A ‘How to’ guide for success Dear Youth Leader, Grab your friends and Celebrate for Change! Did you know that each year, 50 million of the children born around the world are not registered at birth? Millions of these children don’t know when or where they were born, and never get to celebrate their birthdays the way we do. In the Klong Toey slums of Thailand, we know of an amazing group of children who live on the streets. And yet they celebrate life even though they don’t have homes and are often hungry. Many of these children never met their families and were left at the door because their parents couldn’t take care of them. Most don’t know when they were born. So once a year, one lucky kid picks a day to celebrate “everybody’s birthday.” The party was organized by the kids themselves—kids who couldn’t afford shoes of their own but shined other people’s shoes and saved pennies one by one to buy simple things, like watermelon, for their celebration. Although the mountain of presents we usually find at North American parties was missing, the joy in the room on this special birthday would be difficult to match. These kids have inspired Free The Children to create Celebrate for Change, a program that helps you throw a party to recognize the birthdays of children everywhere. We congratulate you for helping children in one of the five places in which Free The Children works— the rural areas of Kenya, Sierra Leone, China, Sri Lanka and Ecuador. The money you raise through Celebrate for Change supports programs—including building schools and clean water wells—in these five countries. The birthday kit you will be given has everything you need to get started planning your Celebrate for Change party. Please take some time to go through the kit and this ‘How to’ guide to get to know the campaign. In this ‘How to’ guide, you will find links to other Free The Children resources to help you and your friends learn about the problems that other children face around the world. Use these links to learn as much as you can about the countries and issues you will work with through Celebrate for Change. After all, the more you know, the more you’ll be able to teach other people and the more they will want to get involved. If you have any questions while you’re planning your party, please contact the youth programming team. We’re here to help and we love hearing from you! See the “Contact Us” page at the end of this guide for information on getting in touch with us. Thank you for taking the first step towards helping children in the developing world and giving them a voice by celebrating their birthdays. Your energy and excitement show the power of young people to change the world! Now it’s time to get started planning your party! Youth Programming Team Email: [email protected] Phone: 1.416.925.5894 Table of Contents Section One: Getting Started About Free The Children 2 4 About Celebrate for Change 5 Section Two: Steps to Success 7 Step 1: Get your birthday kit 7 Step 2: Login to the website 7 Step 3: Hang your poster 7 Step 4: Learn about GlobePoints Step 5: Plan your party 8 8 Step 6: Fundraise with invitations and presents 9 Step 7: Research the five countries and educate others Step 8: Plan awareness activities 10 Section Three: Resources 12 30-day Celebrate for Change campaign Free The Children contact info Frequently asked questions Evaluation form 13 14 15 12 9 About Free The Children Free The Children is the world’s largest group of children helping children through education. Through our special youth focus, more than one million young people have been involved in our programs in more than 45 countries. Founded by international child rights activist Craig Kielburger, Free The Children has a history of success, with three nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize and partnerships with the United Nations and Oprah’s Angel Network. The main goal of the organization is not only to free children from poverty and exploitation, but also to free young people from the idea that they are powerless to change the world and to improve the lives of other children. An established record of achievement Free The Children has a history of successful projects that help children in the world’s poorest countries. Over the past 10 years we have: • • • • • • built over 450 primary schools, providing education to 40,000 children every day delivered over 202,500 school and health kits to children around the world carried out alternative income projects that provide steady work for women, helping more than 22,500 people shipped $11 million US in needed medical supplies provided health care centers and projects that have helped 505,000 people provided 132,000 people with access to clean water Celebrate for Change Campaign WHAT is Celebrate for Change? The Celebrate for Change campaign is a chance for you to raise awareness and funds for children and their communities in the five countries where Free The Children works: Kenya, Sierra Leone, China, Sri Lanka and Ecuador. This 30-day campaign helps you celebrate your efforts to change the world and celebrate the birthdays of all children around the world while you celebrate your own! HOW does it work? With the help of a birthday kit and a campaign poster of the five countries, you will plan a birthday party where your goal is to “travel” around the world. You will get passage to one of the five countries for each awareness activity at your party. Your goal is to lead five of these activities so you can travel around the world on the poster and “visit” the five countries. Your party will also help to raise funds for