Adolescence
Xpression
"I don't think we need to change the adolescents, we need to change. We need to see them not just as individuals but also as people with families and friends. We must make them agents of their own change..." – An Xpression workshop participant.
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Xpression was a significant, three-day brainstorming workshop organized jointly by the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA- Trinidad) (external link) and UNICEF, with support from Island People (external link), a group of non-governmental organizations.
The groups assembled for the workshops were notable because they had all achieved success in reaching hard-to-reach young people. Xpression was further enriched by the participation of adolescents from Kenya, Peru, Thailand, Brazil and the host country, Trinidad and Tobago.
Xpression was more than a forum to discuss, examine and propose ways to reach the diverse sub-cultures that so many young people exist in, it represented a united front in the move to reach all adolescents, offering them positive alternatives to whatever challenges they may face.
UNICEF particularly wanted to learn from the successes of non-governmental organizations which had reached adolescents effectively and innovatively. The priorities UNICEF identified that required close collaboration with adolescents included HIV/AIDS, girls’ education and protection from violence, abuse and exploitation.
External links open in a new window and take you to a non-UNICEF web site.
