I don’t know about you, but my life has not been at all as I thought it might be. The teachers and influencers who I thought would influence my life haven’t been who I thought they’d be either! I thought, naively, that I might be an ‘influencer’ on my children’s lives. And I hope I have been. But I didn’t think they would have been the ones to influence me.
My children, aged 16, 19 and 21, are now basically young adults, and while I definitely do not agree with them on everything, they have undoubtedly taught me a lot. They have forced me, sometimes in unpleasant ways, to confront many of my habits or preconceptions, and even some aspects of my personality!
Recently, through my involvement with the Youth Taskforce of the UNICEF International Council, I have realised that young people in distant countries and remote parts of the world have been my ‘teachers’ too.
This wasn’t, of course, the reason I started investing in youth-led action work, but it is a rewarding reason to continue. It is humbling, it is hopeful, and it is inspiring.
As a family we started supporting young changemakers because we wanted to invest in something that was sustainable, change that was needed, in locations that people needed it in. We wanted to invest in change that was embedded in local society and therefore going to last.
And who knows better than the young people living in an under-served neighbourhood or a remote village, or a refugee camp what is needed in that area? Who has the energy, the drive, the tenacity to make that change happen?
UNICEF can train and support young people to make these changes, and they have the weight and the size to compel local adult allies to listen, engage and support these local youth.
What we also hadn’t anticipated was the reach of the ripple effect. Young people don’t just want to do this work alone - they want to bring others with them. UNICEF trains young advocates to then train their peers, so that one determined young person can set off a chain reaction of change across their whole community.
The energy is extraordinary - and I have been so fortunate to meet some of these young people online
A 17-year-old from Antigua who has been working with youth who have low self-esteem, or who are suffering from depression or dependent on alcohol. She has instigated beach clean-ups which she says help depressed or disillusioned young people feel useful and heard.
A young man from Rwanda who is trying to combat malnutrition by encouraging people in his community to eat an egg a day! An idea sparked by collecting eggs with his grandmother when he was a little boy.
An an 18-year-old from Laos who was so amazingly honest and open about the challenges of tackling child marriage in her community, having witnessed young women around her give up their education to get married.
It is humbling to hear a young person talk on Zoom, in another language, openly and directly about the challenges of shifting the ingrained opinions of the elders, influencers and teachers in their community.
These young people don’t see themselves as ‘influencers', but they are influencing their peers, their families, their society. They are making important changes happen in places where that change is really needed. They are amazing. And, bit by bit, they really are making the world a better place.
We should open our wallets and our minds to these young people. We should give them the skills and the opportunities to create a better world. We should support and encourage them. They have ideas. They have drive. They have vision. They are determined. They are brave. And they are brilliant.
We all invest so much in our own children. We should also invest in young people beyond our own families - they are just as talented, and their potential just as limitless.
We owe it to these young people.
And I can tell you from experience: they will change your world too.