Free The Children’s projects in the rural areas of Kenya, Sierra Leone, China, Sri Lanka and Ecuador. You will have an entire birthday kit kit—including invitations, a ‘How to’ guide and more—to help you plan every step of the way to your Celebrate for Change birthday party WHY participate? The Celebrate for Change campaign is in honour of “invisible” children. Around the world, millions of kids don’t know when they were born. Some don’t even know their ages. UNICEF calls these children “invisible,” highlighting their lack of rights in the 2005 State of the World’s Children report. They are among the 50 million children born each year who are not registered at birth. And when they’re not registered, they never officially exist. Governments can easily ignore these children, especially when they’re in dangerous situations, like working in a factory, or they don’t have the basic things they need to survive. WHO can participate? Everyone! Whether it’s one person like you or a caring adult, everyone can make an amazing difference in this world! The campaign is meant to reach as many people as possible so they can learn about the issues affecting our world and support your campaign to make a difference. Quick Facts • • • • • Globally, one in five people lives on less than $1 US a day For every year a person spends in school, they are able to earn an average of ten per cent more money, which makes it easier for them to take care of themselves and their families 120 million children around the world are denied the chance to go to school 218 million of the world's children are child labourers, some as young as five years old 50 million of the children born globally each year are never registered with their governments – officially, they do not exist and their rights are not protected By throwing a birthday party in honour of all young people around the world, you will Celebrate for Change. The money you raise will help kids go to school and provide families with food, clean water and a chance to earn a regular income. Have fun! Steps to Success Getting Started Every great party begins with a great plan. Your Celebrate for Change party is going to help so many children in the world’s poorest countries, allowing them to learn and grow. The next eight steps will help you plan your Celebrate for Change party. So, are you ready? Let’s go! Step 1: Get your birthday kit Planning a party takes a lot of organization. The youth programming team is here to help you get started. We’ve prepared a birthday kit with all the tools you need for every step of planning. To get a birthday kit, contact your youth coordinator and they will send you a kit in the mail. The birthday kit contains all your planning tools: - - - - - - - Campaign poster Party-planning checklist Invitations Sample fundraising letter Trivia games Thank you cards Guest List Step 2: Login to the website A special area of the YouthZone website is an extra place to find help with the Celebrate for Change campaign. When you ask for your birthday kit, your youth coordinator will also give you a login ID and password for this special area called YouthZone groups. Use this login ID and password to login to your YouthZone groups area. Here you will be able to read about other young people holding a Celebrate for Change birthday party and get ideas for games and much more. Step 3: Hang your poster Once you receive your poster in the mail, it’s time to hang it up. Put your poster up in the room where you will hold your party. This poster is a way for you and your guests to keep track of your “trip” around the world. The Celebrate for Change poster highlights five countries: Kenya, Sierra Leone, China, Sri Lanka and Ecuador. These are the five countries where Free The Children works. Through your party, you will help children and their communities in one of these areas. Your goal is to “travel” to all five of these countries by collecting enough GlobePoints to move across the poster. Step 4: Learn about GlobePoints Think of GlobePoints as the energy that takes you to your destination. To travel the whole way around the world, you’re going to need lots of energy! In order to travel around the world to all five countries, you will need to earn a total of 5,000 GlobePoints. For every 1,000 GlobePoints you earn, you can put a country sticker on your poster, showing that you have travelled far enough to reach that destination. There is one sticker for each country, so you will earn five stickers in total. You can earn GlobePoints by leading awareness activities at your party. Read Step 8 to learn about these activities. Step 5: Plan your party It’s important to start planning your party well ahead of time to make sure you stay organized. There is a special party checklist in your birthday kit. This checklist shows all the small planning steps to do each week for the whole month before your party. If you don’t have a whole month to plan, you can change these steps so you can finish them in less time. As soon as you get your birthday kit, read through this checklist to get an idea of everything you will need to do before your party. By starting early and sticking to the list, you’ll stay on track and make sure your party is the best it can be. Socially Responsible Parties Social responsibility is the idea that we should think about how all our choices affect the environment and other people in our neighbourhood and around the world. By planning a socially responsible birthday party, you can make sure that everything about your party helps others. It’s easy to plan a socially responsible birthday party by thinking