From the National Directror
The year 2025 revolutionised development cooperation and humanitarian work around the world. Severe cuts in development cooperation hampered life-saving humanitarian work, improvements in education, adaptation to the climate crisis and the promotion of girls' rights.
The cuts come at a time when the world is grappling with many interrelated crises. These include the escalation of several conflicts, disasters caused by climate change, numerous refugee crises and declining food security. A growing global movement against gender equality and human rights is restricting sexual and reproductive rights and putting civil society under pressure in more than 120 countries.
Plan International is urgently needed now – to stand alongside girls and defend the progress that has been achieved through hard work.
Our unyielding work is producing results. Last year, Plan International improved the lives of nearly 50 million children in more than 80 countries. We supported the education of more than five million girls. We helped 3,4 million girls get protection from child marriage, human trafficking, violence and exploitation. We improved young people's access to sexual and reproductive health services.
Our humanitarian work has expanded rapidly. Plan International provided assistance in 73 humanitarian crises to keep families safe and children in school even during crises. We delivered aid in conflicts in Ukraine, Gaza and Sudan, among other places.
Plan Finland continued to promote equality and respond to the need of help as a strong part of the international umbrella organisation. We completed the successful four-year My Body, My Future 2 programme and strengthened our humanitarian work. At the end of the year, we received news of new four-year funding from the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs for our development and humanitarian programmes.
At the same time, we received the sad news that STEA funding for two of our projects supporting young people who had moved to Finland would be ending. The year 2025 was also difficult for Plan International Finland in terms of private funding, and we had to make difficult decisions about reducing our operations.
Thanks to our invaluable supporters, partners, activists and committed staff, we will continue our successful, far-reaching work to build a better world. We will not compromise on our goal: we will continue to promote children's rights and equality and provide aid for those living in crisis in cooperation with children, young people and communities.
This annual report provides an overview of what we achieved last year thanks to our supporters. Thank you!
Anna Könönen
Interim CEO
Plan International improved the lives of nearly 50 million children and provided humanitarian aid in crises around the world.
Plan International is a global children's rights and humanitarian organisation that builds an equal and just world. We promote the rights of girls and young women in particular in more than 80 countries in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific.
When girls' rights and gender equality are realized, we are all stronger. Together with our partners and local communities, we break down harmful norms, transform societies and support girls in making decisions about their own lives.
The first five years of life shape a child's future, but millions of children still do not receive adequate nutrition, healthcare and early childhood education. We support early childhood development around the world in many ways.
In 2025:
There are 251 million children worldwide who do not attend school. Girls are still more likely to be excluded from school, especially during their teenage years. When girls receive an education, they can change their own future and that of their community.
In 2025:
Conflicts, climate crisis and inequality increase violence against girls. Plan works with families and communities to change harmful attitudes, strengthen protection, end violence against girls and create safe spaces.
In 2025:
Millions of young people are not in education, employment or training – and girls are particularly likely to be excluded from the labour market. We provide young people with the skills, mentoring and opportunities they need to find their place in the labour market and support the success of their communities.
In 2025:
Young people make up half of the world's population. Yet their voices are often ignored in decisions that affect their own lives. We support young people in leading the change they want to see, influencing policy and holding their leaders accountable.
In 2025:
Millions of girls are unable to make free and informed decisions about their own bodies and lives – for example, what happens to their bodies or when and whom they marry. We work with girls and communities to bring about change.
In 2025:
We brought life-saving aid and humanitarian expertise to communities affected by conflict, earthquakes, floods and hurricanes.
In 2025, we delivered aid to 73 crisis and disaster areas. Our humanitarian work reached 13 million adults and children, 3.2 million of whom were girls.
There were more armed conflicts and crises in the world than at any time since the Second World War. Countless communities were struggling with simultaneous and overlapping crises, such as escalating conflicts, disasters exacerbated by climate change, forced displacement and food insecurity.
Girls' safety, education and opportunities were under increasing threat, from conflicts in Gaza and Sudan to the worsening climate crisis in Myanmar and the Philippines. The need for aid is growing, but providing it is becoming increasingly difficult as many countries cut their global development funding last year.
