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Global and Regional child-led initiatives

Global and Regional child-led initiatives

COVID-19 has presented more opportunities for children to connect with decision makers at a regional and global level, opening the door for more and better collaboration at higher levels: “More children are able to be part of global discussions, as they don’t need to travel, be out of school, worry about visas, chaperones etc. Budget-wise this is also more cost effective, and they are able to participate at global level discussions ”.

Globally, children and adolescents are proving to be agents of change who can come up with solutions ant take concrete actions to address VAC and other pressing issues in their communities. 

Globally, the Scouts’ Messengers of Peace  initiative has contributed 2 billion hours of community service through 16 million local actions towards peace and sustainable development. Through these efforts, children and youth are being parts of the solutions, as “Scouting is recognized globally as a vital force for humanitarian action and emergency response. During COVID-19 pandemic, hundreds of thousands of Scouts around the world stepped up in different ways to ensure the safety of their communities and respond to their needs” .

 



Global 100 million campaign
https://100million.org/		 The 100 Million campaign is a call to action for a world where all young people are free, safe and educated: supporting young people to mobilise to end violence against children, eradicate child labour ensure education for all.
Triggered by child labor, they address education and VAC, hoping to:
-Raise joy
-Raise awareness with children, how to protect themselves
-Deliver Timely info
Peer to peer model of activism.
Their participation model was offline and they had the challenge of taking it online with COVID-19
Recently launched a campaign called "Justice for every child".
Challenge to taking their youth training program online.
Covening 80 world leaders to advocate for marginalized children.

"Whilst at the outset of the pandemic focus was on direct relief, there has been a shift towards young people demanding action from their governments as opposed to financial help from fellow civil society. It has been recognised that despite COVID-19 exacerbating the vulnerability of millions of children facing exploitation and abuse, the root causes of this were rooted in structural injustices that began before COVID. For example failing judicial systems, lack of child-friendly spaces to report, lack of properly funded and resourced rescue centres, multiple barriers to education (fees, disability, gender discrimination etc)."

Example 1: At the beginning of the pandemic, 100 Million youth trustee's (elected representatives of the All-Africa Student Union, Organising Bureau of European School Student Unions, European Students' Union, and the Commonwealth Students' Association, along with youth activists from marginalised communities including former child labourers) co-created the Justice for Every Child campaign - calling for global financial commitments worth $1 trillion to fund and deliver targeted interventions to protect the almost 20% of children living on $2 dollars or less per day from the short- and medium-term impacts of COVID-19. The youth-initiated Justice for Every Child campaign now has over 50 youth-led partner organisations, ranging from international networks, national bodies and local grassroots groups tackling the impact of the pandemic on the frontlines in refugee camps, informal settlements and rural villages.

