Reaching the top of the mountain won’t be easy, but it’ll be an epic adventure that will take you on a journey to fight for every kid’s rights! Are you ready? With UNICEF’s Right Runner you will join a new generation of inspiring young people that are claiming their rights and leading the way to the world they deserve. A world within reach. Set in Latin America and the Caribbean; skateboard through an obstacle-ridden old town, parkour your way to school, run to safety during extreme flooding, jump and slide in a dark and dangerous city and rise to the top of the mountain for a final and unique...

Girls and young women are unstoppable! Today, girls around the world are tackling issues like child marriage, skills and learning inequality, climate change or self-esteem. This International Women's Day 2020, meet some of the girls who are doing –and leading!– change towards a more equal world for all. Do you know other girls leading and standing up for women's rights, whether they are entrepreneurs, innovators or initiators of movements? Share their stories with Voices of Youth here, and join us on social media with the hashtag #voicesofyouth.

There are 1.8 billion young people in the world. Imagine what our world could look like if every single one of us was supported and empowered to fulfil their potential? But right now far too many don’t get to realize their goals, or are unable to contribute to their communities. Globally, over 200 million adolescents are not in school; and many of those who are, feel like they are not learning the skills that they need. Millions are affected by poverty and violence, living their lives in fear. Too many feel like they don’t have a voice. We want to see a world where all young people feel...

Many of us are interested in advocating for the rights of people with disabilities. But sometimes, even when we want to send a positive message, we don’t always use the rights terms. Voices of Youth and UNICEF asked three young disability advocates - Barbora, Keer, and Rolando - to put together a list of Dos and Don’ts for writing about issues of disability.

Children and young people are one of the region’s greatest assets. But too often their voices go unheard or they are excluded from decisions that affect their lives. In March, the European Commission plans to launch the new European Union Strategy on the Rights of the Child 2021 – 2024. For this, decision-makers decided to set a new standard by inviting children and young people living in Europe and beyond to share their views and influence how the strategy would be shaped and what topics it should prioritize. To this end, consultations were launched that collected input from over 10,000...

The internet is a great tool for doing research BUT it’s important to ensure the credibility of the information. Pay specific attention to what sites you are visiting and make sure you are using official websites, reputable news agencies, or good academic journals. The strength of your understanding will come from the strength of your information, so make sure you are using reliable, accurate sources. A reliable or credible source is one that is unbiased and backed up by evidence. It can be difficult to determine whether something is credible or not, especially on the internet, so here are...

While preparing for your advocacy journey, you will have gathered a lot of information and you need to start consolidating it. One of the best ways to do this is by writing down the information – you will need this information throughout your advocacy process in different forms. Consolidate the information into the following topics: Main problem or concern: a brief overview of the main problem. What is the main problem? How does it affect the target population? Why is this issue important? Context and background: overview of the factors leading to this situation and important considerations...

Raising awareness involves taking the information you learned during the fact-finding section and turning it into something people can easily understand. You also need to inspire them to get involved and take action. You will need to build momentum throughout your advocacy process, continuously drawing people together to support your cause. The way you communicate your ideas and activities will depend on which stage of the advocacy journey you are on. Whether you are just beginning or further down the line, there are some important points for you to consider. To do this, you need to know your...

Events are a good way of sharing information, networking with other people, and developing ideas to support your advocacy process. There are a few important things to keep in mind when organising an event. Purpose and Objective Before you decide to hold an event, you need to determine what your objective is – what are you trying to achieve through this event? Sometimes your objective might be quite general, such as simply sharing information, and other times it might be more specific, such as asking for contributions to a policy document. Understanding your reason behind organising the event...

Anywhere you live, people will use a form of media to communicate with each other. This could be a school newsletter, a local newspaper, a radio station or a TV programme. Building public awareness is an important part of the advocacy process. Media is a powerful tool for advocacy. By using your voice in the media, you can influence decision makers, politicians, and the general public. Our society is sometimes called the information society. Every day, and through different kinds of channels, information is shared to inform, educate or entertain – as well as to sell products and services...