Plan brought life-saving aid and humanitarian expertise to communities affected by conflict, earthquakes, floods and cyclones. We provided food, clean water and shelter. We promoted children's education and child protection and provided psychosocial support. Our humanitarian work is effective and rapid because, together with our partners, we are there before, during and after a crisis.
We responded to acute humanitarian crises in Gaza, Ukraine and Haiti, among other places. The humanitarian situation in Gaza was catastrophic, and parts of Gaza were declared to be in a state of famine. Together with other humanitarian organisations, we demanded an end to military operations and the delivery of aid to the Gaza Strip.
We continued our work despite the difficult conditions in Sudan, which is experiencing the world's worst refugee crisis and where millions of people are at risk of starvation. Girls and women are particularly vulnerable, threatened not only by starvation but also by sexual violence and exploitation.
We also continued our long-term work to improve global food security and prevent child malnutrition.
Our programme work focused on the sexual and reproductive health and rights of teenage girls and young women.
In 2025, we implemented development cooperation projects in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe with the support of our institutional donors, Finnish companies and Finnish donors, as well as our international umbrella organisation.
The projects promoted girls' education, youth employment, the participation of children and young people in decision-making, sexual and reproductive health and rights, protection and early childhood education.
In 2025, a four-year programme funded by the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs came to an end. The programme promoted equality and the realisation of young people's sexual and reproductive health and rights in Ethiopia, Laos, Mozambique, Myanmar, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
Over the four years, our work supported by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs reached over one million people, including 268,996 directly and approximately 732,000 indirectly.
Our work supported by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs will continue in the new four-year BRAVE programme in 2026.
During the year, we also implemented four EU-funded projects. The PATHS project supported the return of pre-school children to pre-school and early education in three provinces in northern Ethiopia after the civil war. The 21 preschools built or renovated during the project provided children with high-quality early childhood education in a safe and child-friendly environment.
The Sou Jovem project in Mozambique strengthened young people's opportunities to participate in democratic decision-making. We raised young people's awareness of decision-making and strengthened the role of youth organisations in issues related to human rights, gender equality and social inclusion.
In Uganda, we focused on preventing unwanted pregnancies among young people and supporting pregnant young people and teenage parents with EU funding. Our two-and-a-half-year project in the Kamuli district came to an end. Through our project, more than 12,000 young people received sexual and reproductive health services from local health centres and trained volunteers. In April, we launched a new project in northern Uganda.
With the support of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), we continued to strengthen sexual and reproductive health rights in Myanmar, Nepal and Zimbabwe. In addition, we launched a new collaborative project with Nokia in Ghana, where we are training 360 young adults to use technology and acquire work skills.
Plan International Finland carried out humanitarian work in Lebanon, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nigeria and Ukraine.
During the year, our humanitarian programme work focused on protracted crises and conflicts in Lebanon, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nigeria and Ukraine. We collaborated with local authorities, civil society actors and communities.
At the end of March, Myanmar was rocked by a powerful earthquake that killed between 3,600 and 5,350 people and left tens of thousands homeless. We quickly launched an emergency appeal, and Finnish donors helped the victims of the earthquake. We provided food, clean water and shelter, and distributed essential hygiene supplies. By the end of 2025, Plan had helped more than 96,000 people in the earthquake-affected areas.
We also worked in Myanmar with the support of the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs. We promoted education for vulnerable children, young people and young adults, as well as child protection and sexual and reproductive health services, and prevented gender-based violence. We are implementing a two-year project in collaboration with Finn Church Aid in 43 communities in the Kachin region of northern Myanmar. During 2025, we reached over 20,000 people, three quarters of whom are young people and children.
We received €1.6 million in funding from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs for Ukraine and Lebanon in spring 2025. In Lebanon we support children's access to inclusive, high-quality education and child protection services. We also provide cash assistance to particularly vulnerable families. Our goal is to help 15,430 people during the year.
In Ukraine, we are strengthening the well-being of children and young people in the midst of war by providing mental health and psychosocial support, legal aid and cash assistance. By the end of the year, our work had reached 1,430 people in the Kherson, Mykolaiv and Odessa regions, 913 of whom were young people and children.
With funding from the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Department (ECHO), we supported the continuity of high-quality and inclusive schooling in Cabo Delgado province in Mozambique and in Borno state in north-eastern Nigeria.
