Because I Am a Girl Campaign of Plan - Dissertation Example

? Fresh Reflection Table of Contents Overview about PLAN 3 Campaign: Because I am a girl 4 PLAN’s progress towards education and development of girls7 Gibb’s model of Reflection 10 Relating Gibbs’ Model of Reflection and the Campaign 12 Relating Gibb’s model of reflection and group dynamics 14 Definition and Meaning of Reflection 15 Action Plan 15 Reference 18 Overview about PLAN Plan is a global non-profit organization which has been created with the aim of providing services, financial help and material assistance to the deprived communities and the families belonging to the communities of the developing world. The organization was founded in the year 1937 by refugee worker Eric Muggeridge and British journalist John Langdon Davies, with the primary objective to provide accommodation, food and education to the children whose lives have been completely disrupted because of the civil war of Spain. The organization has grown over the years and is currently celebrating 75 years of its existence (Plan -1, 2013). It needs to be mentioned that as of the modern times, it is a global charity for children and is presently working with kids of the 50 poorest countries of the world with the aim of providing them with a better future. The non profit organization has a very clear and distinct long as well as short term plan in the form of vision and mission. Discussing about the vision of PLAN, it can be stated that the focus on building a world, where every child can realise their highest and maximum potential in a society that respects individual rights and dignity. The mission objectives of the PLAN are to achieve high quality improvements in the quality of life for the deprived children in the developing countries all over the world (Plan -2, 2013). While talking about PLAN in an elaborate manner, it can be stated that the activity portfolio of the global non profit organization comprises of focus on arenas like education, health, water and sanitation, protection, economic security, emergencies, child participation and even sexual health including HIV. The working of the organization includes two vital functions, campaigning and advocacy. The advocacy function of PLAN aims at sharing the facts about the lives of the children belonging to more than 66000 communities of the developing nations and the success of the programs which aims at recognizing their rights. The organization is committed to ensure that the girls, boys and the adults who are the part of the communities within which PLAN team works should have their opinions in the decision making process of their nation. They are also dedicated towards raising alertness about growth issues among the common public and motivate them to take steps for claiming their rights. The main objectives of the advocacy function are as follows: Put effort towards identifying the right of the girls in the developing nations, mainly the right to education. Enhancing awareness about the effect of disasters on kids, specifically girls. Making sure that decision makers and governments sustain the rights of the girls and the boys, as laid down in the rule for child rights. The campaign function of PLAN focuses on conducting various awareness campaigns all around the world. In this assignment, the focus is on the ‘Because I am a Girl’ campaign of PLAN. Campaign: Because I am a girl The campaign: Because I am a girl has been designed to tackle and address the multiple challenges that are faced by the girls of young age in various geographies around the world. The challenges of the girls in various regions around the world comprises of some very serious issues like poverty, violence as well as discrimination. Because of a direct impact of these factors, the young girls in various countries and locations around the world are taken out of school, and are often married off at a very young age. This denial of education to these young females all over the world is resulting in restricting them from the opportunity to develop the very power of human minds which has the ability to transform the course of their lives and can help them in successfully warding off the difficulties and threats associated in their lives in connection to poverty, discrimination and violence. It has to be largely considered that this particular and highly unjust practice that is prevalent all around the world is resulting in a tremendous waste of high potential human capital of the future. To clearly highlight the negative impacts of the restriction of education to the education, PLAN has provided some very highly important statistics in the form of infographic data. Source: plan-international.org -1, 2013 This focus and objective of the ‘because I am a girl’ campaign is to work with girls as well as a large number of stakeholders of the society like communities, traditional leaders, governments, global institutions and the private sector to tackle the problems that lead to prevention of girls from completing their desired levels of education. The prime objective of this global campaign is to prioritize the successful completion of highly quality secondary level female education by providing stress on this particular issue from the level of world leaders, while eradicating the hindering