🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
There is no tool more powerful than a voice. A voice can influence thoughts, emotions, and actions with nothing more than a deep breath of air and intentional delivery. In fact, the few voices that have the megaphone are dictating the experience of the many.
Young people face a cultural conversation and news cycle saturated with doomsday scenarios—climate change crises, worsening mental health, and the so-called COVID slide for learning. These issues have a monumental impact on the world that young people will inherit. Yet youth voice is underrepresented in global policy discussions and business decisions.
There is no denying that the next generation will need to live with the decisions of today's society. So why don't we stop ignoring youth, pass the megaphone, and all begin to listen?
Young people are current and future consumers. They vote—and their brand loyalty and consumer decisions are heavily influenced by a company's sustainability practices and ethics. Maybe it is because young people hold institutions to high standards and are comfortable with difficult truths. A McKinsey and Company study found that Gen Z's "search for truth [is] at the center of [their] characteristic behavior and consumption patterns." Now it's time to listen to those hard truths and demand change.
Influencers, policymakers, business leaders, ambassadors and organizations at all levels must work to embed youth participation when making decisions that affect youth. It's critical that governments and businesses honor children's rights, build child-friendly environments, incorporate the needs of young people when it comes to global solutions such as climate finance, and truly listen to young people's ideas.
We both believe that the importance of uplifting, protecting, and amplifying youth voices cannot be understated.
Youth like Renata matter, who Sofia had the honor to meet on a visit with UNICEF to Recife, Brazil, in 2019. Sofia met with Renata and her peers in classrooms, community centers, and health care facilities to see the incredible programming UNICEF is delivering to combat gender violence, educate young girls and women, and demonstrate their capacity to use their voices through education, technology, and art.
And youth like the 120 ambassadors who participate in the HEY (Healthy and Environmentally-friendly Youth) campaign matter. Founded by Ashley and supported by her foundation, The Ashley Lashley Foundation, the campaign gives young people a platform to foster sustainable lifestyles and understand the impacts of climate change, especially on humans' physical and mental health. The campaign received over 1,400 ambassador applications to its HEY Global Climate Fund. The ambassador program brings together leading climate change activists for a nine-month intergenerational program with the support of UNICEF and other partners.
UNICEF, an organization that we both believe in and support, has worked for decades to bring children's issues to the forefront and to elevate youth voices by providing active, inclusive pathways for youth to join important conversations. UNICEF's Youth Advocate Program brings together advocates from all over the world to talk about the problems facing their communities—and generate big ideas to solve them.
Other organizations uplift youth voices as well. The Obama Foundation's Girls Opportunity Alliance invites young people to get involved and learn about key issues that prevent girls from reaching their full potential—offering resources to help young people turn their passion into action. The LEGO Group, in partnership with UNICEF, formed the Responsible Innovation in Technology for Children (RITEC) project, to explore how businesses and policymakers can create a digital world that prioritizes the well-being of children. RITEC issued a report that prioritized the voices of children, with over 300 children participating in the study from 13 countries, along with analysis of existing survey data from 34,000 children across 30 countries.
There is so much to learn by listening to youth. We have learned that society does not determine our destiny; stigma does not narrate our life story; and environments do not define our future. We have seen evidence, time and again, that youth-led change has the power to shape the future.
Alongside UNICEF, we are fiercely committed to protecting and upholding the rights of children in every corner of the world. That includes ensuring there is a place for them in the spaces where important topics are discussed, and decisions made. It means not only helping to amplify their voices—but making sure those voices are heard.
Every young person deserves a future worth dreaming about. And every young person has a perspective worthy of being heard. As advocates and ambassadors, we will not stop lending our voices and platforms to protect children's rights, including their right to be heard. Join us.
Sofia Carson is a force of nature, rising to the top of all she endeavors with grace and style in the world of entertainment. She has forged a singular path in music, film, television, and philanthropy. As a philanthropist, she stands out as UNICEF's U.S. ambassador. She is dedicated to using her voice to engage the youth across the U.S. to relentlessly pursue an equitable world for every child through the lifesaving force of education.
Ashley Lashley is a UNICEF Youth Advocate who focuses on social development issues related to health, environment, children, and women's rights. She began her youth activist journey at the age of 16 when the Barbados Schools Against Non-Communicable Diseases was established. In 2020, Ashley founded HEY (Healthy and Environmentally Friendly Youth), a global climate change and health campaign seeking to build bridges between youth in the Caribbean and around the world. Schools Against Non-Communicable Diseases and the HEY Campaign have both become major projects under the Ashley Lashley Foundation.
The views expressed in this article are the writers' own.
