UNICEF HK appointed 64 secondary students as UNICEF Young Envoys today to promote children’s rights
2016-09-04
© UNICEF HK/2016
HONG KONG, 4 September 2016 — 64 secondary school students who are concerned about children’s rights, were appointed as UNICEF Young Envoys today by the Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF HK).
Sixty-four UNICEF Young Envoys from 52 secondary schools have received intensive training from UNICEF HK to learn about children’s rights, the state of the world’s children, as well as to cultivate empathy for those in need in past 10 months. From March to May this year, the youths have proactively organized various fundraising and advocacy activities, such as school talks, day camps, game booths, carnival, etc., to share the situation of children in developing countries with their peers and encourage them to champion children’s rights together. In July, they visited Gansu, China and Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, to witness first-hand important child-related issues and programmes, such as early childhood education, child-friendly school, maternal and child health, as well as water, sanitation and hygiene.
Ms Jane Lau, Chief Executive of UNICEF HK said, “This year marks the 30th anniversary of UNICEF HK, we hope to create more opportunities and platforms for engaging young people to support our work. The theme for the appointment ceremony this year is ‘free development’. We wish every child enjoy the freedom to develop their full-potential. With their hard work and innovative ideas, I believe we can further improve and promote UNICEF HK’s work.” She also expressed gratitude to all principals, teachers and parents for their support to the Programme, and encouraged the newly appointed Young Envoys to promote children’s rights.
The Young Envoys are not only concerned about the situation of children in developing countries, but also the problems facing children and adolescents in Hong Kong. They have been divided into four teams in exploring local child-related issues and interact with children from different backgrounds in Hong Kong. In the new school term, they will continue to hold sharing sessions to share their learning experience and UNICEF’s work.
© UNICEF HK/2016 AEON Credit Services (Asia) Co. Limited (AEON) has sponsored UNICEF Young Envoys Programme for consecutive 9 years. Ms Jane Lau, Chief Executive of UNICEF HK (right), presented a certificate of appreciation to Ms Monica Koh, Executive Director of AEON.
© UNICEF HK/2016The Young Envoys invite audience to learn about children’s rights in a simple way through a drama created and performed by themselves.
UNICEF Young Envoys Programme is a distinctive youth leadership scheme established in 1996, aiming to arouse public concern on child rights and the state of children worldwide through empowering a promising group of young people and nurturing them as child rights advocates. The 10-month programme explores students’ potentials, oadens their horizons and enhances personal development. In almost two decades, UNICEF HK has nurtured over 1,080 secondary students from more than 150 schools to become Young Envoys, and promote children’s rights to over 30,000 secondary school students. Young Envoys have visited different places such as the Philippines, Nepal, Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos, and Gansu, Qinghai and Shanxi in China.
The UNICEF Young Envoys Programme 2017 is now open for application until 1 November. For more information, please visit /youngenvoys/
Major Sponsor of UNICEF Young Envoys Programme 2016:
