needs when disaster strikes
• Immediate life-saving support as crises unfold
• Long-term recovery in the aftermath

Explainer: The Humanitarian Principles

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“Crises are becoming more complex … and devastating,” says Nadine Grant, vice president of international programs and business development at Plan International Canada. That’s why it’s so important to have the Humanitarian Principles as a guide in our work.

If you’ve ever wondered how we decide whom, where and how to help; about the risks for humanitarian workers; or you’re just curious about how you can make the most effective difference during an emergency, this popular story is for you.

In it, Grant walks us through the four principles that guide the life-saving efforts of humanitarian organizations like ours.

Not your average travel diary

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Plan Canada president and 2024 winner of WXN’s Most Powerful CEO award, Lindsay Glassco, visited Guatemala this past summer. It wasn’t your typical trip down south.

Instead of farm-to-table dining, Glassco’s itinerary took her straight to the source. In her first-person story, she recounts meeting Sandra, a chicken farmer who started her business through an entrepreneurship program supported by Plan’s Gifts of Hope.

Glassco skipped the beach to visit centres that support migrants and survivors of sexual violence. Forty per cent of women and children migrating through Guatemala say they experience violence and extortion during their harrowing travels.

“The people I met show me that change happens when hope is… given the space to exist in the face of immense challenges,” reflects Glassco.

Read about her most memorable moments of the trip that capture children’s courage in her personal dispatch.