A collection of real stories from young people, showing what shifting power looks like in practice, not as a theory.
👇🏽 More stories 👇🏽
We re-imagined what the 7 dimensions of localisation would look like in the context of child and youth-led change. This is what we came up with:
-
Equipping young people with knowledge and skills to organise sustainable citizen-led movements
-
Enabling young leaders to build alliances with each other and partners to advocate for change with a powerful voice at the highest levels
-
Mainstreaming equity and inclusion both within and outside Shift so that even the most marginalised groups gain representation within change movements.
-
Nurturing channels and platforms between young people, policy actors, decision-makers and community members to usher change
-
Ensuring greater recognition of young people’s passion, contribution, effort, innovation and impact on society
-
Securing greater access to both quantity and quality (flexible, longer-term, predictable, fair, independent) of funds.
-
Moving towards genuine and meaningful relationships with young people where they become equal partners
ALL STORIES
☺️
ALL STORIES ☺️
Shifters are younger than you think
One of the newsletters in 2024 from our colleagues at CUBIC about Belief Perseverance struck a resonant chord with us; we have repeatedly heard that “SHIFT is mostly for youths”.
Forget the paperwork — this is what really fuels us!
As we continue to scale up Shift and thereby expand our efforts to put young people at the forefront of change-making, we remain committed to not losing touch with the ground - that space where our incredible Shifters mobilise thousands of community members, impact policies on preventing teenage pregnancies, break gender stereotypes, build continental coalitions and even secure funding in the face of enormously complicated and child un-friendly systems.
UNLEARNING
Yes, shifting power requires us to move the dial on power towards young people and track this movement; but before this can happen, it calls us to undergo a mindset shift first. It calls us to unlearn.
In 2022, Truc joined SHIFT nervous, uncertain, and convinced she was there to learn from others. By 2025, she was co-facilitating sessions, mentoring the next cohort, and appearing on Lao Cai provincial television, Vietnam.