Youth are making a difference and creating REAL impact on solving the world’s biggest problems. Read here about this motivating movement of youth changemakers
Okay, so listen to this.
There are 3,029,576,521 young people in the world today. 3,029,576,521 young people who want to make a difference. Driven to make a change. Passionate about doing good.
What’s incredible is that many are already taking positive social action.
All over the world organizations are focused on youth engagement which is a key mechanism for positive youth development as well as developing principles of social justice.
All over the world organizations are focused on youth engagement which is a key mechanism for positive youth development as well as developing principles of social justice. [1]
Youth now get the chance to experience the positive impact doing good has on not only the community they serve, but also the impact it has on themselves.
You know this is really exciting, right?
This means that youth all over the globe are being mobilized to create social impact in a fun, community-oriented, and life-changing way.
Think about this. Our youth are changing the future of this world.
So what the heck does youth participation or engagement even mean?
This is simply the idea that youth are going through socially meaningful programs that make them active in their local communities.
Whether it’s an environmental clean up, chili cook off, or a building project, youth are right there in the action and participating in change.
Whether it’s an environmental clean up, chili cook off, or a building project, youth are right there in the action and participating in change.
The importance of youth participation is that young people are developing positive habits early and experiencing how their individual impact actually makes a difference.
In schools, teachers are even incorporating service learning, where youth must serve in their community as part of the curriculum.
Oh, wow! So have youth already made an impact?
Absolutely! In so many ways.
Community Gardens all over the world have been created by youth like the ones in Guatemala City, Guatemala. Youth harvested more than 200 pounds of tomatoes, beets, carrots, onions and other vegetables and donated them to a local nutrition program. [2]
Or donation drives like how youths raised funds and donated 30 mattresses, 30 sets of bedding and 22 pairs of curtains to Kanyama Clinic, one the most burdened medical clinics in Lusaka, Zambia; seeing over 600 patients a day. [3]
One more for you:
In Kosovo, UNICEF’s Innovations Lab and a local NGO – Peer Educators Network – has created UPSHIFT: Social Impact Workshop, to help young people in Kosovo’s marginalised communities to identify, analyze and take entrepreneurial action to create positive social change. [4]
So do you wanna be a part of it or what!?
Join in doing acts of kindness and get a Good Card! The Good Cards is a mobile app that guides you in doing good deeds in a fun and meaningful way where you can track your impact. Each mission takes you on a different adventure to do a good deed and inspire someone else to continue the ripple effect too!
If you’re an educator or connected to schools, #TheGoodClass is a Social Emotional program for schools that uses The Good Cards to empower students to actually do good.
Also, you can be a part of the International Youth Campaign on Kindness for the SDGs; a really amazing initiative to mobilize the world’s youth to achieve the United Nation’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals through specific, difficult, and independently verified acts of kindness.
If you have any ideas or are looking for guidance then reach out to me and I’ll be happy to see how I can help serve you.
————————-
Resources:
[1] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02673843.2015.1067893
[3] Ibid
[4] https://blogs.unicef.org/innovation/how-do-we-motivate-youth-to-be-agents-of-social-change/
0 Comments