On Friday, 20 September 2019 the KidsRights Foundation launches its latest initiative, State of Youth, at the Nobel Peace World Summit in Merida, Mexico. With this initiative KidsRights aims to involve young people from all across the world (age 13-24 years) to voice their opinions and preferences regarding important global challenges such as climate change.
Moreover, the State of Youth aims to serve as a platform to enable the global youth to become more involved themselves by tackling important societal challenges.
First quarterly preferendum on climate change
On Saturday 21 September, State of Youth (stateofyouth.org) is hosting its first quarterly preferendum on pressing global issues, starting with climate change, which is launched at the UN Youth Climate Summit in New York, US. The preferendum is open to the youth worldwide that day. At the UN General Assembly on 23 September, world leaders will be presented with the intermediate results of the preferendum at the State of Youth live studio.
In this preferendum, a portmanteau of the words “preference” and “referendum”, young people from all over the world are given an opportunity to indicate their preferences regarding the most promising solutions for the challenge of global warming. In contrast to a referendum, whereby respondents typically choose between two policy options, a preferendum offers respondents more than two options among which respondents can choose. Respondents will be presented solutions to the challenge of global warming and asked to rank these in terms of their personal preferences. This voting process is completely anonymous and respondents will provide their answers via an online survey tool.
Close collaboration between KidsRights and Erasmus School of Economics
For several years now, Erasmus School of Economics is involved in the realisation of the annual KidsRigths Index and the School is proud to be involved in this new initiative of KidsRights too. In the last few months faculty members Prof. Dinand Webbink and Dr Job Harms, have played a key role in the development of the preferendum and its online survey tool.
State of Youth’s editorial Instagram channel
As from Saturday 21 September State of Youth will share compelling information and will build awareness around the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) via an editorial Instagram channel (@Stateofyouth), highlighting key issues and their specific relevance for the youth community. Furthermore, State of Youth will also provide civic education trainings and leadership opportunities for young people, as well as galvanise potential changemakers to take action and mobilize others.
KidsRights
KidsRights is an international Children's Rights Foundation based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Founded in 2003, KidsRights awards the prestigious International Children’s Peace Prize and also publishes the first and only global yearly index on children’s rights, the KidsRights Index.
- More information
For more information, please contact Ronald de Groot, Communications Officer at Erasmus School of Economics: rdegroot@ese.eur.nl, mobile phone: +31 6 53641 846.