Example 2: Our network of youth-led community groups across the world have continued to reach out (online and offline) to marginalised and vulnerable children and young people throughout the pandemic. From the informal settlements in Liberia to the poorer districts in Peru, this peer to peer interaction has been instrumental in not only providing connection in a time of isolation for many, but in these youth-led groups formulating advocacy demands (the primary role of groups) based on the real life experiences of COVID-19 for their marginalised peers.
Global Child Rights Connect Children as part of processes: making sure children are being part of their own processes, drafting guildenines, governance.
Story book with positivess - poems with illustrations by children.
Children briefing governments with recommendations on how to react before a new pandemic, and how to improve response.
Will be putting together a task force focusing on child participaiton and empowerment - with World Vision.
GlobaL Company 3 Time capsule created by over 3k adolescents from 16 countries: https://www.coronavirustimecapsule.com/about ((England, Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Channel Islands, Portugal, Spain, Kenya, USA, Croatia, The Netherlands, France, Ukraine, New Zealand, Thailand, Austria, Canada, Northern Ireland).
Global Time to Talk Time to Talk is an initiave run by TdH Kindernothilfe, Save Canada. It works and empowers working children to imrpove their working conditions. Child committees chose violated right to focus on, and build advocacy work around it, from risk assessment to use of the budget. Children's committees are completely free to use budget. Bolivia examples focusing on VAC - More on notes, ask Lucha.
Also peer to peer component - children wanting to connect to other children in their same situation and supporting each other across borders. Given that the project has been running for over 2 years now, they have seen the positive effects on mental health empowering children has provided.
Global Restless Development Solidarity hangouts.
Feeling restless campaign.
Providing psycosocial support.
Capacity building around online world: biggest safeguarding threat: making assumptions about digital natives.
Youth Against Mis-informaiton program: young people browse through Twitter and review mis-information aroud COVID to provide accurate info.
Mental health: pyramid of support: PM speaks to young leaders, who speaks to volunteers, but this is having emotional drain on them.
VAC: Reporting line being affected: How COVID has impacted the work done with those vulnerable populations? They’re trying to get the information out to them, but the reporting line is affected. Sensitizing that reporting pathways are interrupted, and trying to make their information available widely: distributing pocket guides, posters.
Twofold approach: distributing information offline, and training team members / volunteers to be able to act as reporters.Children can report violence through them - example of Sierra leone. Flexibilizing reporting means.
Global Save the children Global study on VAC - 52 countries
Regional Save the children Campaign: "El cubreboca no tapa mi voz" (The facemask doesn't stop my voice)
Also webinars on digital risks, safeguarding
Regional Save the children Soy niño trabajador y tengo derechos / Children taking forward advocacy to improve their working conditions. Related to economic impact of COVID. They've had meetings with decision makers and they're working on an advocacy plan around police brutality and movility.
Global WOSM Created a support website with resources and suggestions for Scouts globally with suggestions on what they can do to support COVID response in their country.
Global Scholas Online meet ups between adolescents / children to talk about feelings and emotions. 3 hours sessions where children and adolescents from all over the world would meet to talk about how the pandemic is affecting their wellbeing. Results shouwed children being sad, stressed. Meetups help them see that they're not alone. They've reflected on the importance of family, and they'r worked around the concept of time. They break into smaller groups and this helps them have more intimacy. They've been reflecting upon the future, and the post COVID world.
Regional (Africa) Save the children High level virtual dialogue between children and policy makers.
Global Save the children As part of #ProtectaGeneration Save our Education campaign, mobilising groups of children in focus countries in digital hangouts with decision makers to express their demands, followed by a global hangout with international decision-makers.
Regional LAC Save the children Children holding decision makers accountable - online conversations with decision makers / addressing child work, addressing mental health.
Also, children 10-18 from 9 countries in the regionl provided their views and recommendations on COVID.19-. These were combined and aggregated.
Regional MAG UN Igf Internet policy
Global Global Campaign for Education Highschool students from Brazil write letters to the world about the challenges of education today with COVID. Letters published in the global campaign website along with resources. Voices from children in Japan in how their lives have been affected by the pandemic.
Regional Child Rights Coalition Asia CRC Asia's member organizations has direct work with children. Their services vary and include providing helplines, online counselling, raising awareness on important safety measures against COVIF 19 by making information available in local dialects and also lobbying for inclusion and services for marginalized population of children and their communities.
Global Green Hope foundation At Green Hope we have gone fully digital and in the past months have conducted 25 virtual workshops for school children in Canada, Middle East, South Africa and India. We have held a series of webinars and continue to do so, bringing in multidisciplinary experts from UN processes, parliamentarians, civil society experts, university professors – The Former President of Ireland, Mary Robinson was a panelist - to discuss what should building back better look like, how can youth inclusivity be enhanced in the new normal and how can we build more resilient equitable societies, thus enabling children and young people to interact with decision makers. Also, we have adopted several villages in India and Bangladesh where we provide hygiene resources to the women and children, as well as education, lessons on how to protect themselves from sexual assault and how to build back better in their communities.
We have been able to make the children aware about the challenges they face in their communities and then take actions. Many of these children have led pilot projects in their communities on environmental protection, peace, protection from sexual assault and prevention of child marriage.
Regional European Schoolnet The global lockdown induced by the coronavirus pandemic has caused fundamental changes to the lifestyles of young people around the world. One of these consequences is their increased reliance on digital technologies – to maintain a social life, to study, to access culture, to express their creativity, and more. In these articles, the BIK Youth Ambassadors share their tips to cope with this new reality in the best way possible.
Regional SWGfL Produced guidance for schools in managing the various phases of Covid19 lockdown. Compiled and produced research into the impact of Covid19 on children. Produced resources for professionals working with vulnerable children. Supported the release of the ITU Child Online Protection Guidelines.
Digital migration caused by Covid19 lockdown is well evidenced. Children's mental health have been impacted with rising anxiety through lack of social contact and also inability to access usual support services. Child protection referrals from schools declined due to Covid19 closures. Demand for child sexual abuse content online has risen during lock down
Global Act2gether COVID has created opportunities for children to connect globally. They help a global campaign with 4 different phases: first actis of kindness and sharing them, then inter-generational dialogues globally, then conversations for all ages, and finally skills workshops (together we learn).
Regional Act2gether We work on daily basis with groups of Children and young people on our social media but also virtual gatherings, trainings and different projects. One of the most succesfull are the children committes in municipalities in Bolivia.
We ran an international survey with children and adults about what themes matter for international relationships at the moment. The main topics mentioned were: use of technology (24%), living in confinement (18%) (in particular dealing with home dynamics in isolation), Interpersonal relationships (16%), health and safety related to COVID-19 (13%) and agist stereotypes and different perceptions between generations (7%).
Regional Act2gether We work on daily basis with groups of Children and young people on our social media but also virtual gatherings, trainings and different projects. One of the most succesfull are the children committes in municipalities in Bolivia.
We ran an international survey with children and adults about what themes matter for international relationships at the moment. The main topics mentioned were: use of technology (24%), living in confinement (18%) (in particular dealing with home dynamics in isolation), Interpersonal relationships (16%), health and safety related to COVID-19 (13%) and agist stereotypes and different perceptions between generations (7%).
Global United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime UNODC’s Education for Justice Initiative (E4J) has engaged children and young people in multiple ways since the start of the COVID-19, specially during lockdown. Targeting primary level children, E4J launched several competitions over the past months to prompt children to use our tools while stimulating creative skills. The competitions involved the submission of drawings, videos as well as written content reaching thousands of children in Latin America, Central Asia and MENA region.

