Plan International has come forward following allegations of misleading the public and donors, as well as failing 20,000 needy children across the world, after shockingly leaving Sri Lanka last year.

After four decades on the island, Plan International announced its departure in December 2019, due to the country’s significant economic growth and increase in its United Nations (UN) Human Development Index (HDI) ranking. The UN HDI is a statistical index that includes information such as life expectancy, years of education, and real income. High levels of a country’s lifespan, education level, and gross national income correspond with a higher HDI. Sri Lanka’s most recent HDI value for 2019 is 0.782, classifying the nation as highly developed. Even though this is considered a high classification, the livelihoods of Sri Lanka’s children remain in poor condition. Further, the organization’s employees claim the true explanation for its premature departure was increasing costs and internal disputes.

In January 2020, the organization informed global child sponsors that the programs they sponsored would be transferred to local partners. However, this did not occur, and no partner took over these projects as planned. Child sponsorships accounted for more than a third of Plan International’s €910 million revenue. The plan has since acknowledged that one of the factors considered when leaving was heavy expenses. According to internal studies from 2018, the Sri Lankan industry has “unsustainably high levels of operating costs.”

Former governor of Uva, one of Sri Lanka’s poorest districts, Maithri Gunaratne, has spoken out against Plan’s actions. According to Gunaratne, “[P]lan has failed these children. Communities raised hopes, which were then dashed to the ground.” The plan was granted a lot of confidence because they were a respectable NGO, but their failed ventures led to more false hopes. Water and sanitation were promised to the children of Uva, but they received neither.

Plan International said in a statement, “[W]e recognize we made several mistakes during the exiting process and we are determined to learn from them to prevent them from happening anywhere else in our organization.” Although this apology has been given, Sri Lanka’s underdevelopment continues today. Over the last decade, armed conflicts have killed almost 100,000 people and displaced 300,000 more. The dispute has also created a major negative effect on children’s education. While some attempts were made to expand this, there is still a long way before it is guaranteed as a right for all young Sri Lankans. Additionally, other children’s issues are still present throughout Sri Lanka, including child marriage, child labour, child soldiers, and the discrimination of children from certain religious groups.