Plan International Canada Inc

Published purpose

This 37-month project aims to enhance and scale The Power Within program interventions, resources, and tools through a systems change approach to address the root causes of gender inequality in Canada. The project will partner with educators, youth-serving organizations, and other stakeholders to redefine harmful beauty norms and stereotypes affecting body confidence and self-esteem. The goal is to reach an additional 850,000 young people in Canada, especially girls and gender diverse youth between the ages of 10-17, to support them to develop the skills, knowledge and resiliency they need to develop strong body confidence and self-esteem, and support their journey to be agents of positive change in Canada and globally. Outcomes of the project will inform policies and practices supporting the advancement of girls, young women, and gender-diverse youth to take on leadership and decision-making roles in their communities, in Canada, and globally. With the Supplemental funding and extension provided in early 2026, Plan International Canada will conduct new activities to deepen the impact of the Centre of Excellence intervention and the Activating the Policy Recommendations Report for Systemic Change intervention, specifically the Systemic Change Fellowship for Youth activities. All of this will be done with the lens of how to increase impact, broaden reach, and integrate Canada’s priorities including economic security and career readiness of younger generations of women and gender diverse youth. This includes scaling out to reach new educators, teachers, schools, school boards, principals, and other youth-serving organizations and developing new tools focused on their needs (including new lesson plans, classroom video supplements, and content on USBs for easy distribution). Plan International Canada will focus on building new partnerships in Western Canada and will deliver two new learning and sharing forums – one virtual and one in-person. The project’s existing fellowship program will be enhanced by creating opportunities for youth to build knowledge, hone skills, and expand networks. This will include a needs assessment to inform new programming modules, and the creation of new tools and resources that will be offered through net-new virtual and in-person forums. The fellowship program will be extended and expanded, and small groups of fellows will be provided with a net-new group experiential learning opportunity where they will be paired with an organization focused on gender equality in Canada for them to activate on the recommendations in the systemic change project. They will be attending a net-new convening to network with partners, showcase the results and impact of their capstone project, and mobilize policy change. The existing Youth Hub will be expanded with new modalities as well as the creation of the Alumni Network. This intervention will have a particular focus on creating connections between confidence and self-esteem with economic security and career readiness. Through this they will further advance Gender Equality.