Expression Z #YouthSpeaks
The initiative seeks to articulate and strengthen the role of adolescents as agents of change and influencers on human rights issues.
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Promoting the right to youth participation in different spaces of society is an opportunity to develop active citizenship and strengthen life skills. Therefore, it is important to create spaces and platforms that facilitate reflection, dialogue, and the construction of new learning. These spaces allow adolescents to form their own critical judgments on the issues that affect them, and where their opinions are respectfully considered.
Expresión Z began in 2023 with a series of talks led by 14 young people aged 13 to 18 from different states in Venezuela. They reflected on topics such as education, health, climate change, and protection, sharing their perspectives and proposing solutions to impact their immediate environments, such as school, home, and the community where they reside.
In 2024, Expresión Z's reach was expanded to initiate the formation of a National Youth Advocacy Network that fosters exchanges with opinion leaders and decision-makers on issues affecting adolescents. Nearly 50 young people of different ages, states, academic years, indigenous communities, and young people with disabilities were part of this group.
Expression Z 2024
Expression Z in 2024 featured the participation of approximately 50 adolescents who were trained on topics of interest to them, such as climate change, education, violence prevention, inclusion, and mental health, by the technical team from different program areas of UNICEF Venezuela and its partners.
As part of this year's activities, in November, in the framework of World Children's Day, the intergenerational dialogue "Shared Visions 2024" was held between adolescents from Expresión Z and decision-makers from civil society organizations, United Nations organizations, and authorities. The following topics were discussed:
- Youth safety online
- Are we talking openly about mental health?
- How to be part of the change our planet needs
- Education for the world's challenges
You can watch the full event, which was broadcast live on our YouTube channel:
We also share a series of articles written by a group of teenagers from Expression Z, to learn their perspective on various topics.
Articles Expression Z
We invite you to stay tuned to our social media channels @unicefvenezuela, where we're sharing video testimonies from several young people of the group this year on inclusion, education, the environment, violence prevention, and mental health.