factors like child marriage as well as gender specific violence in the educational institutions (Plan -1, 2012, p. 14). The other objectives of the campaign comprises of ending child marriage, increasing the funding amounts for girl education. A very unique and bold objective of the campaign is to promote equal participation in decision making among the boys and girls and thereby promote inspiration among the power holders to take relevant and necessary action. The infographic data given below provides the positive impact that can happen in a society if a girl is allowed to pursue her education for a year. Source: plan-international.org -1, 2013 Talking in regards to the number specific goals, it can be stated that the campaign intends to target around 4 million girls directly and provide an improvement in their lives in regards to access to school, skills, protection as well as livelihood. Also, in an indirect manner, 40 million boys and girls are targeted for spreading positive improvements through the gender specific programmes. Finally, it can be stated that the organization intends to change and enhance the lives of around 400 million girls through the process of active policy change associated with gender equality and girls’ rights (plan-international.org -1, 2013). PLAN’s progress towards education and development of girls One of PLAN’s most notable campaigns in the recent times “Because I am a girl” covers all the poor, uneducated and underprivileged girls. PLAN raises funds for their development and welfare. In the words of Michelle Bachelet, “No enduring solution to the major changes of our day – from climate change to political and economic instability to poverty – can be solved without the full participation of the world’s women and girls. This means paying real attention to the State of the World’s Girls, by providing evidence and calls to action, Plan’s series of reports, and the “because I am a Girl Global Campaign, help all of us to advance gender equality as our individual and collective responsibility”. “Because I am a girl global Campaign” encourages gender equality and it is considered as an individual as well as collective responsibility of the nations and people participating in the campaign. According to PLAN, out of five adolescent girls throughout the world, at least one girl is deprived of education due to the factors like social pressure, discrimination and poverty. On a regular basis, girl child are brought out of school and are forced into employment or marriage. Most of these girls suffer from prolonged abuse and torture. In many countries, the emergences of humanitarian tensions like conflicts, natural hazards etc. hinders girls’ right of entry into schools. Non-state armed forces are employed in some countries to ban girls’ education and these forces target the school girls directly and attack them to prevent them from going to schools. In 2012 a teenager, Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan was shot by the Taliban armies and her only fault was that she encouraged the very basic cause which was the education for girls. Since then the issue of girl’s educational right was put more emphasis. Moreover even if the girls are allowed to go to school, the environment of the school proves to be a threat for them. Several others reasons contribute to the lack of education among girls which are listed below: Lack of teachers Lack of school amenities and uniforms Damaged school premises Risk of attack and abuse on the way to school and post-attack trauma and stress The campaign ensures completing nine years of quality education for the girls. Access to education can pave the way for a quality life for the girls. PLAN’s movement for educating every girl would see some positive changes in the upcoming future. A new worldwide scheme on edification, led by the UN secretary-general, recognizes the importance of protecting the education budgets in the time of crisis. it acknowledges that, though there took place much development in the recent years, “the quality of education remains desperately low in many parts of the world” (Plan, 2012) PLAN states that girls have the potential to break the cycle of poverty. With skill enhancement, support and proper education, girls can build their own prosperous future and they can introduce a huge change in the social and economic spheres around the world. Education is necessary for girls as it provides girls with the insight of limitations of getting married and having child at an early age. Education can also help them with information to stay healthy, updated about the surroundings and joyfully step into adulthood. Moreover education would help the girls to earn for their family from a respected job and thus would create a better society and country in turn. (Plan, 2012) Along with securing the right for education, PLAN also puts stress on the overall growth and development of girls from their adolescence to their adulthood. The campaign states that it is a duration when emotional, physical, cognitive development and psychological changes take place. This period notes the importance of risk-taking and experimentation which helps the girl to make decisions for their future. These stages of development form the personality and critical thinking aspects within a