Children aren't the ones that come immediately to mind when there are discussions of national issues affecting those very same youth. Well UNICEF along with its partners attempted to change that model today when it organized a 4 day consultation session with 20 youth to do just that: for them to speak up on challenges they face and to give ideas on how to overcome them. And of course all this was done in a fun and engaging way. So today the participants showcased their ideas through skits and dramatization. We stopped by to find out more about the initiative.
Lawrence Lartey, Creative Director, Question Media Group
"I have worked with UNICEF before in Kenya and the work we do at Question Media Group is centered around young people and getting their ideas expressed as creative projects and creative outcomes. So this is our first time in Belize and we have had a really good time, it is a wonderful country what we have seen of it so far and we have been working with young children and adolescents from all over Belize not just Belize city and we have been taking their ideas of what concerns them, how they want to see the country and what is pertinent to a better future for them and we have taken all those ideas shaped them into workshops and hopefully now we are going to see some creative outcomes from those ideas."
Courntey Weatherburne
"How long have you been working with the kids and how many kids are participating?"
Lawrence Lartey, Creative Director, Question Media Group
"We have been working with young people for the past 3 days, this is the final day today and there have been 20 young people as I said from all over Belize participating."
Courtney Weatherburne
"So Just give us a few more details in term of what the workshops entailed, what they were about and just a brief idea of what we are going to see today for the presentations."
Lawrence Lartey, Creative Director, Question Media Group
"So for example some of the older adolescents have been working on ideas on how their ideas should be put together for example we thought of Whatsapp drama so there can be a drama on Whatsapp talking about their issues, some of the younger children have been more animated and acting out their ideas."
Today was the last consultation session. This initiative is in line with the goals of the Children's Agenda 2017/2030. It focuses on dialoguing with youth to identify and address issues affecting them.
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