The document summarizes various projects by Plan International to provide vocational skills training and microfinance support to help communities become more economically secure. Some of the projects discussed include supporting weaving cooperatives for Mayan women in Guatemala, teaching beauty therapy skills to girls in India, and providing baking training and supplies to start businesses for students in Ghana. The projects aim to empower people, especially women, through skills development and entrepreneurship opportunities in fields like agriculture, crafts, hospitality, and more.

1. Economic security See Plan’s projects in action A new future: Plan International offers young Zimbabweans a plan for the future by supporting them in income generation and skills training.

2. Building on tradition: Mayan women from Guatemala weave their traditional textiles with the help of microfinance support from Plan.

3. More than just a pretty face: In India, a girl learns beauty therapy skills at a Plan-supported vocational training school.

4. A rts and crafts: Sample handicraft work made and sold by women at the Chun Hua Women's Activity Center in China.

5. Sweet vocation: Vocational training students in Ghana learn how to make baked goods. Soon they will have the skills to start-up and run their own businesses.

6. Working together: With Plan's support, a community association in Ethiopia has gained the skills and supplies needed to produce and sell honey.

7. Ladies who (grow) lunch: The Women's Committee in this remote community in Paraguay are more than just homemakers – they are also entrepreneurs, providers of family nutrition, and empowered.

8. Pour, not poor: In Vietnam, where hospitality is one of the fastest growing industries, students get hands-on training in the fundamentals of professional hospitality.

9. Breaking the cycle: Women struggling to make ends meet in Ethiopia's capital have learned business skills and started shops in a Plan-constructed market.

10. Worth saving: Ladies from a Village Savings & Loans Association in Egypt lock up their savings box at the end of their meeting.

11. Veggies on wheels: Jose took a loan from a Plan-supported microfinance program in Colombia to fund a mobile vegetable stall.

12. Golden alternative: As an alternative to working in Burkina Faso’s dangerous gold mines, Plan provides professional training in other trades such as carpentry, house building, mechanics and sewing.

13. Self-help group: Migrant women in India meet every month to learn new skills, such as embroidery and marketing, which they use to supplement their incomes.

14. Fresh start: After participating in Plan's agricultural training program in Nicaragua, Cruz’s family is able to eat healthier and sell food in the local market.

15. Trades for life: Students attend the Plan-funded Juba Technical High School in Southern Sudan where this girl is learning how to weld.

16. plancanada.ca