Changemaker Day is part of the grand finale of your work with the annual WCP Program. You can choose any date for your Changemaker Day and organise it in your school, or in your village or town. Changemaker Day can include the following activities:
- Global Vote for Rights and Change
- My Voice for Rights and Change
- Round the Globe for Rights and Change.
Please note: Once you have completed this online course, we will guide you to more information about the different activities described in brief below.
Start with a bang
Begin with a festive gathering in the school grounds or in your village, perhaps with music and performances. If you've invited parents and local leaders, welcome them with your messages on placards and posters. Inviting local media is also a great idea.
Invite local media to share your day so that your messages for change can reach many more people, like here in Zimbabwe.
Some schools start their day with singing and dancing, perhaps a speech or musical performance, to celebrate children’s rights and launch their Changemaker Day.
Children’s Global Vote for Rights and Change
In schools around the world, children pick a date for their own annual democratic election. At the beginning of the year’s WCP Program they pick three Child Rights Heroes as candidates. All children learn about the Heroes and the children whose rights they fight for.
When it is time to prepare for Changemaker Day children create ballot boxes, voting booths, voting register and ballot papers. To date, nearly 50 million children have organized their own democratic elections as part of the WCP Program.
A girl in Pakistan casts her ballot in a decorated tin can.
My Voice for Rights and Change
After voting, it's time for children to make their voices heard with speeches and placards. Tell everyone including invited guests such as local leaders and the media what changes you want to see regarding respect for children's rights in your area and country. Children can read poems and speeches out loud and answer questions, highlighting challenges in children's lives.
Children in Benin have prepared for Changemaker Day by creating signs and placards. They speak up against child marriage and violence and for equal rights for all children.
A girl in Sweden holds up her sign demanding equality, and a stop to child marriages!
Round the Globe for Rights and Change
Conclude Changemaker Day by bringing placards and banners on a circa 3 km walk or run. This way, you share your messages with more people and raise awareness about children’s rights. Round the Globe signals that children in many countries take part together. However, locally you can, of course, choose to call it Round [Name of your village or town] for Rights and Change.
Students from Hubert Maga School in Parakou, Benin walked and danced their three kilometers, accompanied by music and singing, their signs calling for respect for children’s rights, including equal rights for girls.
Maybe you'll go to the town centre or to a place where decision-makers gather. The more people who see what you children have to say, the better, more fun, and exciting it is.
Some children, like here in Kathmandu, Nepal, ask local police to walk with them for safety, especially if there is heavy traffic in the area.