human being. However, in many places these stages are denied to the girls. In most rural and poverty stricken regions, girls are not provided with the chance to grow and develop into a healthy human being and before that they are imposed with family liabilities and child birth. In these regions the Girls tend to get married at a very tender age mostly immediately after their first menstrual cycle, within 10 to 14 years of age which is regarded as the inception stage towards adulthood. As the girls get married marriage, they instantly transform into adults from a child. For girls marriage will lead to childbearing at an early age and this process is supported by certain cultural and religious factors of some nations. This leads to poor physical and mental health of the girls. Plan also states that the adolescent girls face number of issues which are not given proper importance till date. For instance, the Millennium development goals (Mdgs) have no clear vision about the adolescent girls. With the aspect of education, Mdg is apprehensive about universal primary education but it does not provide access to other educational levels. Though Mdg focuses on cutting back the maternal mortality rate, but it has only stated that early pregnancy could be a factor for maternal mortality. With Plan’s stress on the issues of adolescent girls, a new parameter has been added to determine the adolescent fertility factor with relation to the rate of maternal mortality, which might aid in addressing the issues concerning the reproductive and sexual health of the adolescent girls. (Plan, 2012) Furthermore, the organization also puts significant focus on poverty prevention, advanced healthcare system and advanced educational facilities for the benefit of the public at large. The financial aid provided by the organization along with the business development and skill training programs which have been devised to facilitate the families to get financially protected so that they can efficiently meet their kid’s primary needs including education. Families that rely entirely on cultivation are also supported by the schemes of the organization to enhance their food production capacity and to diversify (Plan, 2012). Gibb’s model of Reflection Talking in regards to Gibb’s model of reflection, it can be stated that this particular reflective cycle was conceptualized in the year 1988. This particular model of reflection talks about 6 various stages of reflection, which comprises of the steps like description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion as well as the action plan. The picture provided below provides a clear representation of the multiple interlinking steps. Source: University of Cumbria, n.d. The various stages of reflection are being elaborated further. In discussing about the description stage, it can be highlighted that this area requires the detailing of the event that is being reflected by the individual. This area requires elaboration of the background of the incident, presence of other associated individuals, influencing factors etc. The second stage talks about the issue of feelings. In this stage, the individuals attempts to recollect and memorize the issues that were going on in their minds. The focus in this stage is largely about the decoding the feelings of the individuals, that were running in their minds at that very instant. The next stage in the Gibb’s reflective model is the evaluation factor. In this stage, the individual intends to evaluate how well the incidents happened from their very own individual perspectives. The individual might evaluate his or her own reaction to the situation as well as the reaction of the others. The individual also intends to evaluate the entire experience of the incident. The fourth stage of the Gibb’s model of reflection is the analysis. Under this area, the individual attempts to provide information and views as to what acted in and against having the particular experience. The conclusion point which is the fifth stage in the Gibb’s model of reflection talks about the individual’s learning experience from the entire incident and experience. It is important to mention that if the individual had a positive experience then there is a high chance that the individual will likely to relive the same kind of experience in the future. On the other hand, if the individual had a negative kind of an experience, then he or she might focus on recommending what changes needs to be inculcated so as to make sure that the unpleasant and highly undesired outcome and experience is not repeated (University of Cumbria, n.d.). The last stage of the Gibb’s reflective model is the action plan. In the action plan, the individual intends to summarise all the information and the necessary things that are required to have a better and more satisfying experience. Also, the individual in the course of designing the action plan might recommend the various steps that need to be done in order to avoid a highly unpleasant experience. Relating Gibbs’ Model of Reflection and the Campaign It is important to state that the main theme of the campaign ‘because I am a girl’ is more focused on providing educational empowerment to the young girls in the societies all over the world. While connecting the Gibb’s Model of Reflection with the