about the ideas below: • Ask questions: • • • • Do I really need all this stuff? Cut down on the amount of materials you use Is there another product I can use instead that is recyclable or reusable, or comes with less packaging? Do we know where this product comes from? Were the people who made the product paid and treated fairly? Do we know what to do when we are finished using this product? • Do your research: • • • Look at how products are made and see if workers are paid fairly and have good working conditions. The websites of companies are a great place to start. Find out the meaning of fair trade and see if the products you use are fair trade Is the product and the way the product was made good for the environment? • Be the change: • • • Reduce, reuse and recycle Speak out about the importance of socially responsible parties – tell your guests Take it into your neighbourhood – ask socially responsible businesses for donations for your party Step 6: Fundraise with invitations and presents Your party checklist says you should send out invitations three weeks before your party, but you will need to make another decision about your invitations before you send them. If you would like to, you can use your invitations as a way to raise money for Free The Children’s projects. By asking your guests to make a donation with their invitation, you can turn your party into a great fundraiser. Set the price of your invitations by thinking about how much money you want to raise, and how much you think your guests will be able to give. You can also raise money through your party by asking your guests to make a Free The Children donation instead of giving you a present or as an extra with your present. There is a sample fundraising letter in your birthday kit which explains fundraising with presents to your guests. You can edit this letter for your party and send it with your invitations if you want to collect donations as presents. The money you raise through your party will help children in one of the five countries where Free The Children works. Step 7: Research the five countries and educate others Learning is the secret to a great campaign. By understanding why Free The Children works in the five countries that you are fundraising for, you’ll be ready to answer questions about your campaign and your awareness activities will be even better. You might also find that your fundraising is stronger because your guests understand why the five countries need their help. Get your family together and start learning. Free The Children’s online resources are a great place to begin your search for information. See the suggestions below to get started: • • • • Visit Free The Children’s online profiles from the five countries: www.freethechildren.com/programs/schoolbuilding/ schoolbuilding_schoolportfolio.htm. Learn more about Free The Children’s projects by visiting www.freethechildren.com/getinvolved/geteducated/. Have a tough question and can’t find the answer? Try Free The Children’s online “Ask the Professor” tool, and get an expert answer from Dr. Jonathan White. Visit www.freethechildren.com/getinvolved/geteducated/asktheprofessor.htm or e-mail your questions to [email protected]. Do your own research on these countries and issues by visiting the library, searching online or reading the newspaper. Check out these awesome sites! United Nations Cyber Schoolbus Nickelodeon 2015 Association for Women’s Rights in Development Global Issues Global March Against Child Labour International Labor Organization Understanding Children’s Work United Nations United Nations Millenium Development Goals UNICEF – State of the World’s Children World Bank – PovertyNet www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/ www.nick2015.com/ www.awid.org www.globalissues.org www.globalmarch.org www.ilo.org www.ucw-project.org www.un.org www.un.org/millenniumgoals www.unicef.org/voy/explore/sowc/explore_sowc.php www.worldbank.org/poverty/mission/up1.htm Watch for Bias Everybody has a different opinion on an issue. The way our opinion affects how we tell other people about an issue is called our “bias.” Think about the bias of everything you read while you are doing research. Remember: there is more than one side to every story—it’s important to know the different sides so you can gain a clear understanding of the issues. Step 8: Plan awareness activities Educating your guests about the issues that children in the five countries deal with is called “raising awareness.” This is a great way to educate people who already know about the issues and introduce the issues to new people. They might even decide to get involved because of what you taught them. You can educate your guests with the five awareness activities that you lead at your party. Below is a list of awareness activities. You can choose five of these suggestions, or you can come up with your own ideas. Just make sure to check out your ideas with your youth coordinator before you start planning. Awareness activities: • • • • • • • • Play the trivia game in your birthday kit Learn how to say “happy birthday” in as many languages as you can and teach your guests Learn about a traditional birthday celebration from another culture and do it at your party Serve one type of food from one of the five countries Make a gingerbread house in the shape of a school from Free The Children’s Brick by Brick schoolbuilding campaign. See pictures at www.freethechildren.com/programs/schoolbuilding/index.html. Watch a movie about another part of the world or a social issue Sing a LEV3L (Level 3) “Happy Birthday,” where everyone sings