Justice Accelerators programme aimed at engaging teenagers in developing rule of law solutions using IT and entrepreneurship. This is a 3,5 month programme that equips upper secondary students (16+) with the skills to become social tech entrepreneurs while solving issues related to the rule of law and sustainable development. Since its recent launch, the programme has reached 48 young people.
Global Arigatou International- Global Network of Religions for Children 1)Collected voices of children on how the pandemic is affecting them and how to stay safe, then shared through our media platforms.2)Children have been part of our webinars, offering prayers and messages of hope. 3) Children have participated in mobilizing resources to support the vulnerable such as food.

Children have benefited from school supplies and equipment; The youth have helped created awareness on COVID. Youth GNRC Committee has provided opportunity for empowerment of children as leaders and sharing of ideas.
Global (Africa, Latin America, South Asia and Southeast Asia) International Justice Mission, Kolkata During COVID19, we conducted online program for children called 'Student Leadership Program' where students were oriented on subjects:
Modern Day Slavery,
Community & Crime-SDGs,
UNCRC,
Trends of Human Trafficking & situational awareness,
Laws- in India
Identifying Trauma and reaching out for help .
These session were taken to shape, influence and encourage school students to lead other children.
There children made online group to spread awareness and also initiated a cell in their school for awareness and activities related to social justice, awareness and responsibility.
Children in today's era know most things but very vaguely so they need very detailed information, many children were unaware of the crimes and the legal support. Children want to help and contribute so they need a platform and source to encourage and educate them.
Global Arigatou International- Geneva Office Every year, the members of the Youth Committee are in charge of a specific campaign to promote the rights of the child. The GNRC Youth Committee 2020 is involved in raising awareness about online child exploitation and abuse, and in promoting safe practices for children when they navigate on the internet. Specifically, in the aspect of online safety, children involved reported that the topic was new to them and that the didn't know how vulnerable they actually were to online threats.