Young Changemakers

Welcome to our Young Changemakers!

Youth Research Board

Changing the Story is looking to recruit a Youth Research Board to take ownership collectively of a participatory arts research project. Apply now!

Young Changemaker Creative Content

Check out creative content produced by young changemakers. From blogs, to illustrations and film, each resource is as varied as it is fascinating and insightful.

Welcome
Youth Research Board
Creative Content

Photo Credit: Emily Morrison

Photo Credit: Sibi Pulpally

The young people we work with at Changing the Story are integral and authentic partners and the intention of our Young Changemakers Series is to reflect this. The aim of the series is to include and amplify the voice of young people we have engaged with over the course of the project, as well as the voice of other young people in the Global South we don’t yet know about that are supporting and enabling positive change.

Photo Credit: Melis Cin

If you are a young person (18-30) based in the Global South we want to hear from you!

Do you have an important message you want to share with our network of policy makers and practitioners?

What are you doing to spark change in your society?

Why do you think young people, the arts, human rights education and social justice activism are important?

What do you feel needs to change for your voice to be listened to?

Are you a young researcher or PhD candidate that wants to share your research with our growing digital audience?

If so, we want you to contribute to our Young Changemakers Series. It’s up to you to decide the content and how you want to present your ideas. Why not take a look at our existing blogs, V-logs and films for inspiration and contact changingthestory@leeds.ac.uk with your idea – we can’t wait to hear from you.

Featured Blogs

Youth reflect on the 'Understanding of Safeguarding' regional webinar

Susan Kathayat is a master’s student in the Department of Conflict Peace & Development Studies at Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu, Nepal. Susan participated in a webinar with Rajib Timalsina, our Regional Lead for Asia, and reflects here on how it led them to recall an experience that has particular resonance in our age of pandemic.

The landscape of social enterprises in Malaysia

Jian Li Yew from GEMA, a Civil Society Partner on the Phase 2 project Youth-led Social Enterprises in Malaysia: Shaping Civil Society by and for Young People takes us through the Social Enterprise landscape in Malaysia and the biggest hurdles social enterprises face.

Our Changing the Story journey (North India)

Keduo, Achabu and Benrilo share their journey as filmmakers on the Phase 2 Participatory Arts for Health Improvement (North India).

The allegory of the Fence (South Africa)

Check out this brilliant new blog by Prudence Nkomo, a young changemaker on the Phase 2 Mapping Community Heritage project. Read Prudence' take on allegory of the fence and its significance to rural communities in South Africa.

“For me to make this film, my grandmother stays in Zimbabwe and my grandfather is there so it’s quite a struggle to live, right now it is hard to find food, my aunt is in the army and she is not being paid any more. So when we were asked to make a film I always wanted to do something that can bring a message…” (Peacemore, ImaginingOtherwise).

With support from the Mobility Fund the team from Ilizwi Lenyaniso Lomhlaba made the 4-hour journey down to the coast to meet with a Khoe (or Khoisan) community that has been fighting against a nuclear development on the Eastern Cape coast.

Carrington, a young collaborator on the Phase 2 Early Career Research project Street Art to Promote Representation and Epistemic Justice among Marginalized Rural Zimbabwean Youth discusses his graffiti art creation which was exhibited in museums and galleries across Zimbabwe.

A short interview about the experiences of the Tonga youth expressed through street art designed and created by the young people themselves.

Filip, a young changemaker on our BiH project talks about the short film he will make based on a moment he observed between his grandmother and her friends.

Success, a changemaker on the Mapping Community Heritage project (South Africa) discusses how young people interviewing the elder community has shaped the ways stories are captured.