with as much energy and action as they can. Visit www.leaderstoday.com/aboutus/level3.php. T-shirt decorating party: ask each guest to wear an old T-shirt and write kind, Me to We thoughts on each other’s shirts. Fun tip: use glow in the dark pens. 10 • • • • • • • • Dress up as a famous world leader – ask your guests to do the same. Paint or draw pictures of peace Learn a song from another culture and teach it to your guests Invite someone to play and teach African drums Give a speech at your party about a problem in one or more of the five countries Ask a parent to read an excerpt from Me to We: Finding Meaning in a Material World aloud Write a song or poem with your guests about an important problem Learn a dance from another part of the world Free The Children’s website has plenty of information to help you plan your awareness activities and come up with even more ideas. Check out the following places as a start: • • • • • • • Adopt a Village power points Public speaking tips Information on ordering books Videos YouthZone newsletter Profiles from the five countries Links to other online resources 11 www.freethechildren.com/youthzone/campaigns/adoptavillage.htm www.freethechildren.com/youthzone/rockinresources/images/SpeechPlanning.pdf www.freethechildren.com/aboutus/merchandise.htm www.freethechildren.com/youthzone/rockinresources/videos.htm www.freethechildren.com/pressroom/newsletters.htm www.freethechildren.com/programs/schoolbuilding/schoolbuilding_schoolportfolio.htm www.freethechildren.com/youthzone/rockinresources/links.htm 30-day Celebrate for Change Campaign If you liked hosting a Celebrate for Change birthday party, there is more you can do to get involved. Celebrate for Change also has a 30-day campaign. With this campaign, you can spend an entire month doing fundraising and awareness activities in your school or community to earn GlobePoints, just like in the campaign you are doing right now. At the end of the 30 days, you throw a party to celebrate “invisible” children, a lot like the party you will have for your campaign. To find out more about the 30-day campaign, talk to your youth coordinator or read the ‘How to’ guide for groups. 12 Contact Us Please contact us anytime with questions, comments and updates. We look forward to working with you. Youth Programming Team Free The Children Phone: 1.416.925.5894 E-mail: [email protected] By mail: Free The Children 233 Carlton Street Toronto, ON Canada M5A 2L2 Free The Children: www.freethechildren.com Explore the Free The Children website for information on our awesome campaigns, international projects, news updates and more. The YouthZone: www.freethechildren.com/youthzone The YouthZone section of the website has great information on Youth in Action groups, Youth Speakers, the “Voices of Youth International Newsletter,” blogs and lots of useful resources. For resources to help you plan and execute your Celebrate for Change campaign, check out the “Make it Happen” section of the YouthZone at http://www.freethechildren. com/youthzone/makeithappen/index.html for more great information on meetings, press releases, interviews, donation request letters and more! 13 Frequently Asked Questions: Question: How do I sign up for the campaign? Answer: Contact the youth programming team and we will sign you up. See the “Contact Us” page for ways to contact us. Question: What is a GlobePoint? Answer: A GlobePoint is a unit that is used to measure your progress in raising awareness. You need to earn 5,000 GlobePoints by completing five awareness activities in order to travel around the entire poster. Question: Where do I get a birthday kit? Answer: Your youth coordinator will send your birthday kit and poster in the mail. Question: Do I have to take four weeks to plan my party? Answer: No. You can take as much or as little time as you want. The four week party checklist is just an idea that you can use no matter how much time you spend planning. Question: Do I have to ask my guests for donations instead of gifts? Answer: No. You can ask your guests to bring a gift and a donation, or you can just ask them to bring a gift and ask them to donate in another way. Be creative! Question: Do I have to ask my guests for a donation for their invitation? Answer: No. You can ask them to donate with their gift instead, or you can use your imagination to find another way for your guests to donate. Question: Does my Celebrate for Change party have to be for my birthday? Answer: No. You can throw a Celebrate for Change party for any special day, or just for fun. 14 Evaluation Form An important part of any event is the follow up with an evaluation. By filling out this Evaluation Form and sending it in to Free The Children, you will be helping yourself and Free The Children hold even better events in the future. You can send the form to us by e-mail, fax or mail. Please keep a copy for yourself. E-mail: [email protected] Fax: 1.416.925.8242 Mailing Address: Free The Children Attention: Youth Programming Team 233 Carlton Street Toronto, ON Canada M5A 2L2 15 Project: Celebrate for Change Name: Describe your party: What worked well? What would you change for next time? Did you find the kits (birthday kit, poster, etc.) useful? How could they be made better? How could Free The Children be of better help to you? Any other comments you would like to share with us? Your contact information: Name: _________________________________________________ Phone: __(__)___________________ E-mail: _________________________________________________ Thanks for helping out. 16
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