campaign, it has to be considered that this particular model of reflection comprises of multiple stages like description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion as well as the action plan. In the description stage of the reflection model, it needs to be mentioned that the group got aware about the underlying problems that acted as the motivation to start the campaign by PLAN. The group was highly shocked after learning the fact that among every five girls all over the world, one unlucky girl is denied education. The group also started learnt about the factors like poverty, discrimination as well as violence that are largely responsible in developing the barriers for girl education all over the world. Since the feeling phase of the reflection model intends to draw focus about the issues that were going on in the minds of the team members, it has to be mentioned that the team members felt in actively getting involved with this noble initiative of PLAN in some way or the other. The team members felt that they should play a direct role in bringing a positive change in the lives of the young girls which help in providing them with their basic right of fulfilling their need for complete education. The third stage of this reflective model is the evaluation stage. On evaluating the course of incidents from the perspectives of the team members in a combined manner, it has to be mentioned that since every member of the team were already motivated for doing something positive that will have a direct connection to the girl focused global campaign of PLAN, a lot of idea in regards to getting involved was brain stormed by the team members. The entire process of brainstorming turned out to be very innovative as well as a great learning opportunity as the team cohesively brought new ideas of association on the table and analyzed their viability as well as potential of success in the process of execution. The next stage in the reflective model is the analysis stage which considers the various factors that either contributed positively or negatively in having the specific team based experience. Talking about the positive factors, it has to be highlighted that since the team members were young in age, they had a very dynamic energy in the brainstorming sessions. The dynamic energy displayed by the team members helped in moving things faster among the team. It also greatly helped in conceptualizing, discussing as well as critically analyzing the feasibility of the various plans that are formed as a result of intense brainstorming sessions. However, the only negative factor is that since the team largely comprised of youngsters, who lacked organizational exposure, the team at times lacked serious professional coordination, vision as well as constructive communications. In talking about the conclusion stage, which comprised the fifth stage of the reflective model, it can be said that the members of the team collectively felt that the experience that happened as a result of peer learning, brain storming of new ideas as well as mutual interaction and communication was a greatly delightful and awakening one. All the members of the team felt that the working on ways of getting associated with the global campaign of PLAN, helped in a great way to develop their individual abilities in regards to working in a team. Finally, in relating the action plan stage of the Gibb’s model of reflection with the campaign, it can be stated that since the entire team had a very pleasant learning experience, the focus of the team will be relive such an experience. However, to have a better and more effective learning experience, the focus should be on forming a team where the individual comes from different backgrounds. Having a diversified background team is highly important in this case, as it will help to a great extent in having new ideas during the brain storming sessions. Also, a team with members representing diversified backgrounds will help in a great way to promote cross cultural trends, which might be highly effectives in increasing the productivity of the entire team. Relating Gibb’s model of reflection and group dynamics It has to be said that the formation of any group is largely associated with the roles and responsibilities related to problem solving, accountability, purpose, mode of function as well as leadership. The various stages that comprise the Gibb’s model of reflection further enhance the roles and responsibilities that form a cohesive force in determining the group dynamics. Talking in a sharper manner, it can be stated that the factors of description as well as feeling associated with this model of reflection helped in a great way in providing a sense of purpose and accountability to the entire group. The factor of evaluation and motivation helped in developing the problem solving abilities of the entire group. It also boosted the mode of functioning of the entire team. Finally in the action plan stage of the reflective model, the leadership skills of the team members got highlighted. Definition and Meaning of Reflection It is important to state that the reflection forms a very integral and important part of this particular assignment. From a very simplistic point of view, reflection can be explained as an outcome of individual or group