This blog was originally published on Send My Friend To School.
We are delighted to present our Young person’s policy report – Education in Emergencies: Let My Friends Learn, a policy report for young people, aged 11-18 to support them with their understanding of the Let My Friends Learn Campaign. A key focus for Send My Friend to School is to increase youth voice and participation across every level of our campaign activities. It is important that young people are given the tools to tap into their own agency to be change makers.
Our amazing Campaign Champion Mia (15) from Haringey Learning Partnership shares her illustrated responses to the report, and hopes this will inspire others to get creative and make a difference for children across the world whose education has been impacted by emergencies.
Mia’s illustrations
“My name is Mia and I’m a 15-year-old campaign champion for Send My Friend to School 2023. This is a joint campaign organised by 26 charities across the UK with one shared goal: to call on our government to help more children in emergencies around the world access the education they deserve. In March this year, I was sent on a training course with the other 14- and 15-year-olds selected to champion this campaign. I was excited to meet a bunch of like-minded, funny and sweet friends. Everyone had different skills, and it was cool to spend a few days learning from experts (and each other), and thinking about creative, meaningful and impactful ways to get our message across.
For me, visuals have always been a helpful way to understand ideas, and a fun way to communicate information with maximum impact. The new ‘youth-friendly’ Education in Emergencies [EiE] policy report is designed to be an accessible read, but illustrations are even quicker to take in, and my hope is that maybe mine will inspire you to get creative too. Something that the EiE policy document notes is that campaigning can be whatever you want it to be. As fun as it is for me to doodle, if getting creative isn’t your cup of tea, there are loads of other ways to get involved. Make a TikTok spreading awareness of the cause, arrange a bake sale to raise money for the project or, if you’re feeling more confident and want to create a show, cause a ruckus in Parliament Square! Whatever works for you, it’s important to get involved and remember to tag us if you post something!”