Author: Sara Baaring

Angela W. Muriithi is the Regional Director for the Middle East, North Africa, and the Horn at Plan International. Previously, she led Plan International’s East and Southern Africa region. She’s also worked with BBC Media Action as Country Director for Kenya and Somalia and Research Manager for East Africa. She began her career as a teacher and brings deep, hands-on experience with children to everything she does. Her work spans education, health, protection, governance, youth livelihoods, and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) in both development and humanitarian settings.

Angela holds a PhD in the Sociology of Education from the University of Cambridge, where she focused on child labor and Education for All. She also holds an MPhil in Politics, Democracy and Education. She has published widely on childhood, education, gender, and media-for-development, exploring themes like the cultural politics of education, development, and childhood.

In honor of World Children's Day and in the spirit of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, particularly UN Sustainable Development Goal 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions, Angela joined us for a conversation about her journey as a champion for children’s rights.

What do you focus on today? What pivotal experiences led you here?

“I’m the Director of Sub-Region for MENAH - Middle East, North Africa, and the Horn - at Plan International. We cover about eight countries: Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, and Somalia. It’s a heavily humanitarian context; we’re currently responding inside Gaza, Sudan, and Ethiopia.

“My work focuses on creating and driving lasting systemic change for children, girls, and young people in crisis and fragility. I’m passionate about bridging humanitarian response with longer-term development, pushing toward recovery, resilience, and development, so people aren’t stuck in endless humanitarian emergency cycles. I also work to influence governments, major institutions, and donors to invest in children’s rights in a fast-changing world. I love my job because it brings together what I care about: principled humanitarian action, gender equality, and the belief that every child deserves the chance to fulfill their potential to learn, lead, decide, and thrive.

“As for what led me here: I had a stable childhood with loving, supportive parents in a big, close-knit family. My father was passionate about education. We had a ‘graduation wall’ at home where everyone’s university graduation photo went up, and no gaps were allowed! I trained as a teacher; my first degree is in education. Seeing children transform through learning convinced me of the power of education.”

This year’s World Children’s Day spotlights children’s rights amid overlapping crises. From your vantage point, what’s the most urgent children’s rights issue we’re still not addressing boldly enough?

“Two interconnected rights are most affected and often the first to collapse in crises: the right to education and the right to protection from violence. When war, famine, or environmental shocks hit, children can’t go to school. Out of school, they face increased risks. Schools are more than places of learning; they’re safe spaces shielding children from harm, abuse, and exploitation.

“Recently I was in Gambella, in eastern Ethiopia, at the Nguenyyiel refugee camp, supporting refugees from South Sudan. We’ve built schools from scratch and set up protection centers and child-friendly spaces for play, arts, drama, and music. Schools not only provide safety from exploitation, abuse, and armed group recruitment, but they restore a sense of normalcy and hope. Keeping children, especially girls, in school during emergencies must be a global priority.

“But schools are under attack in conflicts. In 2024, there was about a 44% increase in attacks on schools in contexts like Gaza, Ukraine, Myanmar, and Sudan, leading to deaths, abductions, and trauma for students and teachers. Aid cuts worsened this; around 33 million children have fallen outside aid programming. That means school closures, unpaid teachers, and higher dropout rates.

“So, we must keep children, especially girls, in school during emergencies and ensure schools are safe and protected from attacks.”

As a woman championing feminist, values-based leadership, how do you see that translate into concrete gains for girls, especially in contexts where social norms restrict their voice and choices?

“Shifting harmful social norms is slow, difficult work because these beliefs run deep. In our work, we never arrive telling communities what to do. We start by listening, building trust, and creating space for honest conversation, including intergenerational dialogue. That dialogue is powerful: it surfaces barriers, sparks reflection, and helps families see the real benefits of keeping girls in school – the confidence, future income, and healthier households.

“When communities start to recognize that the gains outweigh the old expectations, that’s when real change begins. We also work deliberately with those who hold influence such as teachers, elders, faith leaders, and radio hosts – because they shape community thinking in ways outsiders never can.

“Norms don’t shift overnight, and in crises people slip back into survival mode. We see child marriage rise when families lose income; girls exposed to greater risks when fetching food or water; and boys pulled into gangs or armed groups. Gender-based violence increases, and the progress communities have made can quickly unravel. We saw this clearly during COVID-19. That’s where feminist and values-based leadership matters: leading with empathy and courage, and refusing to treat children’s rights as optional when things get hard. We keep listening, understanding fears, and standing alongside communities to keep children safe and learning. Because when children are in school, families have hope, and harmful norms lose their grip.

“Girls’ Takeover on the International Day of the Girl shows this beautifully. For a day, girls ‘take over’ leadership roles in government, ministries, businesses, and beyond, leading agendas, meetings and advocating boldly for their own and other girls’ needs. These are powerful events as the girls see what’s possible, and those possibilities become worth protecting. They dream big and work hard.”

Talking about the climate crisis, it is often referred to as a child-rights crisis. Can you share a program where climate adaptations are aligned with the protection of children’s rights and deliver tangible, positive outcomes for children?

“A strong example is in Zambia, where we’re helping schools and communities adapt to severe droughts through hydroponic school gardens. Small greenhouses in schools grow vegetables using nutrient-rich water instead of soil, using up to 90% less water and producing crops faster. The program is in partnership with the Ministries of Education and Agriculture.

