Where did Voices of Youth come from? Believe it or not, Voices of Youth has been around since 1995! It started as a way for more than 3,000 young people from 81 countries to send messages to world leaders at the World Summit for Social Development, held in Copenhagen in the spring of 1995. It was also developed as part of the celebrations for UNICEF’s 50th Anniversary (UNICEF was started on 11 December 1946).
In 1995, Voices of Youth was truly ahead of its time, although it might seem simple to us today. To think, in 1995 UNICEF did not even have a website, and Voices of Youth was connecting young people from around the world to each other and to world leaders!
So even from the beginning, Voices of Youth was dedicated to making sure young people from all countries could learn more, say more and do more about the world they live in.
By June 1997, the Internet was quite a different place than in 1995. So Voices of Youth decided it too needed to make a change. At the time, there were not thousands of different discussion board options to choose from on the Internet – and certainly not many that were safe for young people – so Voices of Youth’s technical coordinator put his skills to work and developed what were to become Voices of Youth’s discussion boards for the next five years.
These discussion boards made it possible for young people to talk to one another, over the Internet, in three different languages (English, French and Spanish) about child rights and development related issues. It also made it possible for everyone to link up in a way they could not in the past. The discussion boards became what Voices of Youth called the ‘Meeting Place’.
But the new discussion boards were not the only addition. Lots of new content about rights issues started popping up on the site. Quizzes, games and photo journals made it easier for young people to know more about child rights, and made Voices of Youth’s ‘Learning Place’ an interesting place to go.
The ‘Teacher’s Place’ was set up for teachers and young leaders to exchange ideas and find ways of using Voices of Youth in the classroom and community.
But in 2002 it all changed again! Voices of Youth realized that learning really happens everywhere, all the time, so we did not need to have just one ‘Learning Place’. The team also realized that figuring out how to use Voices of Youth to make change was also happening throughout the site, and we did not need a ‘Teachers’ Place’ either. Still, we needed some kind of order. So we talked with young people from all over the world – more than 100 countries – and their comments and suggestions helped us get Voices of Youth to where it is today: three separate areas where you can explore, speak out and take action.
Voices of Youth will keep on reinventing itself as the Internet opens up new opportunities and you tell us what you need and where you think the site should go. And we are not just talking about what computers can do, but also about new rights issues that will need exploring, discussion and action.
Tell us your thoughts on Voices of Youth in Speak Out.