Digital platforms – including social media – provide powerful ways to communicate ideas, raise awareness, encourage broad support, and build momentum for your cause With more and more people having access to the internet via their mobile phones, digital engagement can offer a quick, cheap and easy way to reach many people. The global reach of digital platforms allows you to interact with people from around the world and learn about ideas and struggles different than your own. This boosts creativity while at the same time fosters solidarity networks among young people Digital platforms are...

It is crucial for the success of your advocacy to follow up with contacts you have established during the process. If your advocacy process has led to a decision, such as adopting a policy or deciding to put something into action, you need to follow up with the decision-makers to make sure this is being done. Hold them accountable to their promise to act! Following up on the progress of your work will differ depending on the nature of your advocacy, who you have engaged with and what you are trying to achieve. Throughout your advocacy process you will engage with a wide range of people...

At various points throughout the advocacy process, you will feel stuck, confused, or demotivated. Do not despair – this is all part of the process and it is often in these moments that we do our best learning. So what should you do if that happens? First, try to get support. Whether it is a friend, guardian, parent, teacher or colleague, try to find someone who you can talk to and share ideas with. Personal support and encouragement are very important so try to find someone who can support you. Second, remember that you are not alone. Sometimes we are the first people to make a path that...

The first step in an advocacy process is to gain a deeper understanding of your issue. This is where you will use your skills as a researcher. The more you understand your topic and the issues surrounding it, the better equipped you will be to take action. Here are some things you need to gather information on: History and Background Social Context Political Context

You can also gather information through personal engagement. This is as simple as talking to different stakeholders to gather opinions and perspectives. This will help you understand how people are affected by, and feel about the issue. A stakeholder is any person, group, organisation, government department, company or institution that has an interest in the issue or cause you are dealing with. Some might be more directly linked to the issue than others, and so it could be a good idea to create a map or diagram of all the groups and people that could be connected to your work. It is important...

As you go through the steps in your advocacy journey, it is likely you will begin to identify actions you can take to help bring about change. Developing a plan for your advocacy depends on how clearly defined your issue or cause is. Your plan of action is never fixed or set – it grows and develops as you learn, and you will need to constantly revise your plan based on the experiences you have. Keeping in mind all the information you have collected through research and personal engagement, ask yourself the following: Who are the main decision-makers I need to engage with and what is the best...

It’s important to know whether our ideas are working, or if there are things we need to change. This is what monitoring is about – regularly gathering information to determine the impact our advocacy is having and to see if we need to do things differently. Even with the best planning, things don’t always work out the way we expected. Monitoring asks you to appraise both the outputs and outcomes as described above in the impact model, and can offer information on where a policy, programme or project is at any given time. In other words, it provides a ‘snapshot’ of the situation or programme...

April 2018 The Youth Advocates programme, developed by UNICEF in partnership with United Nations Volunteers Programme, offers young people between the ages of 18 and 24 an avenue to act as agents of change. A total of 38 national and 12 international vacancies are available for 2018 - 2019 in 33 different countries across the UNICEF network. Through a one-year UN Youth Volunteer placement in UNICEF country offices, young people will have the opportunity to work on youth participation and youth engagement projects that make a difference for every child. The volunteer assignment promises to be a...

Think of youth participation as a giant umbrella that covers many ways and means of being involved. All forms of advocacy done by young people could be defined as youth participation, but not all forms of youth participation could be defined as advocacy.

A policy is a set of principles, ideas or plans that guide decisions to achieve a certain outcome. Policies are important because they shape the way we do things, they determine how we behave, and how we experience our everyday lives. If you can change the fundamental principles that guide decisions, you have a better chance of achieving your goal and sustaining it into the future. Because of this, advocacy always links back to policy Most institutions or organisations have policies that provide a guide for how to make decisions. At the highest level, there is global policy, an agreement...