Charity accused of abandoning children

Plan International’s withdrawal from Sri Lanka last year has left the charity facing accusations of abandoning 20,000 children.

After four years of working in the country, the decision to remove the support was taken due to the rise in Sri Lanka’s economic development; in particular, its improving HDI measure. They informed supporters, whose funds were used to support individual children in the country, that they had two weeks before the charity would remove the financial assistance. Many supporters had been funding children for the four years and were not made aware of how the children would now cope with the funding being withdrawn.

One of the areas supported by the charity is Uva, one of the poorest areas of the country. People in the area were promised that another charity would take over the projects, but this has not taken place. This has left many families without financial support and children unable to access education.

What is clear is that administrative decisions were clearly the cause for the decision to withdraw but lessons need to be learnt about how these changes are best communicated to all those affected.

For more on this story, check out the following article:

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/may/22/plan-international-accused-of-abandoning-children-in-sri-lanka-exit