1. Youth Section • Division of Communication
An Introduction to Our Projects
March 2011
Internal use only

2. THE YOUTH SECTION PRESENTS

3. solutions for youth communication
1 Our Mission
2 Voices of Youth
3 Connecting Classrooms
4 Unite for Climate
5 Youth Led Digital Mapping
6 Digital Citizenship and Safety
7 World Cup in my Village
8 Haiti Project

4. 1. OUR MISSION
The Youth Section in the Division of Communication (DOC) is using traditional media
combined with new technologies including social networking tools, SMS and digital
mapping to empower children and young people to play an active role in society
as well as ensure that UNICEF stays relevant for a new generation of supporters.
Using the latest communication tools in its projects, the Youth Section advocates for
education, awareness and capacity building.
The explosion of internet and mobile phone usage in the developing world has
enabled many young people to go online for the first time. In the last 10 years mobile
use has expanded rapidly in the developing world; internet use is increasing as well.
Following their peers in industrialized
© UNICEF/NYHQ2010-1438/Susan Markisz
countries, children and young people
throughout the developing world are
rapidly discovering the power and
potential of digital interaction and
communication, especially at the local
level. Digital opportunities differ by region
and include one-to-one SMS, net and
mobile phone-based social networks, and collaborative tools accessed via computers
and mobiles, such as digital mapping. Combining innovative tools and traditional
media, such as youth radio, ensures the widest possible coverage and reach of
children and young people.

5. solutions for youth communication
The necessary rapid expansion into
social media to empower children and
young people is closely linked to several
articles of the Convention on the Rights
of the Child (CRC) including article 12
© UNICEF/NYHQ2010-0750/Roger LeMoyne
which states: “State Parties shall assure
to the child who is capable of forming
his or her own views the right to express
those views freely in all matters affecting
the child…and for this purpose, the child
shall in particular be provided with the
opportunity to be heard...”
The Youth Section is taking this obligation into the social media age, acting as a
transformative force for UNICEF working in partnership with colleagues at global,
regional and country level.

6. 2. VOICES OF YOUTH
Voices of Youth (VOY) is UNICEF’s global online initiative for young people. It is
designed to promote exploration, discussion and action on issues related to social
change and human rights, especially children’s rights. The Youth Section (DOC) is
working in close collaboration with ADAP (DPP) in this initiative.
Since 1995 VOY has brought
together children and youth worldwide
under a common banner for their rights
and advocacy. The VOY initiative is well
known worldwide, not only by UNICEF
stakeholders but also by its external
partners.
© Joe Agoada
The VOY website has been redesigned
into a dynamic space where users discuss and report on issues affecting their
lives. The site is now connected with social networks and web applications such
as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to facilitate easy sharing and sign-up. It features
articles and posts from young contributors from around the world and monitors
competitions, volunteer activities, and other opportunities of interest. It also
has commenting and voting features, allowing young people to help shape the
content that appears on the site. The site is highly accessible for young people
with disabilities, and is designed to be easily localized, enabling country offices to
bring VOY to their communities.

7. social media • global network
Links
The new Voices of Youth was launched on 25th February 2011.
The website is available at
www.voicesofyouth.org

8. 3. CONNECTING CLASSROOMS
Connecting Classrooms is an educational program designed to link
classrooms around the world. It enables students in developing and
industrialized countries to collaborate around topics of shared global
concern. It tries to answer the following three questions:
? ?
Using new technologies, how can we How can we engage children and young people
best connect students and teachers in issues affecting their lives in a way that
in countries around the world? increases their confidence while improving
?
their communication skills?
How can we use new technologies to
build the capacity of teachers in
developing world classrooms?
Students and teachers in participating schools
use an innovative online platform designed
© UNICEF/NYHQ2007-1764/Christine Nesbitt
for group interaction and collaborative work.
The curriculum is designed to encourage
discussion and collaboration, to support
active dialogue about global issues affecting
young people, and to promote small group
work within schools and between different
countries. The program familiarizes teachers
with cutting edge methodologies based around group work and youth journalism.

