Child Survival And Microfinance: Plan Is Awarded Three New Grants

Childreach
Wednesday, 3 October 2001

Washington D.C.- Plan's quality work in the areas of child survival and microfinance have been formally recognized on September 25 during a ceremony organized in Honor of U.S. Private Voluntary Organizations. The Office of Private and Voluntary Cooperation in the Bureau of Humanitarian Response of the U.S. Agency International Development (USAID) hosted this event. At the ceremony USAID announced its FY2001 grant awards for organizations that work to alleviate poverty, establish basic services and bring humanitarian aid to different parts of the world.

This year, Plan is proud to announce that it received three five-year grants from USAID: two child survival grants, and one for microfinance. The child survival grants are for Mali and Nepal. The Mali award of approximately US$ 863,000, is designed to reduce morbidity and mortality of children under five and women of reproductive age, as well as strengthening the quality of existing health services and links between these facilities and the communities they serve. Planned interventions include: reduction of malaria and pneumonia cases, control of diarrheal diseases and immunization. Plan has been working in Mali since 1976.

The US$ 1.1 million award for Nepal will support the second phase of the child survival program in this country. Phase one, also partially funded by USAID, began in 1997. In this new phase, Plan has proposed a program to assist the Ministry of Health to continue improving the health status of children under five and women of reproductive age. "In the last five years, in the areas where we work, we have seen tetanus immunization coverage for pregnant women increase from 2% to 49%", said Babu Ram Devkota, Child Survival Project Coordinator for Plan, during a U.S. Congressional briefing last spring. "Better trained local staff has tremendously improved health care practices for newborns, and births attended by trained staff has increased from 28% to 52%".

The goal of Microfinance programs within Plan is to increase food security and family disposable income, in order to improve children's welfare. This US$ 1.8 million grant is the third consecutive microfinance grant that Plan has received from USAID. While the first two aimed at introducing improved microfinance practices in Plan, this most recent grant will greatly increase Plan's capacity to work in a wider array of countries and deliver financial services to many poor individuals. "This grant gives us a rare institutional learning opportunity, one not tied to any specific country", says Delores McLaughlin, Micro-finance Program Officer for Plan. "It will enable us to improve our methodology, increase the number of partners we collaborate with, and find more effective ways to work in remote rural areas with poor clients, particularly women".

In the past seven years 14 Plan country programs, with the assistance of the centrally based Microfinance Technical Team, have established partnerships with 26 microfinance institutions in Latin America, Africa and Asia. These organizations are currently working with 87,000 clients, 90% of whom are women.

Representatives of non-governmental organizations, Members of Congress and USAID Administrator Andrew S. Natsios attended the award ceremony. In light of recent terrorist attacks in the U.S. Natsios reminded the audience, in his opening speech, of the importance of development work in promoting peace and a better world for all.

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