It's funny how the notion of time has always been inextricably linked to practices and notions about motherhood. A woman trying to become pregnant will chart optimal times of the month she is most likely to conceive. Women who feel they are getting on in their years and are anxious...

I read recently that, at a population count of 2,791,140, Toronto had become the fourth largest city in North America.

Rapid population growth has always been something that interests me, especially as a development worker who has had opportunities to visit many cities across Africa, Asia, and...

In recent weeks, we have heard statements from leaders on the international stage that we are on the path to eradicating absolute poverty in the next two decades.

Leaders like President Obama in his 2013 State of the Union address; Bono, singer/musician/activist during a recent

We've seen an increasing amount in the news about Mali lately. A West African country in the grips of a conflict so brutal almost 400,000 people, mainly women and children, have had to flee their homes. Some have fled to southern parts of Mali, others across borders to Burkina Faso,...

I read recently about an interesting initiative based in the United States called Giving Tuesday. Timed to follow Black Friday and Cyber Monday, America's two most consumer-driven shopping days before the holidays, Giving Tuesday is designed to transform the way people participate in the giving season, including considerations...

Each year, according to the United Nations, more than 200 million people are affected by "natural hazards" like floods, droughts, cyclones, earthquakes or fires.

Whether these disasters take place in wealthier nations, like Canada or the United States, or in poorer and developing ones, like Haiti, they...

On October 11, 2012 the world marked the first-ever International Day of the Girl.

It's a day that we at Plan Canada, along with thousands of Canadian leaders and supporters, had pushed and worked towards for two years before the...

In my travels across Canada, people sometimes ask me whether our organization only helps girls. I tell them that it isn't the case at all. At Plan Canada, we're focused on children's rights and child protection, and that means rights and protections for all children, male or female....

Just a few days ago I joined Canada's newly appointed Minister of International Cooperation, and head of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Julian Fantino on a trip to Burkina Faso, one of several West African countries that has for months now been grappling with a severe food...

At this very moment more than 18 million people across the Sahel region of West Africa, about half of them children, are at risk from hunger.

For months now, the region has been in the grips of a drought and food crisis spurred by erratic rains, failed crops, poor...

Like millions of viewers, I've been mesmerized watching elite athletes from every part of the world giving the performances of their lives in pursuit of their Olympic dreams. The veterans are truly impressive, but I find myself most drawn to the rookies -- the young people bubbling over with the...

I recently came across a news story that should give all Canadians pause for thought as we recognize World Refugee Day on June 20. According to a recent United Nations report, by the end of 2011, there were approximately 42.5 million people on the planet living as refugees or displaced...

I firmly believe that the greatest and most urgent moral challenge the world faces is gender inequality, and specifically discrimination against girls. I believe this because statistics and research tells us that in many parts of the world, and in some of the world's poorest countries, girls face unique barriers...

Last December, thanks to determined Canadian leadership, the United Nations General Assembly designated October 11 as the International Day of the Girl Child. In creating a day to celebrate and acknowledge girls, the UN is putting its weight and influence behind global efforts to raise awareness of girls'...

A number of images may come to mind when Canadians think of Colombia. For some tourist or business travellers it may be of extravagant cruise ship ports or the hustle and bustle of its major cities and economic centres. For others, it is images from Hollywood movies and media --...

The word is spreading: investing in girls is the catalyst poor countries need to break the cycle of poverty. The second half of the message often gets short shrift: gender equality benefits everyone -- girls, women, men, boys.

In the past few years, "the girl effect" has been explored by...

Chronic hunger is a fact of life for about one billion people around the world -- but those in the Horn of Africa who are in the midst of a famine are facing hunger and malnutrition on a scale few of us in the developed world can comprehend. Even so,...

I've been saddened to see reports from Plan Canada's staff on the ground in Cameroon of a surge in the cholera epidemic there. Largely unnoticed by Canadian media, we've been told that the number of cases in the West African country has risen to 8,450 and 281 people...

There's growing grassroots awareness of both the plight and the power of girls. There's also growing support for taking action to remove the barriers facing girls around the world and benefit from their imagination, knowledge and creativity. You see it on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, and many, many websites raising...