“It tackles hunger and protects children’s rights to food, education, and participation. Students run the gardens through youth farmer clubs, learn climate-smart skills from experts, manage fishponds, and some schools sell surplus vegetables to generate income for the school. Girls benefit from improved nutrition, strengthening resilience. Solar-powered irrigation draws water from boreholes to the hydroponic systems, making the project climate-smart. The school becomes a hub where climate adaptation and child rights meet, and children are part of solutions.”

In the attempt to amplify local leaders and youth voices, what does genuinely shifting power to communities look like in practice, and how do you measure whether it’s real and not performative?

“Localization for me is not a slogan - it’s a moral, strategic, and urgent imperative. If we are serious about impact and legitimacy, then we have to make it real, not tokenistic. This means centering local voices and putting communities and local actors at the heart of everything we do, leveraging the trust we’ve built over decades. It means genuinely embracing youth leadership in our governance and programs; being clear about the value that organizations like ours bring rather than simply acting as a conduit for funding or being a power broker; and carrying a mindset rooted in feminist, anti-racist, social justice principles. And ultimately, it means sharing decision-making with those directly affected, shaping solutions together.

“Measuring results means tracking the share of the budget local organizations are allocated, the number of co-led initiatives, partnership quality scores, and whether advocacy and implementation are led by local actors. In short, power has shifted when communities hold decisions, dollars, and accountability, and international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) can clearly articulate their value add and step back as local leaders lead.”

As digital tools expand, so do risks (harassment, exploitation, misinformation). What’s your framework for balancing online safety with digital inclusion for children?

“In certain regions, the first challenge is access. During COVID-19, millions of children couldn’t access remote learning due to lack of internet - about 37 million in MENA and over 60 million in Eastern and Southern Africa. We must first bridge the digital divide.

“Once access is there, then comes the harder part – keeping children, especially girls, safe. Harassment, exploitation, and misinformation have become endemic online. Add artificial intelligence into the mix, and the risks get even more complex. But the answer isn’t to keep children offline; it’s to equip them to navigate the digital world safely and confidently.

“Plan International’s Girls Get Equal campaign focused on online safety, working with governments and tech companies to improve safety reporting mechanisms and giving girls practical tools to protect themselves. In the Philippines, our efforts contributed to a Senate bill strengthening protections against online sexual abuse and exploitation of children. In South Sudan, we secured commitments to promote girls’ online education and representation. We need strong laws and accountability mechanisms, alongside digital inclusion. Children have the right to be online and to be safe, respected, and heard.”

Many initiatives stall without sustainable funding. What financing models or accountability mechanisms have you seen ensure continuity and scale for child-rights programming?

“A few financing models that we’ve seen work are: diversifying and avoiding over-reliance on single funding streams; seeking longer-term, multi-year programs and blended partnerships; and engaging development banks to integrate child rights and gender equality into national plans. Continuity and scale come from creative, diverse financing. This means longer programs, local ownership, market-linked innovation, and government uptake.

“Accountability mechanisms include strengthening local participation and ownership, so communities, businesses, or governments can adopt and sustain successful programs beyond donor cycles. It is crucial to continue influencing governments to take responsibility for children’s rights through budget advocacy and national coordination platforms, pushing ministries to fund and sustain what works.”

What’s one piece of evidence or insight from research and fieldwork that has most changed how you think about, design, or scale programs for children? What’s most impactful in your view?

“One of the biggest insights that’s shaped how I think and lead is this: children’s lives don’t fit neatly into sectors, but our programs often do. When I first visited places like South Sudan and Ethiopia, I saw again and again that when crises hit, the lines between education, protection, and livelihoods disappear. A girl who drops out of school because of hunger or displacement isn’t just losing an education opportunity; she’s suddenly at risk of early marriage, exploitation, or violence. That experience changed how I think about impact.

“Real change for children doesn’t happen through single projects; it happens when we design programs that reflect the full reality of their lives. The research we’ve done at Plan International, especially around girls’ education in emergencies and youth economic empowerment, reinforces this. The most impactful programs are those that connect protection, education, and livelihoods. In Gambella, Ethiopia, for example, our education-in-emergencies work combines learning spaces with psychosocial support and skills training, so children are protected while also building hope for the future. When we stop designing for sectors and start designing for the child - their safety, their learning, their voice, their future - the work becomes more meaningful, more resilient, and more likely to last.”

If we center World Children’s Day 2025 on children’s own priorities, what are the top messages you’re hearing from them, and how should policymakers and donors respond?

“Child focused organizations like Plan International prioritize listening to children. There’s this proverb: only the wearer knows where the shoe pinches. Listening to [children] is critical to understanding their challenges and co-creating solutions. What children want isn’t complicated: to be children. They want to go to school, learn, play, dream about their future, and have a fair chance to build it. They want safety and security.

“For girls, this often means not being forced into early marriage. Our report, Let Me Be a Child, Not a Wife, captures girls’ voices on what marriage takes away: freedom, friendships, dreams, and what keeps them safe: staying in school, supportive parents and teachers, and protective communities.

“Children don’t need us to reinvent their dreams; they need us to remove the barriers to those dreams through education, protection, and sustained support—so every child can simply be a child.”

Frontiers is a signatory of the United Nations Publishers Compact. This interview has been published in support of United Nations Sustainability Development Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls and United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 16: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.