9. capacity-building • low-tech • global citizenship
© UNICEF/NYHQ2009-1251/Giacomo Pirozzi
Outcomes
Increased knowledge and awareness Empowerment and a greater
of principal issues affecting young understanding of how to advocate
people around the world for social change
New cross-cultural communication A greater understanding of mobile
skills and improved web and IT and web-based technologies and
literacy skills how to use them to affect change
An expanded awareness of Teachers with a wider variety of
other cultures and national pedagogical approaches to lesson
perspectives planning

10. 4. UNITE FOR CLIMATE
Unite for Climate is a UNICEF global initiative aimed at supporting young people
around the world in their work on climate change. The success of this initiative is
largely due to seed funding and support from UNICEF Denmark. It was conceived as
an attempt to go beyond event-based methods of engaging young people, providing
instead a space for continuous collaboration and communication, and empowering
youth to be actors of change post-event.
Started in early 2009, it leveraged momentum generated by UNICEF Denmark’s
Children’s Climate Forum (CCF) to create an online community of climate change
activists. The CCF took place in Copenhagen a week before the 15th Conference
of Parties, Copenhagen (COP15) in December 2009. The CCF focused on bringing
young people from around the world together to discuss climate change and create a
youth declaration, which was formally presented at the COP15 conference. The online
community gave participants an opportunity to meet and begin working together
before the forum, as well as maintain communications after the event.
The Unite for Climate online community provides
a variety of tools to support ongoing collaboration
between young people in their climate-change
related projects and initiatives. The platform was
specifically designed for youth-based NGOs working
in the field, and was developed using feedback from
© Cherif Zouein
young people and partners. It is designed to function
well under low-bandwidth conditions and offers
features such as wikis, polls, media sharing, chat, commenting, and the ability to
share created media selectively with other users. Members can work independently or
in groups, depending on their goals and needs.

11. youth-powered solutions
While the online community has served as the centerpiece of the programme, Unite
for Climate has also linked environmental students with NGO groups in the field,
created the YouTube Youth Climate Debate channel to engage young people from
around the world on the issue, and worked with the World Association of Girl Guides
and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) and World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM)
to enable remote participation of young people in conferences.
During the COP16 conference, Unite for Climate partnered with WAGGGS, the British
Council (BC) and the Global Campaign for Climate Action (GCCA) to pilot a new
model of virtual engagement leveraging a network of regional facilitators spread
out around the world. Through a series of mini engagement activities run locally in
their country, the facilitators involved their peers and communities around the same
themes of the conference, then relaying their voices to our team on the ground in
Cancun.
Throughout its two years of existence, Unite for Climate has evolved into an umbrella
programme under which many of UNICEF’s local youth climate change actions
come together. Zambia has been leading the way in establishing a national Unite For
Climate programme.
Outcomes
A growing community with 3,000 Access to local climate-based
members from 160 countries globally, actions, thanks to more than 50
and a Facebook page with 2,500 fans partnerships with international
organizations, corporate and
SMS campaigns with over 70,000 academic institutions, and NGOs
respondents in seven African
countries in the summer of 2009 Over 1,000 young people trained on
using ICT and social networking to
support their work
Links
www.uniteforclimate.org