based observation (Brown and et.al, 2001, p. 50). In a business or organization specific setup, it can be said that the fundamental and the most effective way of enhancing reflection is by making managers as well as decision making professionals to undergo a developmental kind of training which will help them in identifying new scopes, opportunities as well as methods of getting things done (Seibert and Daudelin, 1999, p. 203). Additionally, it can be stated that the reflection of a critical nature is mostly a method of engaging in implicit thinking which can help in a great way in identifying the various challenges and difficulties that might exist in a particular system (Pockett and Giles, 2008, p. vii) Action Plan As a direct outcome of the brain storming sessions conducted by the team, several ideas of small nature has been integrated together and collectively planned in the form of an action plan. It is important to mention that though the plans have evolved as a result of brainstorming, yet it can the website of the campaign that has been put up by PLAN has been referenced to coordinate and plan the efforts in a better manner. It can be said that the ideas included in the action plan has been analyzed and outlined by the team, so that they can be successfully carried out and can help the entire team to successfully connect with the global campaign ‘because I am a girl’. It is very important to mention that most of the ideas that has been selected and inculcated in the action plan are of fund raising nature. The action plan developed by the team is spread over a time line of around 4 weeks. The details are provided below: 1st week: Hosting the “The Good Reads, Good Deeds Book Swap” Event 2nd Week: Hosting the fundraising event “Lunch Money Matters” 3rd Week: Developing and hosting the small community centric website for fundraising in the local active community as well as the neighbourhood 4th week: Hosting the fundraising event “Pink Lemonaid” In elaborating about the fundraising activities included in the action plan, a case by case focus needs to be provided. The first fundraising event “The Good Reads, Good Deeds Book Swap” will be held in the local community neighbourhood. The basic idea of the fundraising event is to communicate with friends, family members and fellow students and collect their old most favourite books and magazines for selling them off at the event (Plan International Canada Inc -1, 2013). The second fundraising event, “Lunch Money Matter” will be hold in the educational premises and will focus on encouraging the participants lunch from home and dedicate the day’s lunch money to the contribution of the fund targeted towards PLAN’s ‘because I am a girl’ campaign (Plan International Canada Inc -2, 2013). The third event of fundraising will be focused on developing a online fundraising forum which will help in gathering collections from the friends, family as well as other members of the local community. The last event which is the “Pink Lemonaid” will be focused on getting donations from local community members who will be attracted to the event held in the local neighbourhood through active marketing using handouts and flyers (Plan International Canada Inc -3, 2013). Finally, the money gathered through the four week fundraising events will be sent back to the PLAN organization, which is responsible for conducting the campaign across various geographical borders. Reference Plan, 2012. Plan UK Annual Report and Accounts 2012., Available at http://www.plan-uk.org [Accessed 3 Sept 2013] Plan -1, 2013. History. [Online] Available at: http://plan-international.org/about-plan/history [Accessed 3 Sept 2013] Plan -2, 2013. About Plan. [Online] Available at: http://plan-international.org/about-plan [Accessed 3 Sept 2013] Pockett, R., and Giles, R., 2008. Critical Reflection: Generating Theory from Practice: the Graduating Social Work Student Experience. Australia: Darlington Press. Brown, J.H. and et.al, 2001. Resilience Education. USA: Sage Publications. Seibert, K.W and Daudelin, M.W., 1999. The Role of Reflection in Managerial Learning. USA: Greenwood Publishing. University of Cumbria, n.d. Gibbs’ (1988) reflective cycle. [Online] Available at: http://www.cumbria.ac.uk/Public/LISS/Documents/skillsatcumbria/ReflectiveCycleGibbs.pdf [Accessed 3 Sept 2013] plan-international.org -1, 2013. Numbers. [Online] Available at: http://plan-international.org/girls/numbers.php?lang=en [Accessed 3 Sept 2013] Plan -1, 2012. Worldwide Annual Review and Combined Financial Statements 2012. [Online] Available at: http://plan-international.org/files/global/publications/about-plan/annual-review-and-accounts-2012-english [Accessed 3 Sept 2013] plan-international.org -2, 2013. Plan’s Goals. [Online] Available at: http://plan-international.org/girls/plans-goals.php?lang=en [Accessed 3 Sept 2013] Plan International Canada Inc -1, 2013. The Good Reads, Good Deeds Book Swap. [Online] Available at: http://becauseiamagirl.ca/bookswap [Accessed 3 Sept 2013] Plan International Canada Inc -2, 2013.Lunch Money matters. [Online] Available at: http://becauseiamagirl.ca/bookswap [Accessed 3 Sept 2013] Plan International Canada Inc -3, 2013.Lunch Money matters. [Online] Available at: http://becauseiamagirl.ca/pinklemonaid [Accessed 3 Sept 2013] Read More