In Cabo Delgado, 44,483 children and young people had access to high-quality, inclusive and safe schooling during the two-year project, which ended in the spring. In addition, we improved the psychosocial well-being and safety of 26,971 children and young people in schools and communities. However, the escalation of armed conflict and Cyclone Chido further increased humanitarian needs in Cabo Delgado. With additional funding from the EU, we are promoting access to child protection services for children and young people and improving services for victims of sexual and gender-based violence. We also provide cash assistance and strengthen humanitarian protection.
In Nigeria, we are ensuring that children aged 10–18 have access to education and child protection services. We built and renovated temporary learning spaces, classrooms and toilets, trained teachers and distributed teaching materials and sanitary pads. During the calendar year, the project reached 30,292 people.
In our domestic work, we strengthened girls' rights and youth participation.
In 2025, geopolitical tensions and the destabilisation of the rules-based world order further emphasised the importance of human rights and equality work. When countries turn their attention to their own interests, it is important that citizens and decision-makers commit to global responsibility and equality.
Although the changes also affected our domestic activities, we were able to respond to the challenges effectively. Girls' rights and youth participation are also at the heart of our work in Finland.
We supported global education and digital skills in schools by producing and distributing teaching materials on equality, children's rights, sustainable development and digital well-being, and by maintaining the popular globaalikoulu.net website. A total of over 13,000 copies of the teaching materials were distributed. We organised 18 global education training courses for teachers and educators. Plan’s child rights ambassadors made 310 ambassador visits, reaching 11,579 children and young people, mainly in schools in 39 locations.
Our work with immigrants celebrated its 15th anniversary, and to mark the occasion, we organised a seminar entitled ‘The Right to Belong’ in November. At the seminar, which attracted around 60 participants, we discussed what social inclusion means for young people who have moved to Finland and how we can work together to build a more equal future.
A total of 446 active young people participated in the Muuttajat! democracy education programme, discussing social issues and considering different ways to influence society. In the Matkalla programme, we met with ninth-grade students who had been living in Finland for a few years from autumn to spring. In groups and at events, we discussed topics related to further education, working life and leisure time, went on trips and visits, and tried out different hobbies.
In 2025, we ran two nature projects funded by the City of Helsinki and the Otto A. Malmi Donation Fund. In these projects, we organised low-threshold local nature trips for children, young people and families of different ages who had moved to Finland and were living in the capital region. In projects funded by DNA and Microsoft's data centre community, we organised a total of three digital groups for young people in 2025. The groups discussed topics such as screen time management, data security, artificial intelligence, dealing with online harassment and a digital life that promotes personal well-being. In spring 2025, we launched a new project co-funded by the European Union, Skilled Young Mothers, in which we support the well-being of immigrant mothers under the age of 25, with a particular emphasis on equality and non-discrimination.
The Voimanaisia project ended when STEA funding ran out in spring 2025. In the project, we strengthened the intergenerational relationship between teenage girls who had moved to Finland and their mothers, increased their knowledge of their rights and obligations, and lowered the threshold for participation in Finnish society.
We created topics of discussion and kept the status of girls in the spotlight on social media and in the media. During the year, we met with decision-makers together with our young influencers.
We communicated our work effectively and through multiple channels. We focused particularly on the status and rights of girls, humanitarian crises, youth activism and the goals and results of our work.
We gained well-deserved media coverage with topical issues, opinion pieces and research data we produced. For example, our international research on the experiences of girls and young women who have been forced into child marriage and our programme in Zimbabwe, supported by the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and our donors, received wide coverage. Plan's work was featured in the media on average just over once a day.
During the year, we documented our development programmes in Uganda and Zimbabwe. We produced a variety of stories, videos and photos, focusing on the role of boys and men in promoting equality and sexual and reproductive health and rights.
On social media, our audience was particularly enthusiastic about topical statements and collaboration with social media influencers.
We continued to publish Plan magazine, a high-quality magazine about our work, in print and digital formats. We strengthened the distribution of the magazine's content through newsletters and social media. For cost reasons, we changed the distribution frequency of from four to two issues per year. The print run of Plan magazine was approximately 30,000.