12. 5. YOUTH LED DIGITAL MAPPING
The Youth Section (DOC), in close collaboration with the HIV-AIDS section (PD),
UNICEF Kenya and Open Street Maps, recently launched a pilot program in Nairobi’s
Kibera slum aimed at helping young people, particularly young women and girls,
identify and map risks and vulnerabilities related to their health and protection. The
process of mapping not only helps community members identify safe and unsafe
spaces, but is also intended to raise awareness and spur advocacy opportunities
related to HIV and AIDS vulnerability. This pilot initiative was funded by the HIV-AIDS
section (PD).
Through participatory mapping, young people acquire
information about their surroundings, empowering them
to speak out about critical issues. The Map Kibera team,
consisting of 13 young people from the community
trained in open source mapping techniques, creates a
map focusing on security and vulnerability in Kibera.
Using printed maps, tracing paper and colored pens, the
mappers lead discussions with girls and young women
to discuss safety and vulnerability. The discussion and
© Mikel Maron
mapping focuses on identifying unsafe spaces, such as
places where drugs and alcohol are consumed, and safe
spaces like girl groups, community centers, and well lit areas. It also shows areas
where young people can access information, such as clinics. Young people from the
community use video, photo and audio to create short narratives about issues facing
young people in the community. These narratives are overlaid with the map data
to help better relate the vulnerabilities of young girls and women. Results from the
mapping process will be used to identify physical and psychological areas of risk or
vulnerability and patterns of risk perception. This data is then displayed online via an
open source mapping platform and is shared with the community in printed form.

13. digital mapping • crowdsourcing • girls’ empowerment
© Map Kibera
The resulting map is likely the most detailed child protection, public safety, or girls
vulnerability map of Kibera ever made publicly available.
Outcomes
A broadened perception of Increased impact of girls and young
vulnerability amongst young girls women in the governance process and
in Kibera, including recognition of facilitated direct improvements in ser-
the physical, social, human and vices and accountability
financial assets that reduce the
risk of HIV transmission Official recognition for some
informal schools
Strengthened IT literacy and
A safer Kibera for women and
awareness of open source tools
young people
for program participants
Links
Blog: www.mapkibera.org

14. 6. DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP AND SAFETY
The project “Digital Citizenship and Safety for Children and
© UNICEF/NYHQ2010-0313/Shehzad Noorani
Young People living in Developing Nations” is in partnership
with the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at
Harvard University.
The project starts with the posit that while the Convention
on the Rights of the Child points to fundamental rights
such as the right of a child to express views, freedom of expression and the right
to information, it has to be re-interpreted in the light of the recent explosion of
ICTs. Today, although progress has been made in
gaining a deeper understanding of the use of ICTs
and its inclusion in our society, gaps still remain,
with the most glaring one being geographical or
socioeconomic in nature. Indeed, most of the relevant
© UNICEF/MENA04196/Giacomo Pirozzi
initiatives have focused on the optimum use of ICTs
and its potential safety implications by young people
in western nations. Despite recent efforts, little is
known and done about the optimum use of ICTs and
its potential digital safety risks faced by children and
young people in developing nations.
The objective of the project is therefore to raise awareness among children and
young people of developing nations about the opportunities and risks of ICTs and
provide policy recommendations to local actors to maximize ICTs’ opportunities
and minimize ICTs’ risks.

15. research • media literacy • advocacy
Outcomes
1
An exploratory study that was released in June 2010
by Berkman Center for Internet and Society:
Raises awareness about issues Outlines the contours of a
related to digital safety for youth research framework through a
in developing nations series of working hypotheses
2 An in-depth study is currently being developed with:
The design of a digital community A focus on a range of digitally-relevant
that would protect children and developing countries in order to map
youth online around the concept of its digital reality
Digital Citizenship
3 Campaigns/mobilizations:
A communication strategy will be UNICEF will foster a self-sustaining
developed locally to include digital movement on the optimum and
awareness and participation as a safe use of ICTs by mobilizing
priority in the countries targeted different segments of society (local
organizations, local educational
institution, local youth, parents as well
as private actors)
Links
cyber.law.harvard.edu
cyber.law.harvard.edu/publications/2010/Digital_
Safety_Children_Young_People_Developing_Nations

