Amplifying youth networks to deliver the right to education for everyone
On International Youth Day, Hannah Nixon - Campaign Manager at Send My Friend to School - guest blogs for IPNEd on the value of partnerships between MPs and youth networks to accelerate quality education for all.
Send My Friend to School youth campaigners visit the UK Parliament to take part in an Action Day to take their campaign for the right to education to MPs.
© Send My Friend to School
Youth voice has always been important, but it’s especially important at the moment as the global pandemic has had a significant effect on many young people’s lives.
In early April 2020, in an effort to halt the spread of COVID-19, an estimated 1.6 billion learners globally – 91% of the total – were out of school. For the first time in human history, an entire generation of children globally have had their education disrupted.
With so many young people out of school, and billions of children going through the same experience all over the world, the importance of education is being felt more so than ever.
The pandemic has united youth in an unprecedented way
Education is critical for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. By young people calling on world leaders to make education a priority Send My Friend to School (SMF) aim to unleash the power of education and ensure that no child is left behind.
Send My Friend to School is a UK civil society coalition of international development NGOs, teachers’ unions and charities. SMF is the UK Coalition of the Global Campaign for Education (GCE) - a global organisation working to ensure quality education for all children, with members in over 90 countries.
Each year SMF supports thousands of young people to use their voice by bringing them together alongside politicians, teachers and civil society in joint campaigning to demand quality education for all children across the globe.
MPs play an important role in ensuring young people’s voices are amplified
Engaging with young people at the local and national level, helps ensure MPs understand their needs and concerns to represent their interests effectively.
Seeking first to understand both what issues young people face - and the different ways in which they are involved within the local community and global matters, can inform how MPs start or build on creating a meaningful dialogue with young people.
Mapping what networks of young people are already informing and influencing local or national decision-making is invaluable to ensure that MPs can take the next step and work together with young people - using their expertise, enthusiasm and energy, to involve other young people and tackle local and national issues.
As part of SMF’s 2019 Action Day, youth campaigners met with parliamentarians Stephen Twigg and Henry Smith to ask them important questions about global education.
© Send My Friend to School
SMF youth campaigners understand MPs unique position as voices to the government
SMF supports young people in giving them a platform to campaign and speak out about educational rights for all children around the world. SMF campaigners are encouraged to learn about specific issues that affect global education - such as, COVID-19, climate change, gender, being a child with a disability or being a refugee.
SMF campaigners then think about the solutions that are needed to overcome these issues and are encouraged to contact their local MP to ask for their support in ensuring their asks are taken to parliament.
And they have been successful in achieving change
With the support of politicians, their communities and schools, SMF youth campaigners have played an instrumental role in ensuring that the UK increases the priority and funding levels for global education.
Most recent examples include thousands of young people taking action as part of the Make Schools Safe campaign in 2018 which led to the UK signing on to the Safe Schools Declaration.
In 2019, SMF partnered with Bond, Global Citizen, Theirworld and War Child UK and published ‘Unlock education for everyone: how the UK can ensure children affected by crises get an education’. It called for the UK to renew its commitment to Education Cannot Wait. The UK pledged £90 million over four years.
These successes highlight how powerful youth voice can be and that making connections with politicians at the local and national levels can amplify youth voice and create more meaningful and impactful change.
SMF look forward to working with the International Parliamentary Network for Education to further empower the voice of young people and strengthen the connections between youth networks and parliamentarians.
To get involved with Send My Friend please visit sendmyfriend.org