Our advocacy work focused in particular on girls' rights, development cooperation and its funding, and foreign policy that promotes equality.
In its mid-term review in spring 2025, the Finnish government decided on new cuts to development cooperation, which excluded Finnish civil society organisations. On a positive note, funding for humanitarian disaster relief was increased. Plan's advocacy work was significant in that the government's support for the programme work of Finnish development organisations remains strong despite the historically large cuts.
We celebrate Girls' Day at the Parliament every year: in 2025, Plan's coffee event brought together around 100 MPs and Parliament staff interested in girls' rights. In addition, we continued to actively support the work of the Parliament's Girls' Rights and Development Group by assisting its members in their legislative work.
Nepalese Smarika Pokharel served on the IGEP award jury and spoke at the gala ceremony.
We increased our cooperation with other organisations by, among other things, organising events on equality and climate issues with Fingo and NYTKIS ry. We were actively involved in organising events for the International Gender Equality Prize (IGEP), as Smarika Pokharel, a young activist from Plan International Nepal, served on the prize jury and spoke at the gala. In the summer, we organised a meeting between Minister Ville Tavio and young activists at SuomiAreena to discuss the importance of development cooperation.
During the year, we worked on a report on strengthening the position of sexual and reproductive health and rights in Finnish foreign policy. The report will be published in spring 2026. We continued our active and successful work in several networks and committees, such as the Development Policy Committee and the Advisory Board for International Human Rights.
We met with decision-makers from all political parties. We actively influenced the government's preparatory work by raising issues related to children's rights and equality in meetings, public comments, statements and opinion pieces. During 2025, we were in contact with and met a total of 280 decision-makers. Plan's active young influencers participated in 35 of these meetings.
Plan's young people campaigned, communicated, educated, used art as a tool for influence and took leadership positions at the top of society.
In 2025, Plan's young people demonstrated more strongly than ever that their voices, ideas and courage can change the world. Young people built a more equal and equitable future by campaigning, communicating, educating, using art as a tool for influence and taking on significant leadership positions.
They promoted equality in decision-making, the media, educational institutions, on the streets, in the arts and in international forums. Plan's young activists raised important human rights issues, reformed leadership practices and created new spaces for meaningful dialogue.
The Women's Day march, Equality Day campaign, Menstruation march and Girls' Day brought together a large group of young people for whom equality and equity are not just a theme for special occasions but a starting point for everyday life and their own active engagement. During the year, we reached over 64,000 people in 95 locations through more than 300 activities.
Girls' Day on 11 October was the biggest campaign of the year. Plan's campaign teams and other activists in different locations raised the issue of child marriage, reaching over 25,000 people in schools, on the streets, in libraries and in shopping centres in over 90 locations. The events included discussion sessions, street campaigns and documentary film screenings.
Plan's unique Children's Parliament, consisting of activists aged 11–18, continued to play an active and influential role at the heart of Plan's work. The social media campaign "A Day with the Children's Board" involved prominent decision-makers such as Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (National Coalition Party), Minister of Sport and Youth Mika Poutala (Christian Democrats) and Member of Parliament Nasima Razmyar (Social Democratic Party).
Pauliina Mannerhovi and Minea Kaippio, co-chairs of the Children's Board, were selected as Plan's 2025 activists. This recognition highlighted the leadership of young people and their role as trailblazers for a more equal future.
The Girls Takeover campaign reinforced the same message: girls took the places of five prominent leaders at Posti, the City of Oulu, Suomen Kuvalehti magazine, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland and Elo for a day and made a concrete change in whose voice is heard in decision-making.
Plan's young people were heavily involved in campaigning at SuomiAreena 2026. Plan's children's government had developed its own Alias game on equality for SuomiAreena, which several ministers and other decision-makers were able to play on the streets of Pori. Plan's young people Maryam Al-Juboori and Anniina Kaila also took part in a panel discussion on gender-based harassment and how to tackle it.
Private and corporate donors are invaluable supporters of our work and enablers of long-term results.
Our regular donors continue to be the foundation of our work. They enable long-term development cooperation and rapid and effective action in humanitarian crises. In 2025, we strengthened our fundraising in a changing and challenging operating environment.