16. 7. WORLD CUP IN MY VILLAGE
The World Cup in My Village pilot project impacted more than 17,000 children living
in rural areas of Rwanda and Zambia. Live telecasts of the first World Cup in Africa
were shown on large inflatable screens in remote safe areas. The children, along with
thousands of adults, also watched important social messaging focused on achieving
the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) between and during football matches.
In both Rwanda and Zambia the majority of the viewers at the WCIMV sites had no
access to electricity, highlighting the equitable approach of the project.
At the same time 200 youth journalists
were given media training conducted by
the Children’s Radio Foundation (CRF),
an international NGO based in South
Africa. 170 youth-focused media pieces
were produced during the project as a
© Joe Agoada
direct result of the media trainings. The
youth media trainings at the project sites
gave a voice to children living in remote rural areas, engaging them in civic media
creation and youth journalism, and thus enabling them to develop critical discussions
around the MDGs with their peers.
Given the success of the pilot exercise, UNICEF’s
Education Section, Programme Division and Youth
Section are exploring ways to scale up the project and
engage thousands more in remote areas worldwide,
© Joe Agoada
ahead of events such as the Copa America in Latin
America, African Cup of Nations and the 2014 World
Cup in Brazil.

17. child-friendly innovation • equity • education
Outcomes
Increased awareness of key UNICEF Stronger reporting skills for
messages relating to HIV and AIDS, WCIMV-trained youth journalists,
child rights, gender equity, and helping to build local capacity
education for participating young
people and adults Increased youth engagement and
participation via media trainings
A total audience of roughly 37,000 designed to empower young people
adults and young people to share their perspectives online
and in coordination with their local
community radio stations
Links
Video: www.youtube.com/unicefworldcup#p/a/u/0/ki2SpoaK7YE
Blogs: www.voicesofyouth.org & www.childrensradiofoundation.org/blog

18. 8. HAITI PROJECT
The devastating earthquake on January 12, 2010 exacerbated the situation for
Haiti’s young people, who account for over half the population. There is a feeling of
disconnectedness among youth, but likewise an opportunity for promoting life-skills,
social entrepreneurship and volunteer networks, which can empower young people to
build a better, more resilient Haiti.
The Youth Section (DOC)
together with UNICEF Haiti
country office, the Haitian
© UNICEF/NYHQ2010-1365/Marta Ramoneda
Ministry of Youth, Sport and
Civic Action, UN agencies and
partners in the Global Movement
for Children (GMC) and the
Children’s Radio Foundation
has conducted a series of
consultations nationwide aimed
at strengthening civic engagement of young people in Haiti’s reconstruction. The
youth movement known as “Mouvman Mete Men” aimed to create a “Youth Agenda”
which places the voices and concerns of young people at the heart of reconstruction
efforts. Recommendations and proposals reflecting key priorities for youth and
children in areas such as education, health, employment and disaster risk reduction
were developed. The consultations brought together 500 youth representatives of the
local population with a focus on the most vulnerable, including street children without
family care and children with disabilities. The consultations provided training on
children’s rights as well a series of multi-media workshops facilitated by trained youth
to empower them to express their views and opinions. These multimedia trainings
served as advocacy, social engagement and development tools.

19. media • disaster relief • education • empowerment
Young people attending the workshops had the
© UNICEF/NYHQ2010-1358/Marta Ramoneda
opportunity to learn the basic concepts and
challenges of communicating their opinion to a
large audience and the dynamics of policy-making
and democratic representation. A blog called
“VwaJen” (“Voices of Youth” in Creole), positioned
as the biggest youth hub in Haiti, was developed
to report on issues which affect young people and
adolescents in Haiti. The blog is open to contributors from around the country and
reports on local issues affecting young people, thus promoting a national dialogue
and the sharing of information. VwaJen features articles, pictures, videos, projects,
events and ideas produced by the youth to enable meaningful interactions. Through
the radio and SMS technology incorporated in the blog, the Youth Section (DOC)
seeks to reach the most vulnerable communities. This initiative aims to narrow both
social and technological gaps, and help youth take civic action and ownership
of their future.
Outcomes
Stronger IT literacy and an Greater engagement in civil society
increased understanding of and activism among vulnerable youth
communication technologies
among young people
Stronger child-friendly media and
journalism skills to increase knowledge
and awareness of principal issues
affecting young people

20. CONTACT US
youthsection@unicef.org
Youth Section
Division of Communication, UNICEF
3 United Nations Plaza
New York, NY 1001

22. Youth Section
Division of Communication
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