Our vision for OUR world
We believe that we create a better world by first imagining it – by developing a shared vision for what a better future looks like.
By starting with hope, abundance, and opportunity rather than scarcity, deficit, and fear. While this may seem counterintuitive in the face of urgent global issues – climate change, injustice, and inequality – we believe that people create the best solutions and ideas when they are empathetic, nurtured, and free.
young people's Unique
position
Why young people?
Because as custodians of the future, we have the greatest stake in what our world will become, yet often the least material power in shaping it. We are underrepresented in almost all chambers of power – politics, corporate boardrooms, decision making fora. We possess only a small amount of the world’s economic leverage.
Yet young people often have unique tools and skillsets that allow us to build power to create change by organising ourselves, our societies, and our work. We create and occupy unique spaces where young people can share ideas, co-develop solutions to challenges, and support one another – our schools, tertiary institutions, and youth organisations. We are dynamic and adaptable, used to creating sustainable, grassroots change with relatively few resources. We have access to more democratised information and platforms than ever, where we can share our message. We have hope, grief, desperation, and personal stake in the issues we are aiming to address – from climate to economic justice, we are and will disproportionately feel the effects of an unequal world. We have little choice but to act, and we want to build a better world for ourselves and the generations to come after us.
HOW WE'RE ACHIEVING THIS VISION
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We unite groups and communities of young people around a collective vision for a better future, beginning the problem-solving process by first collaboratively imagining the kind of ideal world we want to create;
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We develop young people’s consciousness around the scale and interconnectedness of the social issues facing the world today, empowering them to make connections between a large-scale problem, and its manifestations at the local and community level;
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We support young people in identifying opportunities for positive change to achieve their visions of a more equal future;
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We locate young people’s aspirations for change in tangible actions taken through diverse outputs – projects, social businesses, networks and collaborations – which students take ownership of and responsibility for;
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We encourage young people to understand and situate their role in their communities by building collaboration amongst groups, strengthening communication approaches and skills, and creating safe and welcoming spaces in which young people’s confidence and self-expression can blossom.