In March, we ran an extensive campaign called Tytöt tahtoo (Girls Want), which focused on girls' right to decide about their own lives. The campaign centred on girls in Zimbabwe. Influencers Sointu Borg and Jani Toivola also reinforced our message.
We gained new supporters in our campaign against female genital mutilation at the beginning of the year and in our May campaign on menstruation, Se aika vuodesta (That Time of Year). We raised funds extensively around International Day of the Girl Child with the theme of child marriage. In the run-up to Christmas, we highlighted girls' education and marketed our non-material gifts in particular.
We kept the world's crises in the spotlight, especially the acute situations in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan. Finns donated generously to emergency aid in Gaza, and support for Ukraine remained active. In addition, we allocated funds from our emergency aid fund to support the crisis in Sudan. One-off donations continued to play a significant role in financing humanitarian work.
Corporate cooperation was successful and diverse in 2025. Companies are invaluable partners for our work, as they enable us to expand our work and strengthen our impact in a situation where global polarisation and funding cuts are increasing. During the year, we continued our cooperation with our long-term partners and also welcomed new companies. Our partners included DNA, Elo, Huhtamäki, JOY Earbuds, Lunette, Microsoft, Nokia, Posti Group Oyj, Roschier, SOK, Solita, Julius Tallberg Kiinteistöt Oyj, Telenor and UPM.
In 2025, we collected a total of €8.5 million in private donations. We had 28,700 regular donors, of whom 11,500 were sponsors and 17,200 were monthly donors to Tyttösponssi.
Our total income for the 2025 calendar year was €20 million. Our income decreased by € 3.4 million from the previous year. The decrease was due to a reduction in institutional funding.
Development cooperation grants accounted for more than a third of our income last year. More than a third of our income came from our donors and sponsors, and about a quarter from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The rest of our income came from corporate partnerships and other institutional funding and grants.
In the 2025 calendar year, we used 75 per cent of our funds for programmes that improve the rights of children and young people. The acquisition of new supporters, human resources management, information technology and general administration accounted for 25 per cent of our expenses.
Our goal is to use at least 75 per cent of the funds we raise for programme work to promote the rights of children and young people. Fundraising and administrative expenses enable the quality, continuity and expansion of our operations and ensure that the changes in the lives of children and young people are permanent.
In the last calendar year, we allocated a total of €15 million to programme work.
Employees at Plan's national offices also work for other Plan countries' organisations and Plan International's head office. As a result, the local figures include internal revenues and expenses that are not included in the income and expense ratios.
Plan International Finland has an emergency relief fund, which we use to provide assistance in alleviating humanitarian crises, preventing and preparing for disasters and crises, and other emergency relief in accordance with Plan International's principles and aid guidelines. The fund enables us to strengthen our aid capacity. In 2025, the emergency fund raised € 340,000. We sent € 300,000 to crisis areas during the past year. At the end of the calendar year, the fund had a balance of € 390,000.
During the year, we focused particularly on strengthening the well-being and psychological safety of our staff.
In 2025, our human resources management focused on strengthening the self-management of our staff and work community and increasing psychological safety. We revamped our well-being at work survey to better meet the needs of the organisation. The questions were made more diverse, precise and insightful than before, which has enabled us to respond to staff needs more agilely.
Our staff jointly selected two Voitto projects, i.e. strategically significant development projects. The implementation of one of these projects began in the autumn. The selected project focuses on the role of boys and men in our work for girls.
During 2025, for financial and production reasons, we had to conduct change negotiations, which resulted in the dismissal of four people. The change negotiations understandably affected the well-being and psychological safety of the staff. Therefore, we strengthened these areas in the autumn with the support of an external expert, among other things. Work to improve well-being will continue during 2026.
In spring 2025, we put our outsourced payroll administration and related personnel systems out to tender in order to better meet our needs and reduce costs. We implemented the change project at the end of the year.
In 2025, Plan International Finland employed an average of 78 people. This includes all persons who were employed during the year. In addition, one person performing civilian service and three trainees worked with us. Six people were on study, family or other leave. Our payroll also included approximately 30 child rights ambassadors who visit schools.
As an employer, Plan International Finland is a member of the Hyvinvointiala HALI ry union and complies with the collective agreement for social welfare organisations.
